The Ink Black Heart: Chapters 65-70:
Lots of Highgate and a bomb. Plus: when did Hartella learn the truth about Lord Drek?
This section includes three chapters that are almost entirely Robin's adventures in the Highgate area; between her tour of the cemetery, her visit to Northgrove, her drink with Pez and her surveillance at Zoe's place, she covers quite a lot of ground and suspects. There's also one brief moderating chat and of course, the bombing. A few other tidbits tossed in include Robin's invitation to be a moderator, her failed attempt to let Hugh Jacks down easily and Nutley's update on Kea, which leads Strike to the accusations on Reddit.
Chapter 65 opens with one of Strike's very useful summary emails, which help us readers keep track of the many suspects in a Robert Galbraith book. The first time I read his "We're running out of original suspects" line I thought maybe they should be looking at someone already eliminated and guessed that Anomie might be played by more than one person, though I assumed the persona had been a group effort from the start, not something recent. But, after all, if people can take turns being Buffypaws, why not Anomie?
At the office reading this email, Robin, while making plans to visit Highgate Cemetery before the North Grove art class, gets the welcome invitation to become a moderator and the unwelcome reminder from Pat that she needs to call Hugh Jacks and make her disinterest clear. She makes that call from the Highgate courtyard while waiting for her tour.
Regarding Hugh Jacks: If I were Robin, Cousin Katie's invitation to my next wedding would be contingent on proof that she has managed to set Hugh up on a date with one or more of the following: 1) Irene Hicks-- with the meal including lamb bhuna 2) Tempest 3) Yasmin 4) Mazu Wace 5) Matthew's Aunt Sue or 6) Kea, with her mom and Ozzie the Cockatoo as chaperones. I would include Marguerite among the choices but I don't think Robin ever met her.
Having visited Highgate myself, I can appreciate the thrill the cartoon fans experienced upon seeing the setting for the first time, and so can Robin. It is a beautiful place, well worth a visit and honestly, I would have been a little annoyed to have Pez Pierce interrupt it. Though Robin, of course, presumably welcomed the chance for a private chat with him.
Pez Pierce tells Robin the interesting story of Elizabeth Siddal, model and poet who married Christina Rossetti's brother Dante and who was buried with his poetry. TV viewers may remember that Siddal was the model for the Ophelia painting viewed by Groomer and Legs. For people interested in a more in-depth look at the TV series artistry than I could ever hope to compose, this is a good place to direct you to Leslie L. Golden's excellent "Looking at Clues" essay on the Strike and Ellacott Files blog.
As she stops by North Grove prior to going for a drink with Pez, Robin has encounters with Bram (who seems destined to share a cell with Dennis Creed by the time he's 20), Nils (who probably would find a way to spin his son's serial-killing as some sort of "triumph" or "fulfillment") and, surprisingly, Philip Ormand, who has stopped by to demand something of Josh's that he thinks is rightfully his. It is still unclear to me what this is. One possibility is Josh's lost anemic vampire drawing, but this seems unlikely, as Pez says he has and is keeping it, and the vampire picture is presumably in Gus's possession. Could one of the ideas on Edie's phone, which Ormand has presumably looked through by now, have been to use the undertaker from the story she and Pez were working on? I could see a time-traveling undertaker arriving in Highgate in his casket as a potentially cool plot for a self-contained IBH movie.
In Nils' studio, Robin gets her wish to see the collage of Edie that Strike learned of from Grant. Interestingly, the collage appears to be a parody of Beata Beatrix, another painting of Dante Rossetti for which Elizabeth Siddal (by then deceased) was the model. Then, once Nils is called away, Bram takes her upstairs to see Pez's obscene parody of Mariam's Anomie window that he painted on Josh and Edie's bedroom wall, in which the "organs in sufficient contact" are genitalia. Ha-ha. That's about as funny to me as Wally's cookies video. While it was nice to see the Anomie window in the TV series, I am just as happy we were spared Josh's version, along with being spared Bram.
At the pub, in addition to making a strong play for "Jessica", Pez makes a pretty strong case for Wally as Anomie; unfortunately, Robin ruled Wally out back in chapter 64, when Strike was eating steak with Uncle Grunt. I remember thinking again that Anomie might be two people when this happened.
I was certainly less impressed with Pez both after seeing his artwork and hearing his pressuring "Jessica" to come back to North Grove with him. Sorry, Pez, but responding to "no" in a way that is "about midway between Hugh Jacks's cold fury and Ryan Murphy's awkward, immediate retreat" is still creepy. Particularly since, what Robin is kind-hearted enough to call Hugh Jacks's "cold fury" I would characterize as "pulling a near-Gus Upcott, just without the murderous psychopathy."
For me, the best part of Robin snogging Pez is Strike's reaction to it. I don't think it is coincidence that his psychogenic jumping stump started up the morning after he listened to that, then spent 20 minutes scowling at the wall. It's a good thing Robin edited out that last hour. It was also a good thing she followed her instincts to check in on Zoe, so she could learn that her mysterious boyfriend was Tim Ashcroft.
The moderators chat is reasonably short, with the main new bit of information that Anomie is forcing Hartella to do something, even at the expense of her work. These Hartella/Anomie conversations distract us from noticing that Hartella has really given no response to the loss of Lord Drek as a moderator. She told us on Wednesday May 13 (Ch. 47) that she was going to the Chekhov play in "three weeks time, which would be June 3 (Ch. 64, the day Strike had dinner with Grant. Assuming she was more likely to attend the play on a weekend than weekday, she probably learned about the Michael David deception on either on the weekend of May 29th (when Robin and Strike visited Josh) or June 5th (when the office was bombed). So, she either knows now, or will soon.
We also learn that the moderator's test must be pretty hard, with 64% a "respectable" score and even superfan Fiendy scoring only 83%. I know Robin's smart, but I have to wonder how well she would have done, given that she has only been watching the cartoon for a week or so.
Despite Nutley's less-than-steller performance, Strike gets enough information on Zoe to track the accusations posted on Reddit about her (and see the ones about Darcy, which will be important later). He tracks Kea and Inigo's online correspondence, both on Inigo's ME site and on Twitter. I do have to wonder why Inigo bothers posting his ME site under a pseudonym, when he links to his Twitter account (another pseudonym) and to his musical page (which has his real name). All this research is interrupted when the amazing Pat rushes into his office, having recognized a parcel bomb and reacted exactly as he should. This is one of my favorite moments both in the book and in the TV show, because it so completely changes our perspective of Pat. And so the chapter, and this review section, comes to an explosive finish.
Next Saturday: the bombing aftermath, Strike spends the night and off to Whitstable!
Gonna rant a bit.
Robin’s interlude with Pez is, for me, the weakest part of the book and possibly the series. Besides being grossly unethical (snogging one of the two remaining principal murder suspects?), it’s also ridiculously implausible and borderline suicidal.
Robin’s still-evident PTSD (she had a panic attack just hours earlier during Hugh Jacks’ phone tirade) conveniently becomes manageable when Pez thrusts his tongue in her mouth without warning and in public. Fears about her wig shifting and being discovered evaporate as Pez grabs the back of her head and kisses her forcefully enough to make their teeth bang together. Being goaded to drink and the possibility of being drugged and assaulted should be a strobing red light. Yet Robin allows her libido and ego to override her normal good judgement and embraces the role of honey trap. She is risking the reputation and perhaps survival of the agency—not to mention her own survival—for a little foreplay . . . and that’s utterly out of character.
I also wonder how JKR, a strong feminist, reconciles the insights that incels and other maladjusted males might take away from Robin’s encounter with Pez (should any ever read IBH).
With echos of Kosh lines, the Pez Pierce playbook for getting into a woman’s pants can be seen as:
—find some socially sanctioned way to expose your junk to potential dates.
—paint a large, graphic, coital mural on your wall; remember, it’s all about the penis and hard core is a great way to calm their reservations!
—skip bathing—pheromones will always override BO.
—when she’s least expecting it—and without romantic prelude—surprise your date with your tongue! This can be extra effective if you distract her with some pretext, like a neck tattoo, that lures her close enough to strike.
—pressure her to drink up—liquor is quicker!
In short, relentless sexual pressure is your friend! Even educated, “hard-to-get” girls on a first date—like Robin—won’t be able to resist.
Finally, since absolutely nothing of value to the investigation was gained during this contrived interlude, its only purpose was shock value—both for the reader and for Strike.
I’ve grown to appreciate IBH more upon a second reading, but this remains a low point.
Anyone else found Nutley to be comic relief? I know I did. As for the online chats, tend to skip them in the audio recording, unless I find something useful. Big fan of thrillers, especially the psychological kind that have you do some critical thinking.