Intermission: The Hallmarked Man

This is the eigth book in the Cormoran Strike series. Published on 2 September, I had hoped that my copy would arrive that day so that I could make a start on it during our travels, but it only came after I arrived in Rapallo. I've been reading it mainly in the early mornings and evenings, and I finished it on Friday evening; that said, I will have to read it again soon as my understanding of the detective part of the book is somewhat lacking. It's a complicated story and I don't think that I was paying enough attention at the beginning.

So what can I say? Well, the Reddit Strike community has been guessing for several months what the book - primarily the non-detective part - will contain, and most of those guesses were correct:

• Bijou Watkins makes a repeat performance
• Johnny Rokeby finally makes his initial appearance
• DCI Murphy is caught drinking

The first part of the book has a great deal of inner monologue from Strike and Robin, and I have to say that this gets tedious. So many personal misunderstandings; instead of trying to clear the air and explain what they mean, each takes the other's actions and dialogue in the most extreme manner possible that leads to misunderstandings escalating to anger. I would have thought that grown adults could do better.

There are many references to babies: not only the infamous Bijou, but also to Robin's elder and younger brothers. Robin's police friend Vanessa (she appears in one of the early books, and in 'Troubled Blood') is on maternity leave. And Robin - who does not have a baby (that's not a spoiler).

The subcontractors appear somewhat less in this book; Barclay, the Scot, doesn't have as many funny lines as in previous books. Dev Shah, the pretty one, had his nose broken in a previous book and here he gets stabbed in the leg, but it's off-screen. On the other hand, new hire Kim appears rather too much and gets fired by the end of the book. The small amount of comedy that the book possesses centres around the fish tank that Pat the receptionist brings.

I had got the impression that a sizeable amount of the story would take place in Sark, the smallest of the Channel Islands. This certainly adds colour and variation to the story, but in the end, Strike and Robin are there for one night only/

To me, it's strange how people (Reddit Strike fans, that is) approach the books. For most of them, it seems not to be a series about a private detective agency, but more about how two people can meet, become friends and possibly more. For example, here is a typical quote: Some people need to understand that this book isn’t the end of the series. If it was the final book and it ended like that, then I’d get the disappointment but there are still at least two more books to go. A lot has been invested in Strike-Robin and I’m convinced there will be a payoff before the end and that it will be beautifully written.

No one would have considered the Inspector Banks books in the same way. These books had short arcs with characters appearing for a few books then disappearing, but there was a never a sense of progressing to a specific resolution. The books only finished because author Peter Robinson died. The Strike fans seem to be more influenced by the Harry Potter series and its multi-book direction. Just because J. K. Rowling is the author of both series doesn't mean that Strike is going to have the same arc as HP.