I'm just reading 'The Silkworm' a second mystery novel written by JK Rowling under a pseudonym 'Robert Galbraith'. I never read 'Harry Potter' series, just didn't get on with the writing of the first book and somehow the craze passed me by. I love mysteries, so I picked these up. What's interesting is that she regularly makes me rolleyes with forced conflict or contrived dialogue and plot progression. On the other hand, some of her descriptions and transitions are masterful, she really brings the landscape and characters to life. And another thing that I think is hard to find with writers these days, the book makes me look forward to curling up and reading. Not a hypnotic pull, or desperately needing to find out what happens, just a cozy feeling like with Agatha Christie novels. Is this characteristic of her writing or is she better in her YA fiction? Has anyone else read her mystery novels? What did you think?
I've always felt that her writing improved as the Harry Potter series progressed. So it's not surprising that certain parts of her new books are good. From what I heard, her first mystery novel did really well with both casual readers and critics.
It was entertaining and engaging, and made buy the next one. But it felt like a debut novel, and for someone who became a billionaire from writing fiction only a few years ago, it seemed odd that she'd have those 'wooden' moments, like you see in most 'first books'. Maybe it's down to the change of genre?
