…[Rowling's] gripping third novel about the private investigative team of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott…achieves a new candor about the gap between solving crimes and repairing their damages…The seamless way Rowling integrates [the] personal and professional story lines makes Career of Evil an absorbing book, pulpy, fast and satisfying…Career of Evil feels special—a step forward for a series that has been more concerned with entertainment than complexity at times…when the book's attention settles on Robin, finally developed here as a true equal of Strike…while Career of Evil works superbly as a pure murder mystery, in Robin's development Rowling finds a larger theme, too—the terrible ongoingness and untidiness of life, the ways in which catching a criminal doesn't necessarily finish a crime, only a book. This fresh scope makes for the best novel she has written as Robert Galbraith. It's not Harry Potter; that universe is an irreplicable astonishment. The good news is that its creator evidently has some magic left.

10/26/2015
More thriller than whodunit, J.K. Rowling's captivating third novel written under her Galbraith pseudonym (after 2014's The Silkworm) further deepens her lead characters, Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. Strike, who lost a leg during his military service in Afghanistan, was struggling in his career as a London-based PI until, serendipitously, Robin was assigned to him as a temp. The emotional intelligence she brought with her helped him solve some high-profile cases and turn him into a celebrity. But now their partnership faces two serious threats: Robin's fiancé suspects she wants a romantic relationship with her boss, and a serial killer has targeted her as his next victim. The murderer, who has a deep hatred for Strike, begins a campaign of terror by delivering a parcel to Robin at the office, which she assumes contains supplies for her upcoming wedding. Instead, to her horror, she finds a severed human leg inside. Maintaining a high level of suspense throughout, Rowling transforms Robin into a professional equal of Strike's and sets the stage for further complexities in their relationship in the next book. Agent: Neil Blair, the Blair Partnership (U.K.). (Oct.)

"Career of Evil is the third—and best—novel in the engaging Cormoran Strike private detective series. . . . [Galbraith has] invented a serial killer for the ages, one who chills us from the book's grim but riveting opening. . . . This perfectly paced mystery is packed with surprises, all of which play out with flawless crime-fiction logic."—Jocelyn McClurg, USA Today (4/4 stars)

"Pure pleasure. . . . That's what makes these novels so good: They are clever, tightly plotted mysteries with all of the most pleasurable elements of the genre (good guy, bad guy, clues, twists, murder!), but with stunning emotional and moral shading."—Annalisa Quinn, NPR

"Hugely entertaining . . . This gifted storyteller has taken full command of the new turf. . . . Career of Evil succeeds powerfully on its own terms."—Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Tribune

"Strike and Robin are just as magnetic as ever."—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

"Another triumph . . . Its darkness is mitigated by its sparkling protagonists."—Kim Hubbard, People

Sparklingly witty [and] unexpectedly moving.”

"Career of Evil is the third—and best—novel in the engaging Cormoran Strike private detective series…This perfectly paced mystery is packed with surprises, all of which play out with flawless crime-fiction logic.”

Her gripping third novel…achieves a new candor about the gap between solving crimes and repairing their damages…an absorbing book, pulpy, fast, and satisfying.”

Another triumph…Its darkness is mitigated by its sparkling protagonists.”

As readable and exciting as ever…Fans of the intrepid duo are in for some shocks.”

Robert Glenister is the man in this fine performance of Robert Galbraith’s most recent detective thriller. Having narrated the first two books in the series, Glenister knows the main characters…The real-life pacing and vocal differences between the rough-hewn, older Strike and the younger Ellacott bring their scenes particularly to life. And Glenister’s use of a flattened, even tone for the sections that take place inside the mind of the killer adds chillingly to the tension. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

Rowling’s writing is velvety and fluid, making the book pure pleasure…Clever, tightly plotted mysteries with all of the most pleasurable elements of the genre…but with stunning emotional and moral shading.”

Hugely entertaining.”

The Galbraith books have intricately woven plots, conveyed with good humor but underlying darkness... THE SILKWORM is a classic British mystery with a modern sensibility, written with intelligent humor and a very observational eye.

Bring on the next one, please... Galbraith writes with wit and affection for detective-novel tradition (it's impossible not to see her central duo as a modern-day Nick and Nora, minus the marriage), and races us through a twisty plot so smoothly that you won't notice as the hours tick by.

A properly addictive whodunnit. And in the unlikely pairing of ungainly Strike and his clever young assistant, Galbraith has created an investigative duo with spark and empathy.

A compulsively entertaining yarn.

The story is enthralling, not only for its twists and turns, but for the fun of the teamwork... Each chapter draws us further into Cormoran Strike's psyche, and makes us care more not just about the case getting solved, but about Strike being the one to solve it... [They're] a cast of characters who you'll want to meet again and again.

A great detective novel: sharp, immensely readable, warmhearted but coolheaded... The last line of THE SILKWORM, which will lift the hearts of readers who have come to love its deeply sympathetic characters, offers the prospect of more of that joy both for Galbraith and for us.

THE SILKWORM is fast-paced and entertaining... Strike is heroic without intending to be and has a great back story. He's the illegitimate son of a rock star whose half-siblings grew up in privilege... And he's brooding, but not annoyingly so. Strike has all kinds of potential. It'd be a crime not to keep up with him.

[Galbraith] weaves a pleasurably wicked literary murder mystery with all its attendant aspects of publishing politics, from the peevish to the pompous, into Strike's personal and professional lives... Only two books in, and Galbraith's characters already feel like familiar-and welcome-friends.

Cormoran Strike is back, and so is his resourceful sidekick, Robin Ellacott, a gumshoe team that's on its way to becoming as celebrated for its mystery-solving skills as Nick and Nora Charles of 'Thin Man' fame, and Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander (a.k.a. the girl with the dragon tattoo)... An entertaining novel in which the most compelling characters are not the killer or the victim, but the detectives charged with solving the crime.

The plot zings along... Swift and satisfying.

Swift-paced, suspenseful... Robert Galbraith has announced himself a fresh voice in mystery fiction: part hard-boiled, part satiric, part poignant, and part romantic.

Robert Galbraith has written a second absorbing whodunit starring detective Cormoran Strike to follow last year's stealth hit, The Cuckoo's Calling... Astutely observed, well-paced and full of [Galbraith's] trademark acerbic wit, THE SILKWORM thoroughly engages as a crime novel.

THE SILKWORM is a very well-written, wonderfully entertaining take on the traditional British crime novel...Robert Galbraith may proudly join the ranks of English, Scottish and Irish crime writers such as Tana French, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, John Connolly, Kate Atkinson, and Peter Robinson.

Galbraith brings flair and wit to [his] reflections on the state of contemporary publishing... Galbraith takes the existing strengths of the genre and uses them as the building blocks for [his] own considerable storytelling gift, crafting books crammed with memorable characters that make irresistible reading.

The murder mystery at the heart of THE SILKWORM is a genuine mystery with an altogether satisfying resolution... And even if, like me, you don't read mysteries to solve the puzzle but to keep company with the detective on the cas... [Galbraith's] not too shabby in the character department either.

Robert Glenister is the man in this fine performance of Robert Galbraith’s (aka J.K. Rowling) most recent detective thriller. Having narrated the first two books in the series, Glenister knows the main characters—Cormoran Strike, Afghan War vet turned PI, and his smart, increasingly talented assistant, Robin Ellacott—to a fare-the-well. In this thoroughly involving story, both Strike and Ellacott are targeted by a killer, who starts the action with a severed leg delivered to Ellacott. The real-life pacing and vocal differences between the rough-hewn, older Strike and the younger Ellacott bring their scenes particularly to life. And Glenister’s use of a flattened, even tone for the sections that take place inside the mind of the killer adds chillingly to the tension. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2016 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

2015-10-17
J.K. Rowling continues her investigation of the dark side—this time giving us three gruesomely twisted suspects—in her latest pseudonymous mystery. Robin Ellacott first showed up at hard-living private eye Cameron Strike's office as a temp, but by the end of their second big case (The Silkworm, 2014), she'd become indispensable as a fellow investigator. As this third book opens, she's arriving at work off Charing Cross Road and accepts a package from a deliveryman, thinking it's a shipment of favors for her upcoming wedding to Matthew, the jealous fiance who disapproves of her job. When she opens it, though, she's horrified to find a woman's leg. Someone seems to be using Robin to get to her boss, who's missing a leg himself, having lost it in an explosion in Afghanistan. Strike can think of four men, right off the top of his head, who would be capable of such a horrific thing: the stepfather he thinks killed his mother with a heroin overdose; a famous mobster; and two sick bastards he tangled with when he was an Army investigator. The police immediately go after the mobster, who, on second thought, Strike finds an unlikely culprit—so he and Robin set to work tracking down the other three. Rowling is, as always, an unflinching chronicler of evil, interspersing chapters told from the perspective of the carefully unnamed perpetrator—a serial killer with a penchant for keeping "souvenirs" from his victims' bodies and an unhealthy obsession with Strike—as he follows Robin around London, waiting for her to get distracted just long enough for him to kill her, too. Robin and Strike's relationship continues to be the best part of the series, though perhaps it's too easy to dislike Matthew; readers will be cheering when Robin breaks off their engagement, but of course it won't be that easy to get rid of him. The story has its longueurs, and if Galbraith weren't actually Rowling, an editor might have told him to trim a bit, especially once Strike and Robin close in on their three suspects and start conducting repetitive stakeouts (and especially since the two who aren't Strike's former stepfather are hard to keep straight). The book ends on a cliffhanger worthy of Harry Potter, and Rowling's readers will eagerly await the next installment.