Cormoran Strike and his partner, Robin Ellacott, are up against a ruthless religious cult. In The Running Grave, the seventh installment of the Cormoran Strike series, the private detective duo is on a mission to rescue a young man from the clutches of fanatics. But the stakes are higher than ever, especially for Robin, who’s thrust into more danger than she’s ever faced before.
The Running Grave is Bursting with Skeletons
Charismatic conman Jonathan Wace—aka “J Papa”—and his exceptionally diabolical wife, Mazu, hit the jackpot when they founded the Universal Humanitarian Church. Their brainwashed followers are completely devoted, eager to fulfill even the most twisted desires of their beloved leaders.
Once this pair sinks their claws into someone, they don’t let go until they’ve wrung them dry. Saving the well-meaning but easily influenced Will Edensor is no small task for Cormoran Strike and his small but dedicated team.
Robin’s Up for This Too!
Robin Ellacott is crime fiction’s most lovable private detective. She’s smart, dedicated, resourceful—and at the same time, sensitive and empathetic. And honestly? She’s just plain adorable. I mean it—this woman is so my type!
Anyone who thinks it makes sense to send this sweet, gentle soul undercover into a dangerous cult full of sex-crazed maniacs—go ahead, raise your hand! Anyone?
But Robin goes for it. The Universal Humanitarian Church, after all, is impenetrable from the outside. Its members close ranks, and its rich and famous supporters shield it from the outside world.
As is often the case with cults, it turns out the only ones living the good life are those at the top. Being a regular member? Well… let’s just say it sucks.
The Running Grave runs a bit too slow
The seventh book in the Cormoran Strike series follows the Galbraith tradition: as the series progresses, the stories just keep getting longer and longer. And really, who would dare tell Joanne K. Rowling, operating under the pen name Robert Galbraith—grandmaster (no, world champion) of fantasy literature—that this is starting to be a bit much?
Me. I’ll say it:
Dear Ms. Rowling, The Running Grave is overwritten to hell and back!
And because of that, it gets pretty boring at times.
The chapters just keep coming, one after another, depressingly similar, and Robin, undercover in the cult, uncovers nothing but the tiniest crumbs of information, barely visible even under a microscope… Meanwhile, Galbraith paints an excruciatingly detailed picture of everyday life in a fake church full of gullible, easily manipulated sheep.
So even if you’re totally smitten with Robin, you’ll still find yourself itching to get back to grumpy old Cormoran’s scenes—which somehow feel far more alive.
The Running Grave coughs up the Drowned Prophet
While Robin is on her covert mission, Strike is on the outside trying to get some kind of leverage on the church. The Waces’ cult chews up its members and spits them back out. The rate of suicides among those who leave the church is disproportionately high. The Drowned Prophet, the creation of the Wace couple, is so terrifying that many prefer to escape into death rather than face him.
Anyway, a prophet like that is a bit suspicious from the start, right? Strike thinks so.
And yes, here we go again—Strike dives so deep into that one early-morning event from twenty years ago, when the Waces’ daughter, Daiyu, became the Drowned Prophet after a botched swim, that it becomes, once more, just too much. The Running Grave slows down again and starts repeating itself…
Did that spoiled little goose climb out the window? Or didn’t she? Eh, who cares!
Finally, a bit of danger!
You have to wait until the very end of Robert Galbraith’s book before any real excitement kicks in. (And in the case of an 1000-page doorstop of a novel, that’s no small wait.) But it’s true: once the Universal Humanitarian Church decides to go head-to-head with the pesky private investigators, things finally start to pick up speed.
You start worry about the main characters. You’re on edge during the car chase. You even get properly pissed off at some of the dirty tricks!
…And to everyone’s great satisfaction, both Robin and Strike—finally!—get their long-awaited face-offs with the same-sex Wace counterparts in a couple of intense, well-earned scenes.
Yes! So Robert Galbraith does know how to write a crime novel after all?!
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
Because even though the reveal of the culprit in The Running Grave is a big one—and I mean seriously big—thanks to Galbraith’s top-notch misdirection and clever red herrings (which, for once, all actually work), the whole thing still feels kind of… unbelievable. Maybe you’re just exhausted by the time you get there? Or maybe the whole thing just feels insanely complicated and borderline impossible to pull off? And let’s face it—that motive’s a bit flimsy, too…
When Strike sits across from the perp and slowly, methodically lays out the truth, the whole scene is just… kind of dull. You find yourself waiting for it to be over already. Because it’s taking time away from what you actually care about: Cormoran and Robin’s feelings for each other.
Cormie loves Robin, Robin loves Cormie
When Charlotte Campbell, Strike’s former lover and current nemesis, shows up in the novel, it’s too soon. She makes her appearance right at the start. After all, Charlotte, who turns female capriciousness up to the tenth power, is the spice of the series. But too much of her does more harm than good, doesn’t it?
The same can’t be said, however, about the emotional connection between our two leads—or rather, the painstakingly detailed unfolding of it. You just can’t get enough of their eternal back-and-forth, their careful circling of each other, and the constant magnifying glass examination of their feelings for one another.
Maybe Robert Galbraith isn’t meant to write thrillers?
Maybe not. But what she does with character work is nothing short of remarkable. And not just the leads—even the side characters shine. Take Pat, for example: the ancient, chain-smoking, grumpy office manager who has a strong opinion about absolutely everything and never hesitates to say it out loud. Who would’ve thought, back when she first showed up a couple of books ago, that you’d end up actually liking her?
… … …
The Running Grave is a painfully slow-paced crime novel that would likely test the patience of even the most devoted fans of the Strike series at times. The sluggish investigation into the shady cult only turns into something more serious—namely a murder case—very late in the game, practically in the final stretch. But really, who cares, as long as you get to follow the slow but steady unfolding of the romance between the grumpy detective and his charming partner with bated breath?
Rating: 7.7/10
The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike #7) by Robert Galbraith
960 pages, Hardcover
Published in 2023 by Mulholland Books
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Other books in the series:
6. The Ink Black Heart
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