Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've liked all the Cormoran Strike books so far and this is a strong continuation of the characters and a meaty mystery for Strike and Robin to solve. It's been weirdly described in lots of media reports as centering around a cross-dressing or transgender serial killer - that's simply not true. One of the central bad guys is a serial killer (already caught and in prison - don't worry that's not a spoiler) who in his killing days occasionally used a woman's coat and wig to appear less intimidating to the victims he was pursuing. He also joked when his trophy jewelry items were found by police that he had them as he liked to crossdress - he does this to tease the relatives of one of his victims in court. However apart from that one malicious joke and that he might have used disguises occasionally when hunting his victims there is no evidence that he is a cross dresser and he's definitely not trans. You may have decided not to buy any more of JK Rowling's books because you are disappointed with statements she's made about the transgender community. However, this book has been mislabeled as having an evil transgender serial killer when that's simply not true. For fans of the series, it's not quite as strong a mystery as some of the previous novels but there's a lot of character development for Strike and Robin and is a good mix of new and old characters.