Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott returned to literature with the release of Lethal White in September.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling wrote this book under her pen name Robert Galbraith. The book is the fourth in the Strike series and is the longest of the four stories. As with Potter, the Strike books were around the same length for the first three books, with the third being slightly longer, before the fourth book was published, which was about 200 pages longer than its predecessors.
Lethal White opens at Robin’s wedding to longtime fiancé Matthew, which Strike interrupted in the closing paragraphs in Career of Evil. Readers had to wait three years to find out what happened after Robin beamed at seeing Strike waltz into the room, despite having fired her during the last book. During the prologue, Strike and Robin make up, and both of them remember their mutual liking of one another, putting aside any feelings they have now that Robin is married.
The book then jumps ahead a year. Strike has hired several extra hands to run his detective agency. He and Robin still lead investigations, but some of the grunt work and the cases they don’t necessarily want to do are given to the other workers.
Strike receives an unsolicited visit from a young man named Billy Knight, who has a history of mental illness. Billy claims to have witnessed a murder some years before. He is unable to provide any details before he runs out of Strike’s office.
Strike, who’s always unable to resist investigating such a claim, starts to find out as much as he can about Billy. As he investigates Billy’s brother Jimmy, he is hired by a Member of Parliament named Jasper Chiswell, whom Jimmy is blackmailing. Robin is sent undercover in Chiswell’s inner circle and they attempt to figure out why Chiswell is being blackmailed.
Eventually, the book turns into a murder investigation shortly after Strike and Robin’s covers are blown and Chiswell is murdered. Though it does keep the plot going, it’s not nearly as fascinating as Strike and Robin’s relationship.
Since the publication of The Cuckoo’s Calling in 2013, it’s been clear that Strike and Robin are attracted to one another. This was amplified at the end of Career of Evil when Robin beamed happily when Strike walked into her wedding. When Robin goes undercover in Lethal White, tension continues to build between her and Matthew, placing strain on an already rocky marriage.
**SPOILERS**
Eventually, Robin discovers evidence that Matthew has been cheating on her during their marriage. She leaves him and intends to seek a divorce.
Strike counsels Robin when he learns of the affair, drawing on the experience of losing his leg to help Robin address her mental health. Showing what a good man he is, Strike reminds Robin to work on her mental health, which will help her not only recover from her marriage and separation, but ensure that she remains healthy.
**END OF SPOILERS**
Strike and Robin’s relationship is akin to Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. They balance one another out just as Stabler and Benson do. Strike can use his physicality to subdue suspects and he is usually quick to figure out “who done it” during cases, while Robin is able to connect with people emotionally and she is an effective undercover operative. Ultimately, the two would not succeed without one another during the cases they investigate.
With at least five more stories planned, it remains to be seen if Strike and Robin will end up in a romantic relationship. Though Robin plans to end her marriage during Lethal White, it’s not clear yet if they will manage to work it out, but at this point, I don’t think that will happen.
There has not been any word yet on a potential release date for the next Strike book. The anticipation can only grow in the meantime.
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