I have enjoyed most of these books, but not this one.
The Strike/Robin relationship continues to be well chronicled and on a ‘Will they, won’t they?’ knife edge (How long can this go on?), but the crime plot was inexplicable and I found the writing obscure, to put it mildly.
One of the co-inventors of an internet game is murdered, and Strike and Robin decide to investigate (the economics of this are unclear).
Much of the book is parallel dialogues between moderators of the game, who all have assumed technological names. The murderer is the key co-ordinator who goes by the name Anomie. No one really knows with certainty who anyone else is throughout the book. Strike and Robin spend 1000 pages trying to identify people, with little success.
The gaming group has some affinity with a right wing terrorist group, who bomb the Denmark St office and threaten to kill Robin, leading to some interesting overnight accommodation decisions for them.
Anomie proves to be the disabled (I think) son of some of the many characters which calls into question how he managed to kill so many of the victims. Just not that plausible plotting. Might make more sense on a second reading, but @ 1000 pages, I think life is too short.
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