Book: The Ink Black Heart
Author: Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling)
Pages: 1024
Read on: Kindle
Read in: ~9 hours over 2 days
Plot Summary: When frantic, dishevelled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn't know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie's true identity.
Robin decides that the agency can't help with this - and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.
Robin and her business partner Cormoran Strike become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie's true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches their powers of deduction to the limits - and which threatens them in new and horrifying ways.
General Thoughts: This is the sixth book in the Cormoran Strike series and I was so excited to get reading over the weekend! This book delves into the world of online trolling, the rise of right-wing, Neo-Nazi groups targeting liberal voices, especially, women. We have all seen this happen, especially, on Twitter, which is a cesspool in general but is now a filthy cesspool full of all these intolerant, disgusting cretins, who can say and do what they please with very little consequence! So, in that sense, this is a very timely book.
There has been some controversy around this book saying that this book is about the murder of someone who mis-gendered a trans person. It is not. This is not what this book is about. So, if that's what was holding you back, then now you know. Let's get on with the review.
Oh, also, must be said, this blog is a safe space for trans people. We believe trans women are women and trans men are men. We just separate the art from the artist when it comes to JKR because we love her writing. We hope that JKR learns to empathise more with our trans brothers and sisters and lives up to the values of kindness and inclusion that she so vociferously espoused in her Harry Potter books.
On with the review, then!
Things I Liked:
1. Like I've already said, online trolling, bullying and the rise of the far right, alt right, Neo-Nazi types on social media platforms is a truly concerning and making this the focus of this book was, in my opinion, a welcome move! So, the premise seemed really interesting, very rooted in reality and something that must be talked about on a much wider scale and actions must be taken to stop online trolling. The impact of online trolling on the mental health of the targeted person is tremendous and can lead to really tragic consequences. In the book, we have two deaths by suicide of young women, who were mercilessly trolled online for their political/ socio-political views, but, like I said, that is not the murder mystery that Strike and Robin are hired to solve.
2. Edie Ledwell and her ex-boyfriend, Josh Blay co-created an online animated series called The Ink Black Heart- a kooky, satirical, dark comedy type series with a niche following. The series attracted a series of dedicated fans and over the years, this solidified as a vocal, opinionated fandom. The fandom centred around an online game co-created by two anonymous people- Anomie and Morehouse. The fandom played the game, used the chatrooms provided by the game, to discuss their love for the comic and also, eventually, to trash the creators, especially, Edie.
Anomie, the co-creator of the online game, for some unknown reason, takes a real dislike towards Edie and for the past 5 years has been targeting her online with some really nasty, vitriolic attacks. At the end of her tether, Edie reaches out to Robin at the agency.
Through this book, JKR dives deep into the world of 'fandoms'. If you've been a part of any fandom, you'll understand how each fandom has some really toxic, fringe elements that are unnaturally obsessed with the author/ movie star/ singer etc. They have this poisonous sense of ownership over the work or the star and strongly oppose, what they think, are things that are not in sync with what the art/ artist etc. supposedly stand for. So, it was really interesting to read about how the Ink Black Heart fandom was obsessed with what they felt was right for the book and the characters and even the hint of any changes to the material elicited strong and horrible responses from them.
3. A bulk of this book's investigation is focused on tracing old tweets, trying to unearth the real identities of various online trolls and then following them around to find out more about them. All this was nicely done and was quite gripping. Strike and Robin didn't have anything as a good starting point as they start delving into unearthing Anomie's true identity, but the way they went about identifying the people around "him" was really nicely done.
4. What happens when an author or a creator dies just before their creation is about to hit the big league? In this case, Netflix has acquired the rights to the comic and wants to make a movie out of it. Edie's death leaves a lot uncertain and her estranged uncle jumps in to take advantage of his niece's death. This man, who in spite of having a cushy job, never helped Edie when she was struggling and homeless, now behaves like he is the sole custodian of Edie's work and legacy. All this greed of long-lost "relatives" suddenly showing up is done really well in this book.
The push-and-pull between what Edie's uncle, the film executives and the fandom wants is brought out really well and is very interesting to read.
5. The book continues with the almost-romance between Strike and Robin, which, slight spoiler, goes nowhere even in this book. I think anyone who thinks these two will get together should give up hope. They won't get together until the last book in the series! *grin* The will-they-won't-they is a key hook to get the romance-loving readers into the franchise and JKR won't give us what we want on that front quite so easily!
6. There are, as usual, a couple of other small cases that Strike and his team are investigation. Most of these are quite fun and it is good to see them get resolved as well.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. While I'd even read a phone directory re-written by JKR, but a crime fiction book at 1024 pages is a LOT! And, unlike Troubled Blood, this book did not need to be this length! The story, at the end of the day, is pretty straightforward, a woman is stabbed to death and her killer is a suspected online troll. This book did not need to be this long-winded! It could've easily been wrapped up in ~600 odd pages.
2. Charlotte, Strike's toxic ex, is back! Ugh! She is a recurring theme in all of these books and I don't understand why! She thrives on ruining Strike's happiness and gets in the way of his relationships and this trope is getting real old! I wish JKR would just stop with inserting Charlotte and her nonsense in every book!
Rating: 4/5
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