This sixth instalment of the Cormoran Strike series starts in a bar at the Ritz where Cormoran and Robin are celebrating her thirtieth birthday.
They are relaxed, and at the end of the night she says she will get a taxi. When they are about to say goodbye, Cormoran feels drawn to her, and he is about to kiss her when he notices the expression of horror on her face, and he pulls back. This is a point when Cormoran realises that he has been a fool for following his instincts, and Robin feels full of regret.
Now things are good at the agency and they have several cases on the go. The people who work for Cormoran and Robin are Sam Barclay, who is Scottish and has been with them the longest, Midge, who is an ex-policewoman, Dev Shave, who is an ex-met officer, and Pat who is the office manager. One of their clients is a woman who after breaking with her boyfriend, she is afraid that the man is going after her seventeen-year-old daugher, so this case involves following the girl and the ex-boyfriend and watch them. On New Year's Robin is invited to ski in Switzerland, so Cormoran volunteers to keep watch on the girl (Legs) who has been invited to a party at a restaurant by her friend's family. He goes with Midge, and when they are there, Cormoran recognises Valentine, his former fiancé's stepbrother. He comes close to him and introduces him to a woman called Madeline, who is a jeweller. Madeline says that she and Valentine are not together. Cormoran finds her attractive, and he gives her his number, and from then on they start seeing each other, but he keeps this information private.
Parts of the book are conversations from chats. The Ink Black Heart refers to a cartoon created by John Bay and Edie Ledwell, and it has become a success on youtube. One of the characters in the cartoon plays a game, and a videogame has been created, based on the cartoon, and the creators are Anomie and Morehouse, and Anomie doesn't like when Edie says that the game in the cartoon is just a metaphor. From then on we learn Anomie starts a campaing against Edie, and many of the fans of the videogame follow him. The chats that include these two people Anomie and Morehouse and also Hartella, who says tha she used to be Eide's personal assistant, Fiendy1, Worm28, Paperwhite, LordDrek and Vilepechora. Then one day LordDrek and Vilepechora tell the others that they have been checking Edie, and they have evidence that Edie and Anommie are one and the same, and this is something that her partner Josh should know. They have a dossier which proves this fact, and Hartella tells them that she will talk to Josh.
In the office Robin gets the visit of a woman who is evidently stressed. The woman is Edie, and she tells her that she has been harassed by this person, Anomie, who has done everything to ruin her just because of the interview and her mention of the game he had created. She says that this person knew personal details that not everybody could know, and she suspects that Anomie is Seb Montgomery, another animator who went to art school with Josh and worked with them in the first episodes, but they dropped him as they didn't need him any more. Edie claims that some things that Anomie posted online were things that she only told Josh and Seb. And now Josh thinks that she is Anomie, which is crazy, and the only way to prove that she is telling the truth is to give him evidence that Seb is Anomie. So that is why she wants to hire Robin. However, Robin tells her that it is not possible because they are fully booked and can't take any new cases and besides, this has happened in the cyberspace, and they are not experts. Robin gives her the address of some other detective agencies which may help her.
Some weeks later Robin reads online that Edie and Josh have been found in the cemetery where their cartoon is set. Edie was stabbed to death, and Josh was also stabbed but even though his condition is critical, he is not dead. Robin talks to the police and tells them everything she knows about Edie and what she came to see her for.
The chats online are a buzz of conversations after the death of Edie. LordDrek and Vilepechora are the ones that know that the dossier was fake and knew that Anomie was not Edie. Anomie appears online, but he (or she) is as despicable towards Edie as always. Hartella feels guilty because she was the one who gave Josh the dossier, which may have caused the tragedy. Adn Paperwhite chats to Morehouse and says that she guessed where the meeting between Edie and Josh was, and she told the others. So this means that anybody could be the killer.
Very intense and interesting start!
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