Book Review 2016: The Silkworm and Career of Evil

I'm horrible about posting my book reviews. I still have several from last year (I will get to them eventually). Today I thought I would combine two since they are in the same series. I actually finished The Silkworm last year, but never wrote the review. I just finished book 3 of the series, Career of Evil, last week. If you would like to check out my review of the first book in this series, The Cuckoo's Calling, click here.

**All reviews published on Randomness With Rachel are done on a five-star rating system. The reviews are solely my opinion and no one else's. Randomness With Rachel does not receive any incentives or compensations for reviews.**

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

This is the second book in the Cormoran Strike series. After finishing the first one, I couldn't wait to start this book. This time the private investigator and his sidekick secretary assistant Robin Ellacott are hired by the wife of novelist Owen Quine to track down her husband. She is convinced he has gone off to escape from the world for a few days and she wants Strike to bring him home. 

During the investigation Strike and Robin discover that Owen has written a "tell all" book, revealing intimate details about the lives of several people, including fellow authors and some women in his life. Although it was "supposedly" a work of fiction (and names were changed), it was written in such a way that the "guilty" parties would know who was who. It's no surprise that Owen is later found brutally murdered and that there are many suspects. (Note: the author does go into some great detail describing the murder scene, so just a warning if you are squeamish). 

I will confess this book started out a little slow, but once it picked up, I really enjoyed it. This book is over 450 pages, so it's not the kind you can sit down and read on a Saturday (unless you have absolutely nothing else to do except read all day. Honestly, those are my favorite kind of days). 

The Silkworm takes the reader more into Robin's personal life and her relationship with fiancè Matthew. I'll leave my personal opinion of those two out of this review (so I don't spoil anything for those who will read this series). It also shows the growth of Strike and Robin's professional relationship (which I really liked). Robin moves past being just a secretary to a colleague that Strike can rely on, and someone he truly respects. 

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

I checked out the first two books of this series from the library. When this book came out, there were 53 people on the waiting list AHEAD of me, so I broke down and bought it. (Okay, I bought the first book in the series eventually because a certain friend of mine was too lazy to go to his library to check it out. I finally bought it so he could borrow it. He loved it (I knew he would). He's hooked on the series too. Lol.

I absolutely LOVED this book. I keep bugging friends to finish it so we can discuss it. :)

The book starts with Robin receiving a severed leg in the mail (I know, gross, right?) The package was addressed to her, but Strike is convinced it was meant for him. Strike can think of four people from his past who are capable of doing such a horrible thing (for the record, I don't know ANYONE who could be capable of mailing a severed leg). 

Strike and the local police have different theories on who is responsible (of course they do), so Strike and Robin set out on their own to track down the killer (mailer?) J.K. Rowling I'm sorry, Robert Galbraith, once again gets very descriptive in some of the scenes (so that is another word of warning for my squeamish friends). In my opinion, this book is creepier and darker than the first two. Of course this would be my favorite of the series. Lol.

SPOILER ALERT! Only click this button if you have read the book (or just don't care about spoilers).

Robin is helping Strike with this investigation all while planning her upcoming wedding to Matthew. Matthew is obviously jealous of her working relationship with Strike, and this is causing issues between the couple.

This book made me desperately wish that book 4 was already published. But sadly it's not. And there isn't even a release date. OH THE TORTURE! I decided to tweet about it on Friday afternoon (copying Robert Galbraith and J.K. Rowling's Twitter handles). For those who didn't read my review of book one, Robert Galbraith is J.K. Rowling's pseudonym. When I checked Twitter later that evening, I noticed that J.K. Rowling had "liked" my tweet. I'm convinced we are best friends now. Lol.

If you have read this series and would like to discuss, please let me know! I'm desperately wanting to talk about it with people. Lol.

I promise more book reviews to come soon! 

XOXO!