Georgia Kostopoulou

This month it was timne to read the third installment in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith along with the other #bookstagrammers participating in this monthly #StrikeReadAlong. We dived into it and we enjoyed it very much.

After the first two books and the fact that Robin has secured her position alongside Strike, doing what she loves, a mysterious package comes to disturb the waters at the detective agency. With the hours she puts in, Robin does not have a regular working time frame, so she started receiving packages for the wedding at work. So, when a package arrives, she receives it without much fuss. Only when she opens it she realizes this is not what she has been expecting. The content justifies the unexpected weight of the package, but it is something that no one would expect to receive. Robin is horrified to find a woman’s severed leg once she opens the package.

Strike is handling it all with all the professional experience he has from SIB. Police is summoned over and they go through questioning on who could be sending the package. Given that the package was initially addressed to Strike but afterwards addressed to Robin, it comes to everyone’s mind that the sender is someone that knows Strike. Someone that holds a grunge on Strike. Four suspects come into his mind and he shares them all with the police. So investigation starts.

This story is so much more personal than the previous two books. We get to know personal details upon both their lives. We even learn why Robin dropped out of college and that’s a detail she doesn’t share. So the two of them come closer and it becomes really clear how much Strike cares for Robin and he wants to protect her from any harm that could be caused to her, including a romantic relationship with someone that might hurt her. Even so, their relationship remains strictly professional and all we see of those two together is working as partners. To be honest, I like them most as partners. I just need a more understanding Matthew. It’s not all about him; Robin is a person too. One with real needs.

Cormoran Strike is not described as the most handsome man in the world, but he sees to have something that really beautiful women like. He is really big. A tall former boxer with a broken nose doesn’t seem attractive to me, but he always finds girlfriends that are model beautiful. I don’t know how he does that, but he is not treating his girlfriends in the best possible way. Like he’s being there only temporarily. Like he is still looking for something better.

Robin is definitely better. She may not be model beautiful, but she is very beautiful and a very kind person. She cares about the innocent and she always try to protect them. Sometimes jeopardizing her own safety. She can be a little stubborn, but she loves detective work and she is so happy with what she does at the agency. It’s where she feels free to be herself!

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