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Troubled Blood

posted 9 months ago by ClementinaSpur (911)
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I just finished reading the monstrous Troubled Blood. 927 pages. It took me much longer than I thought it would take to finish. Life happens.

The book is bloated, but I have to say I'm not sure what should be cut to make it leaner. I almost think the bloat is necessary because the case in this book lasts for 13 months. It might have been strange to do a lean and mean book and still express the slow passage of time and their difficulty in solving the case adequately. Also, the more Strike and Robin do their subtle mating dance around each other, the more space that will take.

I have to hand it to the TV show adaptation of this book. They did a very decent job of taking such a humongous book and condensing it down to just the four episodes that got to the heart of the plot although I do wish the series were longer to include more of the great details.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

With that said, there are so many satisfying things in the book that don't make it to the show. Strike's oldest friend from Cornwall is a great character, but he's not in the show except for being one of the rescuers who take Strike and his sister by boat in the storm to see Joan before she dies.

Another thing that sort of bothers me is that in just about every book there isn't an a-ha! moment that is crystal clear and points to how Strike deduces who is the culprit. It's like an intuitive thing he does that isn't conveyed to the reader. I will say it makes it nearly impossible to predict the ending. That might be a good thing. But, when it is revealed who is the culprit the explanation always goes into much more detail than the TV show which always makes more sense.

For the first time, the show did NOT portray the Strike and Robin scenes with near 100% fidelity. The scene in Strike's apartment after he accidentally elbows Robin in the face is quite different in the book, and for the better even though it was a good scene in the show.

The scene at the end when Strike buys Robin the perfume of her choice for her birthday hints at a much larger theme in the book. Perfume and its representation of who Robin was, especially in the Matthew years, and who she is becoming is a major symbol throughout the book. I found that very compelling to the point I bought for myself a sample of the perfume Strike buys Robin just so I can know what they both agreed upon as Robin's new signature scent. It's not something I'd wear outside my house, but it's nice to put myself in that atmosphere.

I'm starting The Ink Black Heart tonight which should be super interesting as there is no adaptation for this book yet. I'm going in for the first time totally unaware. I do know that it picks up immediately after the perfume store scene at the end of Troubled Blood. I hope I can get through this one faster, but it's not totally the books' fault.

[–] ClementinaSpur (911) 8 months ago

I've been thinking quite a bit about the perfume story line in Troubled Blood. I really wish I could have a conversation with RG/JKR to ask if the perfumes were just random place fillers, or do the scents themselves and what they conjure provide a deeper characterization. I think the latter is true.

The scent that Robin has worn through the first four books and even before meeting Strike is Philosykos. It's considered a unisex scent that smells like a fig tree grove. I got a sample of it, and I despise it. It's strong, ascerbic, and truly does smell like it would as easily belong on a man as much as it does a woman. In fact, I would say it belongs MORE on a man. There's nothing feminine about it at all. The books say that Matthew loves it, and Strike misses the scent when Robin isn't in the office. Robin wearing this doesn't mesh with her ingenue persona at the beginning of the Strike series. She is self-admittedly naive and inexperienced about love with Matthew being the only man she's ever slept with. Matthew liking this is just a sign he has no idea who Robin really is, and nor does he care. Strike liking it is just a sign that he misses Robin's presence I think. I don't believe he, if asked, would like the perfume that Matthew loves. He wants to be the anti-Matthew.

Robin, post-divorce, is on the search for a new signature scent. She wants to separate herself from Matthew in every way possible, and that includes his favorite scent she wears. She buys a couple of perfumes, 4711 and Fracas, and concludes they are all wrong for her. Strike smells them in the Land Rover, and he doesn't like them either. This is all about Robin finding herself.

Robin's mother buys her Chance by Chanel for Christmas. Robin dislikes it too, saying the only message it sends is that "I have washed." Great line. This is just proof that buying perfume for someone else is very much a gamble.

When Strike takes Robin to the perfume store Liberty to buy her a belated birthday gift of her choosing, she narrows down to two, and with Strike's help, she chooses Narciso. Strike thinks it smells of "warm, musky skin with a suggestion of bruised flowers." It is a floral woody musky perfume. It's about the 180 degree opposite of Robin's previous perfume, Philosykos. It's clearly feminine, romantic, and sexy. Seems to me choosing it is perfect timing for what is going on between Strike and Robin.

In the final scene of Troubled Blood at the perfume store, Strike also is wearing a scent, and not just the cigarette smoke he normally carries around on himself (which by the way would be a total deal breaker for me). He wears the aftershave Pour Un Homme on special occasions, and celebrating Robin's birthday is one. It has a subtle lavender scent, and I think there is deep significance to even mentioning that in the book. Lavender is a calming, comforting herb and symbolizes peace and tranquility. It's mentioned a lot that Strike wants peace, and being with Charlotte was the opposite of that. I think it's a nod that he will find it with Robin.

[–] ClementinaSpur (911) 8 months ago

I forgot to add that even the missing woman in Troubled Blood wore a perfume that Robin found intriguing, Rive Gauche by YSL, when she was acquainting herself with Margot in the early days of the case. Also, Robin realizes why Matthew washed the bed sheets midweek. He had to get rid of Sarah Shadlock's signature heavy perfume Flowerbomb. That perfume's bottle looks like a pretty grenade. That's fitting since Sarah and Matthew blew up Matthew and Robin's marriage.

The perfume story line and references in the book provide a lot to unpack.

[–] ClementinaSpur (911) 8 months ago

I just heard a great point on the Strike & Ellacott Files podcast about the perfume Robin's mother gives her for Christmas. It's very fresh and clean-smelling, leading to that great line that Robin thinks "I have washed." It lacks the romance that she is seeking in a perfume.

Linda, Robin's mother, is very concerned with the rumors about Robin back home in Masham. Matthew is spreading the lie about that Robin broke up his marriage by sleeping with Strike (Matthew is so much more of an a$$hole in the books). It sounds like Linda has bought into this, but she was prejudiced against Strike long before this. The choice of perfume for Robin has the symbolism of cleansing Robin free of the verbal dirt, although unjust and unfair, surrounding her reputation. I really dislike Linda's character for the record.

Another point about Ilsa. The fact that she even suggested to Strike that Robin wants perfume for her birthday was nothing more than her matchmaking at work. It's always a very risky gamble to buy something as personal as perfume for anyone, but even more so for someone you've got the total, yet secret, hots for. One of the funniest lines in the whole series is something Strike says about his experience trying to buy Robin a suitable perfume by himself.