Introduction:
J.K Rowling, the author of the famous Harry Potter series is
into mystery writing with a pseudonym, Robert Galbraith. Her detective,
Cormoran Strike, is a 6’3 tall ex-army
personnel with an amputed leg. He is a private investigator whose achievements
are often envied by the police. This book contains the plot of one of the
mysteries which Strike resolves.
Plot (In brief):
The Silkworm is a crime novel by the renowned J.K.Rowling.
The story starts with an author’s wife approaching the impeccable private
investigator, Cormoran Strike to find her missing husband. The wife tells
Strike that her husband, Quinn who frequently leaves home uninformed has argued
with his publisher about a book he recently finished writing and has been away
for 10 days which is unsual.Strike who has many other cases to resolve gets
intrigued by the bizarre case and the woman’s desperation to find her husband
and takes up the case. He prioritizes this case even though he does not expect
his fees. He meets the author’s publishers, colleagues and gets hold of Quinn’s
latest book, “Bombyx Mori” , which means,“ The Silkworm”.
Quinn’s book is an
epitome of vulgarity, where real people are turned into grotesque characters
with an unusual plot and a replusive ending.
The protagonist of the book, who undoubtedly is Quinn himself, is killed brutally with his intestines
removed and hydrochloric acid spilled all over him. “Bombyx Mori” thus depicts
the story of a person who is burnt alive by people just as silk is extracted
out of a silworm. The book also contains allegations about two
powerful people who are Quinn’s rivals.
With a long suspect list including the characters in Quinn’s
book, Strike sets out to gather clues while interviewing his suspects. His
keen and rather attractive secretary,
Robin tries to win Strike’s approval of her sleuthing abilities by collecting
updates and interviewing book shop
owners, authors. Despite many fruitless attempts to find out Quinn with his
painful amputated leg, Strike never gives up and atlast finds Quinn’s dead body
in exactly the same way as depicted in “Bombyx Mori”. The detective’s former
friend who is the police-in-chief takes up the case and draws preposterous
conclusion that the wife killed her husband.
Assured of his client Leonara Quinn’s innocence, Strike tries to find out to who the cold
blooded killer is. He finds himself followed by a hooded figure who wants to kill
him. Amidst dangerous car crashes, vague interviews, surprising revelations,
family reunions, failed romances, heartbreaks and confusing clues, our
impeccable detective crosses hurdle after hurdle and finds out the murderer
with a clever and unbeatable plan. The murderer is one of Strike’s suspects and
surprisingly it is Quinn’s publisher who tricks Quinn in staging his own death
for publicizing his book. Also, it turns out that the murderer makes changes in
Quinn’s original manuscript and defames everyone close to Quinn. The motive of
the murder is sadism, jealousy and selfishness and desperation to become famous,rich.
On presenting proper proof, Quinn’s widow is dropped of all
charges and happily goes back to her family. Also Quinn’s original version of
the book “Bombyx Mori” gets published which earns a livelihood for Leonora
Quinn. Strike once again proves the police wrong and becomes more famous than
ever. The story ends with an otherwise
introverted Strike visiting his relatives for Christmas after a cordial but
informal goodbye to his secretary, Robin :D ..
My take on J.K.Rowling’s work and “The Silkworm”:
The best gift she
gives our generation is the impeccable detective, Cormoran Strike whom you can
relate to Sherlock Holmes. Strike unlike Holmes is down to earth, physically
impaired but brilliant like Homes. However, you cannot match Holmes’s quickness
of deductions with that of any detective alive or dead even though we have
google– so, Holmes’s fans need not worry about Strike! But the good thing is that we have our own
detective about whom we can boast to future generations and all credits to
Rowling J
.
The protagonist, Cormoran Strike is intuitive, logical and
self driven with enviable will power. He possesses the innate quality of
extracting facts from his interviewees which leave them shocked at their own
unintended revelations. Despite being so perfect, he seems like any other man
with a bad knee , financial problems,heartbreaks and irksome relatives. What
distinguishes Strike from other detectives is that he relies on other people
during investigation and takes their help without the air of “I’m the one who
solved it”. On top of it , he is tall,
huge , can handle villains, fight , and is sexy in his own way :D. Rowling
depicted her perfect thought process, art of deduction and creative ability
through her detective.
Surprisingly, the book has an emotional side to it , where
the readers can actually feel loneliness of a person who is single. Rowling embarked on the delicacy of bad
relationships , new attractions and the silver thread where a person is struck
between the two . She brought out the fact that an ex will always have an effect
on you whether or not the breakup is painful. Apart from matters relating to
the heart, she made it a point to shout to the world about how lucky are the
people who can walk without any deformities.
Lastly, Rowling has proved
to the world that she can also write dirty stuff in the dirtiest way
possible. Bits of “Bombyx Mori” are highly gruesome where we actually wonder if
it is Rowling’s work. The book is also a start up guide to people who wants to
become a detective as it does not contain any extraordinary sleuthing techniques
but just logical trail of events and an ending with the culprit within the list
of suspects.
Thus, “The Silkworm” is a complete package of suspense,
horror, incredulity, feelings, romance and not to forget a tourist’s guide to
London J.
Sad Fact:
->While reading this book, I was struck between wanting
to know the suspense and unwillingness to finish the book. Might have to wait
for a long time for the next Strike mystery L.
->The only disappointment is that Rowling’s fans expect
more from her. When compared to the incredible Potter series, this book can
never make it to the top of my fav book list. However, non readers of her work
will embrace and enjoy it. For you guys, Welcome to the world of Rowling !! J
