‘Career of Evil’

In the third installment of the Cormoran Strike series, titled 'Career of Evil,' J.K. Rowling writes as Robert Galbraith. The story features Strike, a private investigator who lost a leg while in the army, and his assistant Robin Ellacott, who had been raped as a student and suffers from lasting psychological trauma. Strike's background is marked by a tumultuous childhood, with his mother's abuse and his stepfather's potential involvement in his mother's death.

'Career of Evil' deviates from previous books in the series, presenting a more straightforward murder mystery with a few, distinct suspects. The narrative begins with a severed leg delivered to Strike, a direct communication from the unseen perpetrator seeking vengeance. The killer expresses a homicidal obsession with mutilating women, a pattern stemming from his own history of abuse.

Strike initially suspects a crime syndicate member, but dismisses him due to his lack of knowledge about Strike's role in his conviction. He then focuses on three individuals who have wronged him: a prosecutor from his past, his stepfather, and his stepfather's current partner. While the first two are quickly ruled out, the story centers on the third suspect, Noel Brockbank.

Brockbank's connection to Strike is established through shared trauma. Both had abusive stepfathers, and Brockbank himself was a victim of abuse in childhood, later becoming an abuser of young girls. Initially, Strike blames himself for Brockbank's brain injury sustained during a confrontation, but this is later disproven when it's discovered that Brockbank had a pre-existing skull fracture from a rugby match.

The killer's identity is revealed when Robin discovers that the severed leg, sent to Strike's agency, belonged to Kelsey Platt, a girl suffering from body integrity identity disorder (BIID). She had written a bizarre letter to Strike, expressing a desire for her healthy limb to be amputated. As Robin investigates, she uncovers evidence of Brockbank's sexual abuse of Kelsey's sister and the murder of Kelsey herself.

Despite initial suspicions, the true killer's identity is ultimately unveiled, revealing a horrifying act of violence fueled by a mix of personal vendettas and psychological disorders.