The Silkworm, the second novel by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith is a grueling read shedding new light on the glamorous publishing world. Strike has struck again as Robert Galbraith’s second mystery has hit shelves. The one-legged, boxer-esque Cormoran Strike, aptly named after a Cornish giant, has returned and with the help of his resourceful, gorgeous assistant Robin Ellacot is out to expose the murderer of the novelist Owen Quine and clear his wife’s name. After the release of Strike’s first case, ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’, last year it was revealed that Galbraith was no other than J.K. Rowling. Rowling stated about her use of a pseudonym that she was “ yearning to go back to the beginning of a writing career in this new genre and to work without hype or expectation” The hype and expectation have certainly returned for her second who-done-it and rightly so, in her usual descriptive style she wove subplot into subplot and dropped re-herrings left, right and centre. This second case stands in stark contrast to its predecessor as it focused on London’s literary world and all of its impudent idiosyncrasies and not the death of an internationally celebrated supermodel. Rowling’s second Strike novel plays on a much quieter scale and feels more homely. While the death of the paparazzi tormented model compares more to Rowling’s own taste of fame, this unflattering insight into literary London feels more like a minute analysis of her everyday working-world. The story starts with Strike being engaged to find the missing novelist Owen Quine by his fatigued wife Lenora. Quine, at this time still presumed alive, is in the process of publishing his salacious novel ‘Bombyx mori’ (Latin for silkworm), which features barely concealed portraits of his friends and fiends alike. Once announced dead the task of finding the murderer is a herculean task. With the police, lead by Strike’s old friend, arrests Lenora, Strike sets out to unmask a murderer from a list of suspects as long as ‘Bombyx’ itself. The novel reads like a fusion of Christie and Murdoch with its in retrospect obvious clues and utter perversion with Rowling’s distinct eye for detail. The title of the fictional manuscript is the metaphor of its content, a silkworm needing to be boiled alive so one can receive the desired goods, as well as the scabrous Quine himself. With her experience in the literary world ad fair share of experiences one can’t help but wonder if the character’s here, an egotistical, vicious, cruel lot are based on her own devils. Is she cleverly weaving insults and criticism of individuals into a story of exactly that knowing the general population will be left clueless? Is this her form of revenge? It certainly reads like vengeance, being reminiscent of Jacobean revenge tragedies with its sharp satire and dark captivation with vengeance, death, betrayal and bloodthirstiness. The novel swings between Rowling’s way with words and her lyrical language and its gruesome plot. The victim is found “trussed, stinking and rotting, empty and gutted,” with sets of cutlery and crockery laid out around him “as though it were a gigantic joint of meat.” The book is far away from Rowling’s children’s stories. The brutishness of the world and the honesty and ferocity of the characters is frightening making the book un-put-downable. In all this darkness the beam of light comes from Strike and Robin, Rowling manages to weave their personal struggles and budding (platonic) relationship into ‘The Silkworm’ and explore the small evils of the world next to the immorality of large scale crime. Her characters have depth and yet the audience clearly knows who one is to like and who isn’t. They are a twisted lot, not only morally but also by their creator as she pushes and pulls them changing our perspective and opinion on them from one chapter to the next. The dream team is becoming more and more famed and with seven books planned, just as in J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ books, they are sure to become a household name in the world of suspense and mystery.