Ugly Things in the Darkness, Worse Things in Store

This is the third entry in the Cormoran Strike series, and by far my least favorite. It’s gory and disgusting and way too scary for a fraidy-cat like me. That said, I still enjoyed parts of it and I’ll continue to read any other books that come out in this series, for two reasons: Robin Ellacott and Cormoran Strike. The private detective and his assistant are fantastic characters and I love reading about them and their relationship.

I don’t, however, like reading about a serial killer who chops off fingers and keeps them in his pockets. I don’t enjoy reading about a guy who refers to his wife as It because he hates her and only keeps her around because she brings in money. This book is gross. It’s icky and scary and upsetting. The basic plot is that Robin receives a severed leg in the mail, as you do, and they spend the rest of the book investigating which terrible person of Cormoran’s acquaintance might be the one who sent it. If someone sends you a severed leg, and you can come up with a whole list of people it might’ve been, well, call me judgmental but it might be time to ask yourself some uncomfortable questions about how you’re living, friend.

I struggled with this book. I really enjoyed all the chapters about Robin and Cormoran’s personal lives, but I didn’t really like the chapters about the investigation and I HATED the chapters that were written from the point of view of the serial killer. I would totally read a book about Robin and Cormoran not solving any mysteries but just chatting in their office and going to the pub for lunch. I love them. Unfortunately, this series has gotten progressively more disgusting with each book, and I shudder to think what #4 might bring. Where do you go after dismemberment? Once you’ve gone there you can’t go back to routine gunshot wounds or a simple poisoning. We’ll see, but I’ll be peeking reluctantly through my (still attached) fingers.