Career of Evil

Career of Evil

United States cover
Author	Robert Galbraith
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Crime fiction
Publisher	Sphere Books (Little, Brown and Company)
Publication date	22 October 2015 (United Kingdom)
ISBN	978-0-7515-6227-9
Preceded by	The Silkworm

Career of Evil is the third novel in the Cormoran Strike series, written by J. K. Rowling and published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.^[1] It is preceded by The Cuckoo's Calling and The Silkworm. The novel was released on 22 October 2015 in the United Kingdom.^[2]

Title

On 24 April 2015, Little, Brown and Company announced that the third Cormoran Strike crime thriller would be released in the autumn of 2015 and titled Career of Evil. Later that day, Robert Galbraith confirmed via Twitter that the title of the book was inspired by Blue Öyster Cult's song of the same name.^[3] References to the song and excerpts from other Blue Öyster Cult songs, especially "Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl)", appear throughout the book.^[4]

Plot

In 2011, a year after Robin Ellacott had begun working in his office, Cormoran Strike's practice is thriving, and Robin, having completed the investigative course that Strike purchased for her at the end of The Silkworm, is now helping as a full-time investigator as well as a secretary (although her formal job duties have remained the same). The dynamic between the two has created tension between Robin and her longtime boyfriend/fiancé, Matthew, who not only disapproves of her work but is jealous of her relationship with Strike. Then Robin receives a package from a courier containing a woman's severed right leg. The package is accompanied by a note quoting from the Blue Öyster Cult song "Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl)", a tattoo of which Strike's mother, a famous groupie and BÖC fan, had above her crotch. Because of that link, Strike told the police that he believed that the package had been sent by someone from his own past with a grudge against him. He names four suspects to the police, three of whom he knew from his time in the SIB: a prominent gangster, "Digger" Malley, that Strike had anonymously investigated and privately testified against (but whom Strike believed was still unaware of Strike's role in the case), a paedophile, Noel Brockbank, that he'd investigated and gotten discharged from the military, and an ex-squaddie, Donald Laing, that he'd defeated in a boxing match and later investigated and gotten convicted for physical abuse of his wife and child. The fourth suspect is his mother's widower, Jeff Whittaker, whom Strike believed had murdered his mother.

As the police focus on the gangster, Strike and Robin also turn over the names of "nutters" who have sent him letters, such as a woman who had once requested Strike's help in amputating her own leg for personal gratification.^[5][4] During this time, while under the influence of alcohol after she temporarily split from Matthew, Robin tells Strike about the rape and attempted murder that caused her to drop out of university, and her discovery that Matthew cheated on her after she dropped out. The police soon learn that the leg sent to Robin matches the recently discovered body of the would-be amputee. Shortly after the body is formally identified Robin is sent another package (a toe from the left foot of the same corpse), along with more Blue Öyster Cult lyrics, leading Strike and Robin to launch their own investigation of Brockbank, Laing and Whittaker. The negative publicity from the receipt of the leg, combined with Strike's efforts to protect Robin from the risk posed by the killer, jeopardize both Strike's business and their working relationship. Strike and Robin journey through England to track their three suspects, causing the tension between the two to increase, despite Robin's impending wedding and Strike's new girlfriend, a beautiful and well-to-do BBC presenter.^[4]

Strike and Robin eventually establish the recent history and location of each of their three suspects, all of whom currently live in the London area, but the serial killer strikes two more times during the investigation, cutting off two fingers of the first victim (who survived) but killed the second victim, leading to the killer becoming known as the Shacklewell Ripper. The Ripper attacks and almost murders Robin while she is on her way home after following Whittaker. In the aftermath of the attack, Strike identifies the killer, but Roy Carver, the detective inspector now in charge of the investigation (and the same officer who had headed the Lula Landry investigation) spitefully disregards all of Strike's information. Strike loses both of his remaining clients. Meanwhile, Robin takes action against Brockbank (whom they had established was not the murderer, but was molesting his girlfriend's daughter) which drove him out of his home and underground. That causes Strike to fire her, both to head off Carver and the police, who had ordered Strike to leave all of the suspects alone, and to set up a next step against the serial killer.

In the end, Strike has to find definitive evidence against the killer without any help from the police (or the now-dismissed Robin, who has left London for her wedding to Matthew in Yorkshire that weekend) before his business collapses completely. Strike thus uses a fake replacement for Robin to ambush the Ripper—Donald Laing, who has built a separate life under a stolen identity—in his flat, which he did not inhabit but instead used to store the souvenirs from his attacks. Laing, under his alias, had been the live-in boyfriend of the would-be amputee's older sister. After turning Laing in with the souvenirs (and establishing that he had first tried to tell the police about Laing), Strike is told that the police also caught Brockbank after a tip-off from a homeless shelter. After leaving the police station, Strike rushes to Yorkshire for Robin's wedding and arrives just in time to see her say her vows.

Characters

Main characters

Cormoran Strike – a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and an ex-SIB investigator who was honourably discharged from the military after losing half of his right leg in a bomb attack and wanted to leave fearing he might go insane. He has since become a private investigator. He is a minor celebrity, thanks in part to his notorious rock star father and his solving of two high-profile murders, and at the start of the story, his business is flourishing.

Robin Ellacott – Strike's assistant (originally his secretary) who has just completed a course in criminal investigations, paid for by Strike. Her marriage to her longtime boyfriend-fiancé Matthew Cunliffe, an accountant, is rapidly approaching. Because of her background as a survivor of a rape and attempted murder, she is extremely sensitive regarding sex crimes and, as a result, is unwilling to stop investigation of Noel Brockbank, one of Strike's suspects, once she discovers that he has been sexually abusing his girlfriend's young daughter.

Suspects

Donald Laing - a Scot formerly in the military where he became an old enemy for Strike. Laing had actually boxed against Strike in the military and had bitten Strike's face after realizing that he was losing, leading to military discipline. Despite this, Laing was charming and able to convince others of his good character. However, investigating on his own, Strike found that Laing had been physically abusing his wife and child and ended up having Laing arrested and convicted, for which he served 10 years of a 16-year sentence.

Noel Brockbank - a former major from Barrow-in-Furness, who had served in both the first Gulf War and Bosnia, before becoming another longtime enemy of Strike's. He had married a deceased colleague's widow with two small daughters; when she was 12, the older daughter told a school friend about her stepfather's sexual abuse and threats. When Brockbank resisted arrest, Strike struck him, and he suffered a traumatic brain injury from a preexisting skull fracture after which he feigned insanity. During the period of abuse, Brockbank had told his stepdaughter he once tried to saw her leg off (according to Strike she actually got it caught in barbed wire when she was younger giving her a scar similar to the one on the leg sent to Strike's office which led him to suspect Brockbank); however, he was never tried and was instead invalided out of the military.

"Digger" Malley - a professional gangster with a previous murder to his credit and had previously sent a body part leading Strike to suspect him. In a joint operation with Vice Squad into a drug ring, Strike had uncovered the evidence for which Malley had been imprisoned. However, since Strike had given evidence anonymously, Strike believed that Malley was unaware that Strike was behind his arrest and conviction. The police then discovered Malley was in Spain when the leg was sent, eliminating him from the inquiry.

Jeff Whittaker - stepfather of Strike and widower of Strike's mother Leda. Whitaker was only a few years older than Strike and had married Leda because she was famous and because he presumed she had a large fortune; he persuaded her to write him into her will. After Leda's death in 1994, Whittaker went on trial for her murder but was found not guilty. However Strike and "Shanker", who both testified for the Crown, remained convinced that Whitaker killed Leda. Strike also primarily suspected Whittaker of sending the severed leg because the sender would have to had seen Leda naked in order to know about her tattoo, but Robin later discovered a nude photograph of Leda (with the tattoo visible) on the Internet, which opened the possibility of other suspects.

Other characters

"Shanker" - Nickname of a former flatmate of Strike, whose mother Leda took him in after she found him badly beaten in a gutter. Shanker works in the illegal drugs trade, is about Strike's age, has a disfigured face, calls Strike "Bunsen" and also hates Whittaker. He is willing to help Strike and Robin with just about anything in return for money. He helps Strike trace Whittaker, helps Robin confront Brockbank, helps Strike apprehend Laing and, at the end, drives Strike to Yorkshire for Robin's wedding.

Eric Wardle - The police detective inspector originally in charge of the case of the severed leg. He remained friendly with Strike after the events of the previous two novels. He dropped out of the case after the unexpected death of his brother, who was hit by a car.

Roy Carver - Wardle's replacement, who was the detective inspector who had been in charge of the Lula Landry case and who still harbored a grudge against Strike.

Matthew Cunliffe - Robin's fiancé, an accountant who distrusts Robin's relationship with Strike. After having many arguments and even splitting part way through the novel, Matthew marries Robin at the conclusion of the novel.

Elin Toft - Strike's girlfriend, a former violinist and current radio presenter.

Reception

In The Guardian, reviewer Christobel Kent wrote, “Racing up and down the country, chasing suspects from the London suburbs to Barrow-in-Furness, from Scotland via Market Harborough to lap-dancing clubs on Tottenham Court Road, the narrative is dizzying in its proliferation of character, location and detail, and tirelessly, relentlessly specific.”^[4]

On 30 May, Career of Evil was one of the six novels nominated for the title of Theakston Old Peculier crime novel of the year.^[6]

References