Novel: The Silkworm

Overview
The Silkworm is the second Cormoran Strike detective novel by J. K. Rowling, published in 2014 under the Robert Galbraith name. It continues the stories of private investigator Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott as they delve into the London literary world to solve a disappearance that becomes a brutal murder investigation. The book balances a complex whodunit with sharper examinations of ambition, artistic cruelty, and the consequences of exposing others through fiction.

Plot
A struggling novelist, Owen Quine, vanishes after a falling-out with friends and colleagues in the publishing industry. Strike and Robin are hired to find him, but what begins as a missing-person case escalates when Quine's mutilated body is discovered and a shocking, highly personal manuscript surfaces. The manuscript, titled "Bombyx Mori," lampoons and exposes intimate details of real people in Quine's life, turning the list of suspects into a gallery of potential motives.
The investigation forces Strike and Robin to navigate jealous authors, fragile egos, ruthless agents, and the cutthroat business side of publishing. They interview ex-lovers, editors, and rivals, uncovering a pattern of exploitation, secrecy, and betrayal. Tensions rise as the detectives piece together how the manuscript's cruel portraits might have provoked a violent response, and as the case drags in both professional and personal directions for the investigative duo.

Characters and Themes
Cormoran Strike remains a rough-edged, sympathetic investigator: physically scarred by war, driven by an almost stubborn sense of justice, and often underestimated by those around him. Robin Ellacott continues to grow as a sleuth, asserting more independence and competence while grappling with complications in her private life. Their evolving professional partnership and subtle emotional undercurrents form a human center to the procedural action.
The Silkworm probes what writers owe their subjects and where satire becomes cruelty. It scrutinizes the literary world's vanity and vicious competitiveness, showing how art that borrows too freely from real lives can leave victims in its wake. Themes of identity, revenge, and the corrosive effects of fame and rejection are woven through both the murder mystery and the interpersonal dynamics among suspects and investigators alike.

Style and Reception
Rowling's prose under the Galbraith byline is measured and detail-rich, investing scenes with gritty London atmosphere and dogged investigative pacing. The novel is darker and bloodier than its predecessor, with moments of grim violence and unsettling moral ambiguities. Dialogue and character observation are used to build momentum, while the manuscript-within-the-story device adds a metafictional edge that keeps readers guessing about motive and authorship.
Critics and readers praised the book's plotting and the chemistry between Strike and Robin, though some noted its length and graphic moments as challenging. The Silkworm reinforced the series' reputation as a contemporary British crime saga and led to screen adaptation, helping to cement Cormoran Strike as a compelling figure in modern detective fiction.