THE SIlKWORM
Author: Robert Galbraith
Publisher: Hachette, Rs 699
JK Rowling’s second novel in Cormoran Strike series is an intelligently narrated thriller, though the readers may face occasional moments of disinterest as it tends to be prolonged, says ANANYA BORGOHAIN
When JK Rowling split with her literary agent Christopher little, who had helped her get her first Harry Potter book released, it had created news. After the cult Potter series was through, Rowling also parted ways with her publisher Bloomsbury. She is no stranger to the logistical inconveniences of the publishing world. She was required to use only initials for the Potter series since the publishers apprehended that a female author weaving fantasy literature would only propagate mass cynicism.
For her later works, The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Casual Vacancy, she resorted to adopting the pseudonym Robert Galbraith so that the burden of expectations from her own brand of writing would lessen. Under such circumstances, when her latest novel, the second book in the Cormoran Strike series, The Silkworm, revolves around the shady and macabre world of the publishing industry, it instantly offers personal undertones and causes optimal intrigue.
A plain and incohesive leonora Quine hires (British) private detective Cormoran Strike to find her husband, novelist Owen Quine. As things unfold, Strike learns that Quine had written a rather nasty novel which was a brutal personal assault on everybody he is associated with in the field of publishing. His almost-rotten corpse is discovered by Strike in the exact, vivid way as described in the novel. His murder is a complete rip-off of his own manuscript Bombyx Mori (latin for silkworm). But of course, only somebody who had access to his unpublished novel could have recreated the real murder to the point of perfect accuracy; and hence begins Strike’s saga — along with his assistant Robin — of unearthing the real faces and inner lives of of editors, book agents, novelists, publishers, et al.
The london literary community unanimously shuns Bombyx Mori, deeming it nothing short of a heinous anthology of sadomasochism, necrophilia, rape, cannibalism etc, and its hero is consumed alive by people who ostensibly represent the ones in Quine’s life, who are again a perpetual threat to his staggering career.
Interestingly, bombyx mori is a silkworm that is boiled alive within its cocoon so that the silken threads inside the cocoon could be preserved and used. Under the scanner then come leonora Quine, Owen Quine’s mistress Kathryn Kent, his agent, Elizabeth Tassel, his editor Jerry Waldegrave, his publisher Daniel Chard, his protégé Pippa Midgley, and fellow novelist Michael Fancourt, all equipped with substantial reasons to eliminate Quine.
The Silkworm exhibits intelligent storytelling and does not resort to sensationalism and titillation, which are usually the most effective tools to popularise a murder mystery. It displays careful structuring and sequencing of the events in the story with plenty of literary references. However, it is also, to put it crudely, unnecessarily long. Much of the plot focuses on developing the character of the eccentric and erratic Cormoran, who lost his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, and his relationship with Robin. That is predictable since Galbraith is creating a series where other characters will come and go but Strike will continue to be the protagonist. But unfortunately, the characters in the novel are lacklustre, and do not serve to make him look any good. More than 150 pages are invested in Strike only trying to find out the hitherto missing Quine and it is much later that the murder comes to the fore and the actual crime fiction starts therein.
However, it comes close to being a modern parallel to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. An oddball male lead, his unique tension-filled bond with his assistant, which is more of a prime focus of the novel, a confidante in law enforcement (Richard Anstis in this case), the usual list of creamy suspects in a glittering elite world, and so on.
But then, Galbraith’s treatment of both her plot and characters are not harmonious. Certain sections look so redundant that at one point the reader is expected to lose all interest in finding out who the murderer is. Not to mention, a brooding male protagonist and his now-on-now-off romantic alliance with his assistant is by now an official cliché.
Strike’s acerbic demeanour draws significant fascination. He is many personas put together in one: part sardonic, part cold, part emotional and part romantic. Different facets of the man unfurl at various junctures in the story. What makes the novel a very intriguing read is also its occasional and subtle, yet inescapable chutzpah. Besides, Rowling’s blatant attack on the london publishing community, there are also references to episodes such as the infamous phone hacking scandal that led to the end of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World, or the forum to self-publish, where Quine’s lover says she wants to seek refuge in the “indie” course: “Traditional publishers wouldn’t know good books if they were hit over the head with them.”
Rowling reportedly never planned to reveal her identity while writing as Galbraith. Until of course when The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013) was being published, Galbraith’s real identity was leaked to the world by the publishing industry.
Thereby, Rowling’s anger against the same is transparent and does not even make an attempt to appear conceited. And that is enough of a lure to be reading this thriller. There may be an imbalance in the form and narrative, but the substance of the novel is gripping and intelligent. And as in Daniel Chard’s words, “Content is king”. That does offer The Silkworm a safe cocoon to face the interrogations.