The Silkworm
United States cover
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| Author | Robert Galbraith |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime fiction |
| Publisher |
Sphere Books (Little, Brown & Company) |
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Publication date
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19 June 2014 |
| Pages | 454 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | The Cuckoo's Calling |
| Followed by | Career of Evil |
The Silkworm is a 2014 crime fiction novel written by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It is the second novel in the series featuring private investigator Cormoran Strike, and is a sequel to The Cuckoo's Calling (2013). It was followed by Career of Evil in 2015.
The title of the novel is derived from the Bombyx mori, a silkworm that is boiled alive within its cocoon to preserve the silken threads of the cocoon when the worm is removed. Within the context of the novel, Bombyx Mori is the title of a controversial manuscript in which its protagonist, Bombyx, is a writer who is repeatedly abused, tormented and ultimately eaten alive by the people in his life whilst going to extraordinary lengths to capture and preserve his talent for their own selfish gains.
In the months following the successful resolution of the Lula Landry case, business has improved for private investigator Cormoran Strike. While handling a steady stream of divorce cases and the occasional job on behalf of a tabloid journalist, Strike is approached by Leonora Quine with a plea to locate her husband, the notorious writer Owen Quine, who has disappeared without a trace.
Quine, once hailed as one of the original literary rebels—presented as the literary world's version of music's punk rock scene—has struggled for years to recreate the success of his original novel and has fallen out of public view. Strike discovers that his disappearance coincides with the leak of the manuscript for his latest novel, Bombyx Mori. The London literary community considers Bombyx Mori to be unpublishable; an unpleasant mix of rape, sadomasochism, torture, necrophilia and cannibalism, the hero is eventually tricked and eaten alive by various characters who are thinly-veiled metaphors for people in Quine's life whom he considers responsible for the destruction of his career.
As Strike searches for Quine, his relationship with his assistant Robin Ellacott deteriorates, particularly after a disastrous meeting with her fiancé Matthew, who takes an immediate dislike to him. Robin feels neglected by Strike, stuck in the role of secretary when she aspires to be an investigator herself; for his part, Strike is unwilling to put Robin in a position where she is forced to choose between her fiancé and her job. Their growing animosity is tempered when Strike finds Quine's body in an abandoned house bound, disembowelled, doused in acid and posed like the centerpiece of a meal, a clear mirror of the final scene in Bombyx Mori.
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