Hello Lovelies!
I hope you’re all well. I’ve got an absolute gem of a book to share with you today for my reading challenge. For the penultimate month of the year, I wanted to have a category that I knew I’d love and get me in the swing ready for Christmas. The size of this book meant that I’ve only just finished it but I literally didn’t want to put it down. I’ve lost many hours of sleep reading this, desperate to know what happens! I chose: read a classic ‘whodunnit’ story. I picked the next instalment from Robert Galbraith (pseudonym for JK Rowling) and it is The Running Grave. I hope you enjoy my review as much as I loved reading it!
What’s it all about?
This is the seventh book in the Galbraith collection but if you’re unfamiliar with the books, the only link between them all is the protagonists, Robin and Strike. In this novel, the client, a Sir Colin Edensor, a retired civil servant, approaches Strike and Robin’s detective agency to see if they can help him remove his son, Will, from the Universal Humanitarian Church (UCH). On the surface, they claim they are a benevolent charity doing good for the world but there are rumours that this is a cult. Will joined the church and has since cut all communication with his family and is believed to be living on a farm (Chapman Farm) operated by the church and serving as its headquarters.
Strike begins to research the UHC and he soon realises that it was formed on the site of a 1960s to 1980s commune, the Aylmerton Community, where he and one of his half sisters, Lucy, had lived as a child following his mother’s drifting around the country. This commune had closed after its leaders were arrested for child sexual abuse but this didn’t happen to Strike. Regardless, he still despises the place and has a personal matter to resolve here as well as his client.
Robin volunteers to become an insider within the UHC, getting a makeover to appear to be someone with money. However, whilst this preparation is taking place, the two find former church members to interview and dig up records of incidents connected to the church. Surprisingly, there have been several mysterious deaths, the most significant, a drowning of a young girl n 1995, Daiyu, the daughter of Mazu, one of the leaders, She is now regarded as the ‘Drowned Prophet’ who is at the heart of the church’s mythology.
“Some ideas are so stupid, only intellectuals believe them”
Under a new identity, Robin (now Rowena Ellis) is invited to a retreat at Chapman Farm. Highly risky, with danger around every corner, this isn’t a decision that is taken lightly by the duo. They work out a system to be able to keep in touch with Robin by using a hollow rock and a blind spot in the fence. As expected, she joins the church following her baptism ceremony and spots Will, living on the farm as expected. Rather shockingly, he has fathered a daughter named Qing by Mazu who owns the naming rights to the children born on the farm, with a teenager named Lin. Church members are under pressure to have sex with other members under the term of ‘spirit bonding’ but birth control is prohibited.
Whilst Robin desperately tries to keep her own mind on the inside of the church, Strike continues to find people to interview regarding their connections with the UHC. On the farm, Robin tries to talk to others there about what has happened in the past. Whilst doing this, she tries to keep Strike informed in her letters. One day, Robin finds polaroid pictures of people in pig masks in compromising positions. She leaves these for Strike so he can use these in his investigations. After building trust within the church, Robin is allowed on a trip to Norwich to collect donations for the church. Whilst there, exhausted and almost defeated, a child yells robin which she mistook for her and responded. This means that she has compromised her identity, putting her at more risk. Also on this day, Emily, another girl within the church runs away. Robin finds her and protects her by saying she was sick. However, she does share with Robin that she doesn’t believe that Daiyu drowned but believes she is still alive.
“I think,’ said Strike, ‘the proportion of people who could be persuaded to commit terrible acts, given the right circumstances, is higher than most of us would like to think.”
Robin decides to take matters into her own hands regarding Will and asks him to ‘spirit bond’ with her in the Retreat Rooms. Whilst there, she reveals that his mother has died and that his letters from home are being censored by the church. At the ceremony for the apparition of the Drowned Prophet, Robin gets dragged under the baptismal pool and nearly drowns. Jonathan Wace insists this is because she has made the prophet angry by her behaviour with Will. As a result, she is locked in a wooden box for 8 hours, hunched over. Once she is finally released, she is sent to look after an incredibly sick child, Jacob, who she believes is dying. That evening, she goes to the rock where Strike was waiting and she manages to escape. Strike is horrified by the physical and mental changes in her.
“Restricted food, enforced chanting, rigid control over your physical environment, digging into your psyche for the places they can apply most pressure, love-bombing you one minute, tearing you down the next… nobody’s invulnerable to that, clever or not…”
Whilst this is unfolding, there are a number of sub plots occurring at the same time. But, there is a problem. People they interview end up dead.
Days later upon their return to the office, Robin and Strike walk in to find Will and his daughter sitting there waiting for them. Pat (the office manager) has offered her home as a safe place for them to start their recovery. Will is consumed and brainwashed so is convinced that he will turn himself into the police as soon as Lin is found. After some gentle persuasion, Will agrees to have an interview with another member, Flora Brewster, where they disclose fears about the Drowned Prophet and it not being real and the churches Divine Secrets.
As the plot all comes together, Strike and Robin take all their findings to the police. What follows next is a police raid, an attempt on Strike, Robin and Will’s life and ultimately a resolution. No spoilers here! You’ll have to read it (and be kept up all night) to find out for yourself!
Final Thoughts
There are not enough words for how much I loved this book. There were twists, turns and massive surprises. I had no idea what was going to happen next. I stayed up as I was desperate to find out what happened. I think this series of books have been one of my favourite and I cannot wait to see what the next instalment holds.
Just to say, you can read this as a standalone book but it would be better for your to check out the series!
Big Love xxxx
booksandbakes1 