One of the more bizarre and not very believable aspects of Lethal White was the death penalty background theme delivered via the story of Jack o’Kent building gallows for export in the Chiswell Estate barn. Louise Freeman shared her misgivings about this (and Cormoran’s taking the case without knowing or finding out immediately what the blackmail was about) in her ‘ First Impressions of Lethal White‘ - which includes her find of the real-life gallows maker who built them in his barn and sold them for export! Rowling didn’t make up what seemed the most Dickensian and fantastical of story points. Rowling’s structural artistry is almost driving the story, it seems. The parallels continue to the finish in fascinating fashion. Sure enough, Izzy Chiswell, a la John Bristow, has a scene with Strike where she begs him not to think she’s crazy but she cannot believe her father committed suicide. This suggests not only that the second half of the seven book series begins at this point, but that the Cuckoo’s echoes should be heaviest here. Lethal White as Cuckoo’s Calling, Straight Up?īut the Lethal White beginning is a straight up mirror image of Cuckoo’s Calling in several ways, right? Strike has a new temporary secretary he doesn’t want, a crazy, violent person runs out of his office and Strike is unable to pursue, and the story beginning is all about Robin and Matt’s engagement and wedding. ‘ The Missing Page Mystery of Lethal White‘ takes these direct correspondences a step further by noting that there is no page in Strike 4 for ‘Part One,’ though there is a ‘Part Two’ at the exact center of the book by chapter number. I call this find ‘In Reverse’ because Billy Knight is “Bat shit insane” and violent at the start and is, if not perfectly rational at the close, much, more together than at the beginning.Ĥ. I discussed several interesting parallels and Louise Freeman in the comment boxes shared quite a few plot details - I love the Robin retail store undercover and the secret note hidden where a man wouldn’t think to look - that nail it down. ![]() The first true test of that theory was not possible until we had the fourth book, which, if the series is a seven book ring, will have to have significant pointers to the first book in the series, Cuckoo’s Calling. In ‘ Is Lethal White a Re-telling of Cuckoo’s Calling?‘ I opened the structural discussion of the Strike series post Lethal White, which despite Rowling’s implicit and explicit denials, seems to be running as a seven book ring cycle. Lethal White as Cuckoo’s Calling in Reverse The connections between the Minister of Sport and the Minister of Culture, however, and the patricide defining the work are the undeniable links.ģ. I listed seven in the post, other readers shared their several important finds in the comment boxes, and there are many, many more Robin’s relationship with Sarah Shadlock at the finish is almost exactly the same as Hermione’s control of Rita Skeeter at the end of Goblet. ![]() ‘ Does Lethal White Echo Goblet of Fire?‘ was our ‘out of the gate’ look at whether Strike 4, as the previous three Strike novels had, included pointers to and echoes of its equivalent number in the Harry Potter series. The Goblet of Fire echoes in Lethal White He reveals, I believe, the likely direction of the next two books and the finale while explaining the swan brackets of the current book and ‘How to Read Myth Revised.’Ģ. For the most up to date discussion, post Lethal White, of this connection Evan Willis’ ‘The Mythic Context and Hermetic Meaning of Cormoran Strike’ is an absolute must-read post. Harry Potter is largely her re-telling of the Orestes cycle, Newt Scamander’s adventures a re-visiting of Theseus and the Minotaur (The Beast Within!), and, through Joanne Gray’s and Evan Willis’ independent researches, we know that the Cormoran Strike novels are a postmodern revision and adaptation of the Castor and Pollux stories. Rowling’s classes at the University of Exeter were divided between French and ‘Classical Studies,’ which seem to have been much more about mythology than Latin, Greek, or Ancient History. The Mythic Content and Context Of Cormoran Strike Could serious readers of Cormoran Strike not know the fascinating reveals and theories that thave been written up here in the six weeks since Lethal White was published? It’s time for a Round-Up post to facilitate easy catch-up for those just now finishing Lethal White as well as a one url link to speed simplified sharing of the treasures to be found here.ġ. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this request since Lethal White’s publication date, I have posted “some of my thoughts” and those of other Serious Strikers in 25 pieces here at HogwartsProfessor. ![]() Interested to hear some of your thoughts, John.” Debbie Moltisanti wrote me last month to say, “I just completed my first read of Lethal White.
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