The Hallmarked Man– Volume 7 of the Strike Series

It is amazing to think about the thousands of words, that have gone into J.K. Rowlings numerous novels, first with the Harry Potter series, and more recently with the seven hefty volumes of the Cormoran Strike detective thriller series.  This last may not quite be of War and Peace proportions (which amounts to about 1400 pages!) but does go on for 897 pages, and yet none of it is filler.  Rowling is a master of description, clever plots, complex and deeply flawed all too human characters and the Hallmarked Man does not disappoint.

Here is the summary of this novel on Amazon….

“A dismembered corpse is discovered in the vault of a silver shop. The police initially believe it to be that of a convicted armed robber – but not everyone agrees with that theory. One of them is Decima Mullins, who calls on the help of private detective Cormoran Strike as she’s certain the body in the silver vault was that of her boyfriend – the father of her newborn baby – who suddenly and mysteriously disappeared.

The more Strike and his business partner Robin Ellacott delve into the case, the more labyrinthine it gets. The silver shop is no ordinary one: it’s located beside Freemasons’ Hall and specializes in Masonic silverware. And in addition to the armed robber and Decima’s boyfriend, it becomes clear that there are other missing men who could fit the profile of the body in the vault.

As the case becomes ever more complicated and dangerous, Strike faces another quandary. Robin seems increasingly committed to her boyfriend, policeman Ryan Murphy, but the impulse to declare his own feelings for her is becoming stronger than ever.

A gripping, wonderfully complex novel which takes Strike and Robin’s story to a new level, The Hallmarked Man is an unmissable read for any fan of this unique series.”

At the heart of these novels is the complex and uncertain relationship between the two main characters who are partners in the detective agencies— Strike and Ellacott.  Will they ever really sort out whether they are in love or not?   Stay tuned,  Rowling is not playing all her cards even in this latest lengthy novel.  What is sure, is that she has found a way to make her readers care about what happens to this odd couple’s interesting partnership and detective work.  Without question, this is as interesting a detective duo as the original paradigm— Holmes and Watson.