The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
This is the seventh novel in the popular Strike series by Robert Galbraith, aka J K Rowling. Like many others in the series it is chunky – 950 pages – but it is immensely readable and quite a page turner so the length (at least for me) was not an issue.
Once more the reader is drawn into the lives of private investigator Cormoran Strike and his business partner Robin Ellacott when they are asked to try to make contact with a client’s son, who is part of a religious cult. As those in the cult have been separated from their families, Robin has to go undercover and join the cult to try to reach the client’s son. In doing so, she is taking a huge risk and putting her own life in danger. I recently watched a BBC documentary about a Nigerian cult and could tell from the similarities to the novel that J K Rowling has done her research as there seem to be certain common elements between the cult she portrays and the one in the documentary. For example, control is easier to exert over people if they are befuddled through sleep deprivation and hunger; gaslighting and turning followers against their families and friends is a necessary part of exerting control over them; and abuse of power, both sexual and psychological, keeps them subjugated, along with a belief system that is manipulated to – literally – put the fear of some sort of god into them.
If not a particularly challenging read, I thoroughly enjoyed The Running Grave and found it informative in many ways. In all the Strike novels, there is a second string to the story which I also enjoy, and that is the back stories and developing relationship of the two central characters, Strike and Ellacott. I know some readers find the ongoing will they/won’t they get together to be a distraction, but I like it and find that it gives an added dimension to the stories.
I recommend this as a well paced and enjoyable page turner, don’t be put off by its length. The only thing I find slightly annoying and unnecessary in the Strike novels is the author’s habit of putting a quote at the start of every chapter, but it’s a small price to pay for a good read.