JK Rowling gives us her trademark intricate, tightly plotted, and complex crime fiction in this, the fourth of her engrossing Cormoran Strike series, set amidst the heady and euphoric background of the surprisingly successful 2012 London Olympics. It begins where Career of Evil left off, at Robin Ellacott's disastrous wedding to the sullen and resentful Matthew, with Robin over the moon at being reinstated at Strike's detective agency as partner. Strike is finding his fame is reducing his opportunities to work out in the field, and is forced into a more administrative and organising role as the agency becomes inundated with work. He brings in other operators with mixed results when a young manic and mentally disturbed young man, Billy, seeks him out to tell of a child murder of long ago in Oxfordshire. Billy is vague about details, and though very young himself, he had been drugged, and uncertain as to the veracity of the memories that have eaten away at his sanity through the years. Strike's interest is aroused, specifically with the detail of the pink blanket that lends an authenticity to the tale, but Billy becomes alarmed and runs away.
The narrative has a running motif of horses, Lethal White Syndrome is where a mare gives birth to a pure white foal that appears to be healthy, but is fatally afflicted with a defective bowel, impeding its ability to pass faeces, doomed to not survive. Strike gains a financially lucrative case that oddly enough has connections to Billy where a prominent politician is being blackmailed and needs to find dirt on the perpetrators. In a story set amidst the intrigue and political machinations within the Houses of Westminister, the close knit circles of the privileged classes and far left politics, Strike and Robin find themselves short on leads. They are on the scene of an apparent suicide, have emotionally fraught personal lives, and visit a dilapidated run down Manor House in Oxfordshire, home to the Chiswell family and their secrets. There are a host of suspects that the detectives have to sift through as they endeavour to connect means and motive in their search for the truth, unaware of just how much danger they are in.
This is a long read and I know this will make many readers unhappy, but for me I liked the length as I was thoroughly absorbed by this novel. A particular highlight is the depth of the wide range of diverse characters, and the state of marriage and relationships. Through the years, I have seen at close hand amidst my circles of family and friends, various permutations of the relationships outlined in Lethal White. Della Wynn, the blind Sports Minister makes the insightful observation "I think marriage is nearly always an unfathomable entity, even to the people inside". We see the soul destroying misery of Robin's marriage, Lorelei faced with an emotionally unavailable Cormoran who sees her little more than a convenience, the dysfunctional and destructive Charlotte Ross's marriage to Jago Ross, Jasper's problematic marriages and affairs, Flick and Jimmy's turbulent relationship, and Della forced to confront the reality of Geraint's behaviour. In personal relationships, emotions and the desire to avoid conflict can make it difficult to draw the necessary red lines, Rowling does a sterling job in exploring the nature of relationships in this book. This is hugely entertaining and intelligent crime fiction, and I look forward to reading the next in the series with eager anticipation. Highly recommended!