The Silkworm

“Hard to remember these days that there was a time you had to wait for the ink and paper reviews to see your work excoriated. With the invention of the internet, any subliterate cretin can be Michiko Kakutani.” – Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm

J.K Rowling’s writing is the personification of beauty. Her books are so engaging that you can not put them down. It’s the same with The Silkworm. This has been her latest in the Cormoran Strike novels. Her first- The Cuckoo’s Calling- was her introducing us to a new detective on the block, Cormoran Strike. To know more about it, you could read about it in my previous post.

The Silkworm is the story of a writer, Owen Quine who is basically a manic. His behaviour towards his immediate family is not appealing and he genuinely believes that everyone is out to get him. There are a lot of people who have developed a growing animosity for Quine’s behaviour when they learn that he has written a book called Bombyx Mori, which if published, will result in the doom of all them all.

The book shows the journey of Owen Quine and how he moves through life by meeting people who’s only agenda in life is to put him down. It shows that he has to put up with a lot of drama at every phase. Once the rough copy of the book is introduced to all the people who are playing a role in it, they start to work to assure that this book never sees the light of day. Detective Cormoran Strike is hired by Quine’s wife, Leonora Quine to look for him when he goes missing (just after the copy has been received by quite a few of these people).

The title of the book has been derived from Bombyx Mori, when a silkworm is boiled alive so that it’s silken threads can be preserved. This is also the name of the infamous novel that Owen Quine has left in his wake. The central character is Quine himself who calls himself Bombyx.

J.K. Rowling marks a strong return for herself by making Cormoran Strike come to life. Just like every other detective, Cormoran Strike also works in his own mysterious ways. This is a novel that should not go unnoticed and I don’t think it will. After The Cuckoo’s Calling, it was well deserved that the story of this detective continues.

We are all here looking for a good story and who better than J.K. Rowling herself!