This time his biggest case is trying to solve the disappearance and then murder of the author Owen Quine who is not a very likeable character. Strike takes the case and expects it to be an easy one. But as he investigates, it becomes more complicated.

The reader also learns more about the personal lives of Strike and his assistant, Robin Ellacott, which I loved from the first book. Robin, his assistant, is about to get married and starting to wonder if that is the right course for her, or if it would be more fulfilling to become an investigator herself.

This second Comoran Strike book is equally as good as the first, so worth a read only if you have read the first one.

The second book from the figure of Cormoran Strike tells about Cormoran's life which is relatively better compared to the first book. However, Robert Galbraith still puts Cormoran in the position of a character whose life is far from perfect. After being dumped by his girlfriend in the first book, in this second book, Cormoran's ex-girlfriend married the Cormoran’s competitor while in college.

The case faced by Cormoran in this second book contains sadism related to mutilation of the victim by the killer. Like the first book, the killer in this second book was difficult to predict from the start. Although interesting, I personally prefer story in the first book compared to this second book.