Review of THE HALLMARKED MAN by Robert Galbraith

 3 Stars

This is the eighth Cormoran Strike novel; it’s not the longest of the series but has over 900 pages.

A mutilated and dismembered corpse is found in the vault of a silver shop that specializes in selling Masonic artifacts. Police identify the victim, but Decima Mullins, a woman with loose family connections to Strike’s former fiancée, is convinced that the dead man is the vanished father of her newborn son. She hires Strike to prove her theory. Strike and his partner, Robin Ellacott, discover that there are other missing men whose descriptions match the corpse, so they need to find each of these men to eliminate or confirm him as the murder victim. And then their investigations uncover more victims.

As in the previous installments, the personal relationship between Cormoran and Robin plays an important role in the narrative. Robin is in an increasingly deepening relationship with CID Officer Ryan Murphy. Will Cormoran finally speak of his feelings for his partner before Ryan cements their relationship? I must say that Cormoran and Robin’s see-saw relationship is becoming tiresome. After 7 years, there has been no progress. I find myself becoming increasingly exasperated with Strike’s constant hesitating and Robin’s inability to be honest with herself and others. The pointless keeping of secrets causes unnecessary conflicts between the two.

Labyrinthine is the best adjective to describe the plot. There are so many characters in the convoluted investigation that it is difficult to keep track of all the characters and remember the relationships among the large cast. And on the topic of characters, am I the only one who thinks that Ryan is just another Matthew? Robin’s ex-husband was jealous of Cormoran and subtly manipulated Robin, and Ryan is equally guilty.

Parts of the book are predictable. The trajectory of the plot involving Kim Cochran is so obvious. She flirts with Cormoran and disrespects Robin so what happens is inevitable. An important question involves how the murderer got into the vault, yet neither Robin nor Strike investigate the solution that will occur to anyone familiar with crime fiction and dramas?!

As the series continues, my enjoyment of the books is lessening. I’m not sure how much longer I will continue. Perhaps I’ll just stream Strike.