#am I going to have a breakdown every time there’s a Holliday or event? I canNOT be caught feeling like a fucking ball of lint every

[peapod20001]

Bro I’m </3 thinking too hard </3

[chiaratippy]

Some Thoughts on Lethal White

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED THE BOOK!

So it basically started like this: I had pre-ordered the book on Amazon and the delivery was meant for the 28th of September, which was yesterday, so I told myself to wait untile then to start reading it, BUT since I am very very bad at being patient when it comes to things I’ve been waiting for for a long time, when the book finally came out on the 18th, I caved in and searched the not so legal parts of the internet to see if someone had uploaded the ebook.Yes, I know that it’s not a nice thing to do, but since I had purchased the book anyway, I felt I could put my conscience to rest. And in the end I had done right by me in retrospect, because Amazon let me know ONLY on the day the book was meant to arrive at my home, which was yesterday as I have already said, that they had no more books to send out, and that the book will eventually be delivered to me between the 28th of October and the 6th of December!! But of course I had already started to get my suspicions since the delivery notification had never been sent in the previous days. In the meantime, partly because I wanted to take it slow since I knew I would’ve to wait a long time for the next book, and partly because I was still thinking the book was coming on the 28th, on the 18th I had started reading the ebook but ordered myself to read only 1 or 2 chapters a day. Of course I tried my best and of course at times I have failed miserably and read more than 2, but I managed to not finish the first half of the book when the damned email from Amazon came yesterday morning. Once that email came to me, I threw all self-control out the window and started reading very fast and finished the book late this afternoon.

So, some thoughts about the book on the whole: did I like it? Yes. Is it my favourite? Honestly, I don’t think so. I might change my mind on a second read, but as of right now I still think Career of Evil had the perfect balance of private lives of the characters and crime-fighting and investigating. Lethal White has a lot of personal development that I really enjoyed and love and that I found realistic and well-done, but the crime part wasn’t exactly my favourite. It was very complicated - maybe a bit too much - and really started to take real shape and get the right rhythm and pacing starting with the second half of the book. It was different and it was good, but I did not find it that gripping or as interesting as I expected or hoped.

Speaking of the crime plot, I was convinced Raff was going to have an important part because of his “connection” with Robin, but I was really convinced of his being guilty and of his affair with his father’s wife once Strike told Robin about the connection between what Raff had said and what Della had told him, but I still couldn’t really piece all of it together when it came to the motive, when it was actually as simple as Raff being a piece of shit in every possible way. At the end I wondered if it was some kind of mental condition running in the male side of the family, given that his late brother was a piece of crap too. I had also got it right on the thing buried being a horse and not a kid, though even then I couldn’t find an explanation as to the why because it seemed to not make sense with the rest, and it did end up being something separate from the murder. I did not see Raff posing as Matthew and taking Robin to kill her coming, though. 

I’m sure the adaptation will make things simpler and for the first time I think it might actually be a good thing. But I do believe they need to make at least 3 episodes out of this, otherwise it will be a mess.

Okay, now let’s talk about the juicy stuff! On a personal level as far as the characters go, this book was a gift! Personally, I had prepared myself for Robin not getting rid of that abominable piece of trash by the end of the book, but after reading the events of the wedding and how she wanted to get an annulment and how she had started to question her feelings for Strike, I became fairly sure that if she had started the book like this, she would’ve left the abominable piece of trash by the end of it, and the one-year time jump reinforced my opinion on the matter. And I was right, thank god! Though I would’ve preferred for Robin to not get married with that poor excuse of a man to begin with and to spend a year trying to make it work despite being clearly miserable, I think that given her personal history and character traits, she “needed” to reach the very bottom in their marriage to finally become completely disillusioned with him and realise she didn’t love him and probably held on to him out of misplaced feelings of love and safety and familiarity. I really liked the character development she went through both professionally and personally, and that last scene with the abominable piece of garbage was just great. I felt irritated, exasperated, disgusted and scared by him together with her, and I exulted and rejoiced when she did not let him stop her, she finally put him in his place and left him. I realised he was cheating on her two pages before reading his missent text to Robin that was meant for Sarah and that was when I knew for sure that the moment of reckoning was close, especially since before that Robin had already and finally admitted to herself that she didn't love him anymore. And oh, was it worth the wait. I didn’t think her soon-to-be-ex husband could disgust me more, but of course he had to refute me and make me put him in the top 5 fictional characters I hate with all my heart. His words to Robin were inexcusable and despicable and just showed and confirmed, together with everything said and done by him during their last fight and in the previous books, what kind of small and petty and insignificant human being he is. And I don’t know why but I’m sure he started the affair again after she refused to sleep with him, which makes him even more contemptible.

As I was saying above, I liked how Robin has grown in this book. She has shown how valuable and good she is at her job - she just needs to believe more in herself and that Corm really values her and respects her and cares about her both professionally and personally - she’s found a friend in Vanessa (I love that! Too bad there was no interaction with Nick and Ilsa) and I’m sure she’ll have made at least one more friend by the beginning of the next book and right now I have no reason to doubt we’ll find her more confident and healthy in the future.

And as Robin seems to have finally started her journey to the life she deserves and wants, I think Corm has to go through his own moment of reckoning with Charlotte. This book gave us a taste of what I think we’ll find in the next. Lethal White gave me reason to believe she will have a more central role in the next book, which could involve Strike getting in contact with her again for some reason and having to finally say goodbye to their unhealthy, dysfunctional, abusive “love.” I mean, that whole restaurant thing she planned? I had a strong feeling that she was manipulative, destructive and abusive and probably mental, but man... is she something. The way she talked, it seems she will try everything she can to get him to beg for her to get back together or at the very least to manipulate and have influence over him and his life as much as possible, which I think might involve Robin as well in some way. Cormoran has his own baggage when it comes to love and this book made it abundantly clear. The passage about his not wanting to say “I love you” unless he is absolutely and undeniably sure he wants to build a life with that person just screamed “OH IS HE GOING TO SAY IT FOR THE FIRST TIME TO ROBIN ONE DAY” to me and I can’t wait for it. I do feel sorry for all the women he ends up hurting along the way though. I understand where he’s coming from, but please stay alone if you can’t find it in yourself to be with anyone unless it’s exactly on your own terms. He should’ve known that after almost a year of dating, that woman would develop feelings for him. But I also understand that he’s human and he’s been a mess for a lot of reasons so I won’t crucify him for that. I do think he has learned his lesson from this latest relationship and I do hope he will stay single in the next book, and I’m also saying this because he needs to focus on Robin. ^^

After the way the book had started, with that distance between them and the whole honeymoon misunderstanding, I couldn’t help but LOVE LOVE LOVE chapter 26. I loved it so much I read it twice again before moving on to the next chapter. I loved that despite the current distance between them, she dumped everything for him and was there and he showed his vulnerable side to her and the kiss! Oh my god the kiss! It was accidental, yeah sure, but did they like it! It was so adorable and to be honest my mind almost immediately started to picture Tom and Holliday playing the scene perfectly in my head! I loved how they got closer and closer after that and their car trips are honestly becoming one of my favourite things to read. Robin’s breakdown in the car and at the side of the road was so powerful and important and Corm can be the cutest and sweetest and most tender of people and he is the only man who sees Robin’s worth and supports her and wants the best for her and that makes me love him more and more. And when he bought champagne to celebrate Robin leaving that piece of shit of her husband?? And it was great how he told her she should take care of herself and not to pretend everything’s fine when it isn’t. She did need to hear that and he was exactly the best person to do that, probably the only one she would’ve listened to. If only they were more open with their feelings for each other as they have learned to be on other matters... but I guess there’s still time for that. :P And something that I really liked is that he’s started to feel so much at ease with Robin to not care about showing and removing his prosthesis and showing his stump. I just wish he took better care of himself, when he neglects his health - his leg in particular - I feel the need to punch some reason into him, which also makes me love that Robin told him to stay put while they were digging and made him lean on to her when he was in too much pain.

Oh, and also: I knew she was going to wear the green dress for the olympic/paralympic event and that he would see her in it! But of course her poor excuse of a (ex) husband had to ruin that as well. -.-

Going back to chapter 26, it got me really emotional, seeing Cormoran so fragile and vulnerable, and it was refreshing as well I must say. I was also wondering if maybe this newfound relationship with his nephew couldn’t actually be a way for Corm to start being more open to the idea of having a child or more in the future, if the right person (*cough* Robin *cough*) were to show up. Just a passing thought I had (maybe I should write a short piece of fanfic on it :P), I guess we’ll have to wait and see. 

Okay, this is some of my rambling on the book, I am certain I forgot something and failed to delve deeper into other stuff, but right now I think my brain has had enough. xD I might post some more once my brain has digested all properly.