This is the second book in the Cormoran Strike series. The first one, The Cuckoo's Calling was pretty interesting. A little cluttered, according to me, too many things happened.
Cormoran Strike is ex-Army. He lost his leg in Afghanistan. He worked for SIB for a while. Now he is a private investigator. He was dating a beauty called Charlotte off and on for the past 16 years. It has definitely been off now.
Strike managed for find his feet as a Private Investigator after the success of the Lula Landry case (covered in The Cuckoo's Calling). He has several gigs investigating cheating spouses which are bringing in the bread. His secretary, Robin, is still around.
One day he gets a call from a distraught woman who wants Strike to look for her missing husband. He is a famous writer called Owen Quine. He has often left home for long stretches but has come back eventually. But this time he hasn't and she is worried.
Cormoran starts looking for the errant husband but soon discovers a gruesome murder/ There are several suspects, conveniently listed in a book called 'Bombyx Mori' or The Silkworm. So why did the writer disappear? Who committed the gruesome murder?
Cormoran Strike has to step into the publishing world to get his clues, among literary agents, publishing houses, moody writers, transgender people, learning disabled people. He has to unravel past secrets before he can get to the truth.
The book is much less cluttered than The Cuckoo's Calling. The red herrings are not as wild as they were in the first book. The array of characters are quite as vast, but interesting. Strike has these very lengthy interviews with various suspects, too lengthy, I feel. The reveal was another lengthy chapter. We are not filling eight book here, Joanna, we need to be terse.
I was bothered by all the physical pain that poor Strike suffers because of his prosthetic leg. All that labouring about in snow and falling and swollen knees got at me. I do wish he gets some decent medical attention and spruces up his health in future.
His secretary, Robin, has a more active role in this book, luckily. She is a great value add to the series. All of Strike's angst over a famous father who abandoned him, and the uber beautiful girlfriend who ditched him continues to trouble him.
I would not call The Silkworm a very good detective book; it is decent though. I see there is a third in the series.
