I finished reading this novel about five minutes ago. I’m sitting at my desk to write this review but I don't know how. I want to sing its praises because the latest instalment of the Cormoran Strike novels is by far the best one in the series. I just wish we had gotten to know more about a certain confrontation between Robin and two principal members of the cult…

The UHC, which presents as a benign organisation with worthy aims, has a charismatic leader known as Papa J, some high-profile followers, a lot of prime real estate, and expensive lawyers to rebut any claims of indoctrination or ill treatment. Added to which, it’s very difficult to find any former members who will discuss their time at the farm. Those who can be persuaded talk of supernatural happenings, in particular the apparition of the “Drowned Prophet”, believed to be a divine reincarnation of Papa J’s seven-year-old daughter Daiyu, who supposedly disappeared during a dip in the North Sea in 1995. This is a tale of how the human desire for approval, validation and a sense of purpose can lead us astrayFrom all the series, I think it was the one which kept me on the edge the most. I was really worried about Robin and what those people were doing to her. I do not want to go into details because spoilers but, let’s say I had nightmares about this book.

However, the book is too long. There are characters that you forget who they are if you’re reading over a number of days. There are multiple instances where references are made to previous books and these things are explained to the reader. For example the same character’s relevance to Strike is mentioned in two separate chapters, yet they’re completely irrelevant to the story (do they really need to be mentioned at all?).Different fonts for epistolary sections, which is a perk of reading a physical book instead of digital. Here it's letters, last book was chat rooms. This time, Strike and Robin deal with a religious cult, its charismatic leader and everything surrounding these. I will not mention any more plot details because it’s probably best to go into this novel without too much knowledge or ideas… It’s fantastic addition to what is already one of my ‘must read’ series. I really cant wait for the next one. If you’re one of those people who don’t believe who and what she is, here’s an excellent article (permanently updated) that collects Rowling’s disgusting statements and actions: And it must be said: Without an editor, it becomes obvious that Rowling has abysmal instincts as a writer. Important plot and character moments are glossed over with a single paragraph summary from the narrator, but the story slows to a crawl to deliver blow-by-blow details whenever something “funny” happens — like the chapter where Robin interviews a senile old woman who constantly repeats herself. Rowling reveals new information in massive data dumps, full of comically implausible names that are impossible to remember. We rarely see Strike or Robin engage in real detective work — they’re the heads of the agency, so most of that is done by a rotating cadre of freelancers. (This may be more true to how an actual real-life detective agency works, but it’s dull reading) On the rare occasion that they do detective work, it happens off screen so that they can meet afterwards, in a fancy pub or restaurant, to tell each other (and the reader) what happened. People print out Internet conversations or blog posts on long reams of paper (Has no one in the Strike universe ever heard of a flash drive?) and spend chapters sitting in fancy pubs or restaurants and reading them. Everyone is constantly going to fancy pubs and restaurants. Rowling lards up the narrative with pointless details about random things in the room. Robin gets distracted in the middle of a conversation by the random appearance of an American in a funny hat, because Rowling seems to think it's amusing but the reader is left wondering if this walk-on American is going to figure into the narrative somewhere later.