She, in turn, derives pride, pleasure and, seemingly, her entire sense of worth, from his approval. It’s superficial, almost sleazy, and disturbingly misogynist – his main attraction to her seems to stem from her excellent figure and her markedly feminine lures: she’s repeatedly praised for brewing perfect tea, in contrast to everyone else, being tactful, not wanting to change him – the only woman who doesn’t, too, – being diligent like a straight-A middle school student, and doing exactly as she’s told. The romantic tension between her and Strike, which was rather contrived in the previous novels as well, relies entirely on cliches and is hardly believable as a result. This could of course be overlooked for a great mystery plot or fascinating characterisation (what I come to Jo for, tbh), but the main attraction on the character-development side, Robin’s relationships with Matthew and Strike, was underwhelming, too, to say the least. Lethal White is too long (yes I said it of a JKR book, I can scarcely believe it either), verbose and expositional, and the vocabulary is frankly ridiculous for a crime thriller. Let’s leave that aside though, because it’s more of a personal issue than a legitimate criticism of the book.

The sleazy leftists turn out to be mere plot devices with no bearing on the plot or the characters and I was left with the distinct impression they were there primarily as a foil for Rowling to get back at people she doesn’t like by parodying them in a book. Roughly 1/3 of the bloated text was a protracted and at times plainly satirical political rant against people who’ve criticised or annoyed JKR on Twitter – and it’s completely pointless, too, because it never amounts to anything. It’s not great, as a lefty reader, to read disdainful quips about „hard left“ circles (whatever that’s supposed to mean – but I suspect it’s a way to denounce leftist politics and by extension policies without coming out as a conservative) in the book and incredulously follow the story arc of a shady leftist portrayed as an irredeemable villain.

I suppose it’s simply because I agreed with the former and tend to disagree with the latter – she’s grown noticeably conservative and that in itself is a disappointment. I cheered JKR politics in The Casual Vacancy. Everything else about it is mediocre at best and some things are downright awful – from the needlessly convoluted mystery through the tedious exposition, the pointless bloat, the ridiculous rants against everyone and everything JKR finds objectionable in society to the heavy-handed character development. That’s about the only good think I can say about it and the sole reason for the second star. This book effortlessly kept my attention and curiosity and had no problem spending hours with it – something I can say all too rarely these days, sadly.

Lethal white review