The Ink Black Heart: Chapters 94-100:

Madz's swan song, Aeschylus, bad medical news, an awkward Facetime and a vastly inferior sofa.

I decided this blog post deserves its own epigraph.

When she says she wants forgiveness
It's such a clever masquerade
She's so good with her stiletto
You don't even see the blade-- Billy Joel

Looking back at the Madwoman's attack at Denmark Street, I was struck by the description:

Her silver high heels and short metallic dress suggested she'd come straight from a party or, perhaps, the launch of some book, album or beauty product; somewhere, at least, where people go to be seen, and photographed, and reassured they were important.

Given that Mads will later text that she had just run into Charlotte, MiLady Berzerko was presumably there at this VIP event. I wonder what Charlotte said that set her off? Mads must have told Charlotte pretty quickly after the breakup (Saturday evening) since Charlotte already knew on Tuesday (as seen on Strike's visit to Jago) and Mads turns up on Denmark Street on Wednesday. Could Charlotte have been gushing on how helpful Strike had been in getting her dirt on Jago? Or did she trash-talk her ex, going on about how he was a user and a gold-digger? Which would have upset Mads more?

Considering Mads' wake-up present to Strike on the morning after Comicon, him saying that Charlotte was "gagging for him" was a little.... weird.

The mention of Landon Dormer is also interesting: evidence Charlotte was lying through her teeth to Jago about there being nothing between them-- and, of course, they will be a public couple by the time of A Running Grave. But this is Charlotte, so what else can we expect? In any case, the Denmark Street encounter goes badly, ending with Mads' stiletto heel implanted in Strike's bad leg, Strike literally crawling through a gutter, then her tearful begging for his forgiveness. Strike makes the smartest love-life choice we've seen of him to date and tells her to f*ck off.

About the time Strike is dragging himself up the stairs to his flat, Anomie is on the moderator's channel, declaring his intention to "Ledwell and Blay" our heroes to Worm28. Despite the fact that he is rapidly running out of moderators for his precious game, he also treats Worm28 like she's a complete idiot--- probably prompting her in this conversation to make the connection of Robin's picture to "Jessica" and decide to betray Anomie and call her. I love that Anomie thinks, at book's end, that Worm was the one who unmasks his secret identity as Paperwhite. I suppose the truth would have to come out at his trial when Robin testifies, but part of me hopes it doesn't, so Gus can continue to believe it was the moderator he considered "stupid" that found him out.

The next morning, Strike is mysteriously drinking mahogany-colored tea instead of his usual creosote. He makes phone calls to send Barclay to Glasgow, to get Midge to tail her choice of the other three suspects and to insist Robin stay put in the hotel. The difficulty of that conversation again makes me wonder again why he didn't suggest Robin go to Glasgow instead. Not only would that have kept her out of danger while also keeping her active in the investigation, it would have freed Barclay up to follow one of the other suspects. But, if Strike had made this sensible choice, Robin might not have made the connections between the four Anomie sock-puppets.

We move on to the hospital visit, which is as interesting for the progress on the case as it is for the verdict on Strike's leg. It is interesting that the first of Anomie's uncharacteristically erudite tweets is a quotation from Aeschylus, given the importance of Strike's quoting the same person to Charlotte (and himself) at the end of TRG. This is a good time to plug the most recent Potterversity podcast, where Dr. Mitchell Parks explains the importance of understanding classical literature for JKR's works. It is mostly about Harry Potter, but the Strike series gets some attention starting at about 1 hour 4 minutes in. It is well worth a listen.

We get a bit of internal ring structure in the responses to Anomie; the first to respond to his tweet is Andi Reddy, the same person who was in Edie's original folder of tweets and was also called out for hypocrisy on Wally Cardew's show on the day Edie died. We also see "Mrs. Harty," aka Carly Whistler, the 12-year old Tim Ashcroft tried to meet up with in London, but who was stopped by her irate father.

Grant's call from Oman is interesting in what it fails to mention: baby Ethan. I am wondering when the little tyke made his appearance. He and Strike had dinner on June 3rd; with no mention of the baby. This phone call happens on Thursday, June 11th, eight days later, with Grant in Oman. Strike and Robin go to the house on Monday June 15th, and Grant is a proud papa, back from Oman. So...

• Did Heather have the baby before June 3rd, and Grant didn't care enough to mention it at either their dinner or the phone call?

• Did she have it between the third and the 11th, meaning either he took off on his trip when the baby was only a few days old, or the child was born while he was away?

• Did she have the baby between the 11th and the 15th, meaning he just invited guests over knowing the birth was imminent. Did Strike and Robin visit within 72 hours of Heather giving birth? If so, she seems to be recovering quickly.

None of those circumstances put him in contender for father of the year. But, I guess Rachel could already have told us that.

Strike is dismayed to learn that his leg is much worse than he thought, and he will be off his feet for at least a month, not three days. It is interesting to see Strike's mild response to the suggestion that his spasms may be psychogenic, as compared to that of Inigo and Kea when they were told the same thing. This suggests a much better understanding of what the term actually means, which is a medical condition with absolutely real physical symptoms that is either triggered or exacerbated by psychological factors such as stress, depression or trauma. Whereas Inigo and Kea immediately take umbrage at the suggestion that they could benefit from therapy, Strike, when asked about stress, simply lies about it, as he does about other factors, like the long-term nature of his injury and how he got the puncture wound. In fact, Strike, as a PTSD survivor, likely knows that the stress he is under from the heavy workload and the recent bombing is contributing to his leg issues, just as his smoking and poor diet are. Inigo and Kea, unfortunately, seem to believe the misconception that "psychogenic" means "it's all in your head and you could choose to stop being sick if you would just try" and reject any attempts to address their mental health. Many professionals would say that most diseases have a psychogenic component, since recovery from everything from cancer to heart disease to the common cold can be hampered by psycholgical concerns, particularly trauma and chronic stress.

The next morning, Barclay checks in from Glasgow and Strike is considerate enough to include Robin on the video chat. We get a bit of comic relief with the reaction of Nichole's parents to the detectives' inquiry.

"The point is, when you give men these types of pictures you've effectively given them a means of blackmailing you, or shaming you--"

"But I'm not ashamed, said Nichole, and Robin believed her.

I couldn't help but wonder what Strike was thinking at this point, given that the nude photo Charlotte sent him could have destroyed his business if he hadn't been lucky enough to get Jago on video abusing his daughters.

On Monday, Strike agrees to let Robin come into the office and help install the new furniture, including the vastly inferior red cloth-covered sofa that is utterly devoid of sound effects. The person Pat has thought for several days was a prank caller turns out to be a terrified Zoe Haigh, looking for Jessica/Robin. Strike, despite being on crutches and incapable of being any sort of bodyguard to her, insists on going with Robin to Zoe's, fearing this is a trap set by Anomie. And I would have thought that Robin, after her experience with Raff Chiswell, might have taken this possibility more seriously. But, the car ride does give them a chance to clear the air about risk taking, and Robin assures Strike she doesn't want to lose him, in a beautifully touching echo to what he told her on the verge and at the racetrack in LW. He agrees to wait in the car and review her Twitter research while she sees Zoe.

We finish up the this book on Saturday, with Anomie unmasked, a bonus pedophile caught and a killer captured.