Overcomplicated plot

Now let's agree on something at the start of this review, I love the writing of Robert Galbraith. This is the fourth outing for PI Cormoran Strike and his now partner in crime the effervescent Robin Ellacott. At just under 650 pages Lethal White is not for the faint hearted, dip in and out, casual browser, it requires some serious concentration and reading time. It is not really the length of the book that is the problem to me, the first 3 in the series are all around the 600 page mark and the authors style of interactive, descriptive writing lends itself to a heavy page count. The real issue I have with Lethal White is an over complicated plot and a story that at times seems to run around in ever repeating circles (thank goodness for those lighter moments involving Strike, Robin and Mathew) We have a murder, a possible historical murder, blackmail, complicated family structures and a seemingly endless list of well heeled yuppies (upper class twits to you and me) who do not speak in the vernacular but rather their own adapted version of the English Language (think ya instead of yes and you get the idea!) and with an ever flourishing list of gold collar names....Kinvara, Izzy, Fizzy, Venetia, Raff, Torquil, Jasper, Tegan. This scenario creates an endless list of possible perpetrators that would be the envy of a hardened Agatha Christie devotee.

However the real enjoyment from this series is the interplay and relationship, if any, between Robin and Cormoran now that the former has married her childhood sweetheart and controlling boyfriend Matthew. Strike is a damaged Afghanistan war veteran who lost a leg when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device (IED) As a PI in modern day London he must perform his job with the additional handicap of a prosthetic lower right leg. We the reader feel the grief and agony as our damaged antihero must battle not only evil, but the constant pain and suffering from an unforgiving and over used body. The best book in the Strike series is No 3 Career of Evil when a gruesome amputated limb is received at the PI's London office. Book 3 is a gritty affair relying a lot more on action and plot rather than endless "upper-class" dialogue the downfall of Lethal White. I accept that the Strike series is not an arena for serial killers but equally it should not be the playground of an Oxford/Cambridge debating society so let's hope for a much more gritty detective in outing No 5. A worthy but essentially disappointing read.