Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike Series) book review

The reason we're talking about all of these books is because I finally finished Troubled Blood.

Welcome to the Cormoran Strike fan club. My name is Kyla Denanyoh, and I am the president of the fan club. We're happy to have you.

Troubled Blood is written by Robert Galbraith. The genre is fiction, and the theme is mystery. Cormoran Strike is a private investigator in London, and Troubled Blood is the fifth book in the Cormoran Strike series.

Cormoran Strike is a private investigator in London, and because I just finished Troubled Blood, I thought it was the perfect time to rank the books I've read so far, tell you my favorites, and talk about why I'm completely obsessed with this series.

Let's start at the beginning.

The first book is The Cuckoo's Calling.

I kept seeing it everywhere. At first it didn't really grab me. I probably should have read the description, but I just kept noticing it on bestseller lists. Eventually I picked it up because I'd been falling head over heels for mystery novels.

I'm so glad I did because I became obsessed.

Then I started telling all my friends, "Oh my gosh, you have to read Cormoran Strike!"

Then I got on Twitter and people said, "Duh... there's a TV show."

There's a TV show? That is so on brand for me because I'm always late to every trend.

Reading The Cuckoo's Calling, you immediately fall for Strike. You become invested in his complicated family story with Leda, and you get completely pulled into the mystery surrounding Lula Landry.

I would absolutely reread that one because it would be fun to experience Strike again now that I've read further into the series.

The second book, The Silkworm?

Never again.

It's incredibly well written, but it is so dark. Robert Galbraith writes so vividly that I genuinely felt like I was standing in the room while someone was being murdered. There were moments I was afraid to open my freezer because my imagination had completely taken over.

It's disturbing.

The story centers around writers, which I usually love, but this one was just too gruesome for me.

Then there's Career of Evil.

Going into it, I thought it might be difficult because of the subject matter involving children.

Instead, I loved it.

One word comes to mind every time I think about that book:

Shanker.

I can picture him perfectly. I can hear him calling Cormoran "Bunsen." He's such a memorable character, and his relationship with Strike becomes even more interesting as the series goes on.

It wasn't until Lethal White that I really started noticing the slow-burn romance happening underneath all the mysteries.

Strike is dating people.

Robin is dating people.

Lucy has her family.

Charlotte keeps appearing.

Then suddenly I found myself asking:

What's going to happen with Robin?

Learning about horses was surprisingly fascinating, and I loved watching Robin take on undercover identities and completely disappear into different characters.

I would absolutely reread Lethal White.

Then we arrive at Troubled Blood.

It is 927 pages long.

Nine hundred and twenty-seven.

And somehow I still wanted more.

"I just knew it was Irene... and I was wrong. I was very, very wrong."

This book introduces so many characters, but somehow Robert Galbraith makes every single one memorable.

The detective agency is growing, so we're following multiple investigations while also getting a much deeper look into Strike's personal life. Strike has always been incredibly private, but here we learn more about Joan, Ted, and the family relationships that shaped him.

I could picture Ted so clearly while I was reading. The scenes with the lotus flowers on the water were absolutely beautiful.

There were definitely parts I didn't enjoy. The Dennis Creed storyline is incredibly disturbing, and the writing is so vivid that I could picture much more than I wanted to.

But when it comes to solving the mystery...

I was convinced I had figured it out.

Absolutely convinced.

I knew it was Irene.

I knew she had pretended to be pregnant.

I knew she was the one who used Margot's name.

I was completely certain.

I was also completely wrong.

That's exactly what I love about these books. The mystery is genuinely a mystery.

One of the biggest surprises happened after I finished the third book. I remember thinking, "Someone really needs to turn these books into a television series." So I looked up Robert Galbraith and that's when I discovered Robert Galbraith is actually J.K. Rowling's pen name.

I had no idea.

I've never read the Harry Potter books, but I know plenty of adults who absolutely love them.

Now I'm curious, is the character development in Harry Potter as strong as it is in the Strike series?

Is that why people became so attached to those characters?

Now I can't wait to find out.

These books were some of the first mysteries that made me realize something about myself.

I think I really like mysteries.

I love the suspense.

Especially when they're this well written.

Get your copy of Troubled Blood. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

https://youtu.be/IaKKuTCNw08?si=IHnHQqbOol2tMbCr

Until the next book review, 

Kyla