The Silkworm, by Robert Gailbraith, (a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling) is the second in the Cormoran Strike series of mysteries. Gailbraith’s mysteries are riveting and powerful. Cormoran Strike is a private detective and a war veteran who was severely wounded during his service. He and his assistant, Robin Ellacott, take on difficult and brutal cases. The solving of these crimes is fascinating, as is the growing, changing, relationship between those two main characters.
Summary from Robert-galbraith.com:
The Silkworm – It takes a unique mind to solve a unique crime.
A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, The Silkworm is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant Robin Ellacott.
When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days – as he has done before – and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.
But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine’s disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives – so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.
And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before…
My responses to the book: I didn’t listen to this audiobook straight through. When I first started it a few months ago, it seemed a little too gruesome and dark, and that wasn’t what I wanted to be reading at that time. So I set it aside for a while and then decided to go ahead and listen to it for RIP-XIII. This time, I found it impossible to stop listening to it! The plot was complicated and compelling, and the narration by Robert Glenister was excellent.
J.K. Rowling is an amazing and versatile writer, and I am now completely hooked on this series.
This was my second book read for Readers Imbibing Peril, XIII.
A Fondness For Reading 
I like the Strike Series as well. The relationship unfolding between Cormoran and Robin is something I’m looking for the 4th installment. Wait, until you get to the ending of “Career of Evil”. It’ll take your breath away. 😀
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Jheelam, I’m so looking forward to reading it!
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I agree with the comment above – wait until you get to the ending of CAREER OF EVIL! I love this series and am so excited about the 4th being published later this month. I’ve been ready for a little Cormoran and Robin. Have you watched the TV adaptation? We don’t get Cinemax, so we haven’t seen it. I think there was one episode for free and we watched that, but the rest are not available to us. I agree that the books are a little grim, but you know, Harry Potter is a little grim too, right? As far as I’m concerned, that woman (Rowling) can write a good pageturner.
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Kay, I have not seen the TV series yet either, but I’d like to! I read plenty of grim and gruesome, but I was at a tender point and needed kind and gentle books for awhile. Once I started back in with The Silkworm, though, I couldn’t stop listening! She is so good!
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I really enjoyed this on audio! Here’s what I wrote on my blog a few years ago:
This is a wonderful series, especially on audio. The pacing is taut, the plot full of twists & turns, and Robert Glenister proves, once again, to be an excellent reader. Unlike other male readers, I’m never annoyed with his female characterizations. As with The Cuckoo’s Calling (the first in this series), I was more interested in the character development and not quite as engrossed in the actual mystery. I’m eager to see what’s in store for Cormoran and Robin and hope I don’t have to wait too long!
Final Thoughts:
No sophomoric slump for Robert Galbraith! The Silkworm is another entertaining installment to the Cormoran Strike series. If you haven’t read either of these mysteries, you’re missing out.
I’m looking forward to someday watching this series on TV. We don’t get Cinemax, but I’m hopeful that it will eventually be available on Netflix.
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Les, great review! I wish I could see the TV series, too. Hopefully it will soon be available more easily for us!
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