The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike, #6) by Robert Galbraith

 The older Strike got, the more he’d come to believe that in a prosperous country, in peacetime – notwithstanding those heavy blows of fate to which nobody was immune, and those strokes of unearned luck of which Inigo, the inheritor of wealth, had clearly benefited – character was the most powerful determinant of life’s course.

PI Robin Ellacott is approached by cartoonist, Edie Ledwell, who has been harassed to the brink of a nervous breakdown. Edie rose to fame when her an her boyfriend Josh Blay created The Ink Black Heart, for YouTube and it generated a massive following with a devoted fanbase, complete with overly obsessed superfans. One fan in particular, screen name Anomie, has devoted their life to ruining Edie's, harrassing her through social media and using an online game to help whip the fandom into an angry mob hell bent on punishing the cartoonist. Edie's desperate to learn Anomie's true identity. Robin turns down the case and, a few days later, Edie Ledwell is murdered, sending Robin and Strike down the rabbit-hole that is obsessed-internet-fans.

So there was an insane amount of content in this book, ninety something chapters and 1,000-plus pages. Some people complained about the lengths, but to me it looked like RG needed every single one of them to tell the story that got told, and I read it in three days. I couldn't put it down, nor did I want to put it down. The writing of the Strike series has improved so much from the first book, which for me, was too slow by comparison, and struggled to make its main characters compelling.

One of the things I did like about the first book was its lack of unnecessary romantic subplot... In between Robin and Cormoran's working hours we get a look at their occasionally messed up personal lives, and hey, that's drama enough. But that changed book by book, until here we are at The Ink Black Heart and the author's convinced me that these two are perfect for each other and I'm thinking, "Okay, if we're going to romantic subplot it, let's get it done," but no, the characters themselves just aren't ready to talk about their feelings. Strike wants to hide his feelings by dating someone else and Robin's going to punish herself by burying herself in work. How many more thousands of pages is that going to go on for? And when will Strike's psycho-ex girlfriend get a clue and sod off? (Am I using 'sod off' correctly in a sentence? I feel like I nailed it.)

Moving away from the will-they-won't-they-subplot that will either cheapen or enrich the series as only time can tell, this book had a lot to offer. Parts of it were written as chat transcripts, tweets, Tumblr and Reddit posts, and comments on YouTube,  (I think is part of why the page count is so high) which for me, it did drag fiction a bit into the real world. Somebody posts something on the internet and and somebody else posts the most cleverly hateful thing they can say in response to it. We put ourselves out there, for everyone to access without ever truly knowing who is sitting on the other side of the screen...

A mystery about cyberbullying gone to far is incredibly relevant to today's society. Hell, just look at the 1 Star reviews for this book: most of which appear to have been made by people who haven't read the book, and hate JK Rowling for her political viewpoints which have been interpreted as being transphobic. Sometimes being offended should be as simple as knowing when to shut the computer off. Instead, social newtorking platforms have made it all too easy to get obsessed with the court of public opinion. Who said what, why did they say it, how do I prove that I'm right and they're wrong... I don't doubt that Rowling's own experiences have produced Edie: a character who is accused of racism, antisemitism, and ableism by fans who think she's putting political metaphors in a cartoon about a possessed heart that lives in a cemetary. 

Our main suspect, Anomie, started out as a super-fan who invented an online game based on the cartoon, to keep the hype up for the cartoon. But 'Drek's Game' is being used by a far-right demographic to communicate with each other. The kind of people who want to gay bash, who want humiliate and exclude foreigners, and who want to dehumanize minorities. The people who accuse Edie Ledwell are living the life they say they hate her for. They're the kind of men who think women are bitches if they're too successful, too opinionated, or don't return the affections of a man. It's not unusual to see mysogyny in Rowlings work, as she's so openly broadcasted her stance on feminism... But just as important as knowing where hate is, is taking time to notice where hate isn't. 

Main character Robin is used to being harrassed by men who can't take a hint, and occasionally feels self-conscious about her own status as female when her Strike wants to protect her. But Strike is constantly left awed by Robin's aptitude for investigative work and just wants to protect her based on the feelings he's not dealing with (see paragraph on romantic subplot) and he doesn't want to screw up his business or his friendship by being just another workplace-creeper.

The pair will have to infiltrate chatrooms, art school communes, and ComicCon if they want to catch a killer who's hiding behind a keyboard, and in doing so they'll have to put their own lives on the line. I had no problem with giving a murder mystery that reminds us about the power of words, the importance of thinking for yourself, to treat others how you'd want to be treated, and to take care of your kids, a five star rating.