The Silkworm cover art

The Silkworm

Cormoran Strike, Book 2

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Silkworm

By: Robert Galbraith
Narrated by: Robert Glenister
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Now a major BBC drama: The Strike series.

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days - as he has done before - and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.

And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before....

A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, The Silkworm is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant Robin Ellacott.

Please note: This audiobook contains explicit language

2015, CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger, Short-listed

2015, US Audie Awards, Winner

2015, Audible Sounds of Crime Award at Crimefest, Winner

2016, IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Long-listed

©2014 Robert Galbraith Limited (P)2014 Hachette Audio Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Mystery Private Investigators Psychological Thriller & Suspense Fiction Exciting Suspense

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Detective Sebastian Clifford, Books 1-3 cover art
The Murderer's Son cover art
A Real Shot in the Arm cover art
Don't Order Dog cover art
The Snow Killer cover art
Dreaming of the Bones cover art
The Poet cover art
The Black Echo: Harry Bosch Series, Book 1 cover art
Little Girl Lost cover art
The Scorpio Races cover art
Cut Short cover art
The Catch cover art
A is for Alibi cover art
The Potter cover art

Editor reviews

A work of crime fiction from a master writer, The Silkworm is Book 2 of the Cormoran Strike series, written by Robert Galbraith and with a captivating narration by English actor Robert Glenister. The literary genius of its author comes through in this suspenseful thriller audiobook with a plot weaved with unexpected turns and characters the listener will truly empathise with. Detective Cormoran Strike is hired to solve a mystery but it’s not the clean work of a hired assassin as first suspected, it’s of a cold-blooded, vicious killer. This book keeps you captive until the final word. Available now from Audible.
All stars
Most relevant  

What did you like most about The Silkworm?

Strike continues to unfold into an incredibly stubbly character, sullied and brilliant. Also the storytelling and description is a powerful whirlpool.

Any additional comments?

I just loved this book, a great sequel... Really looking forward to Book 3!

Gripping, fascinating and very very likeable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you listen to The Silkworm again? Why?

Yes, in the fullness of time, because I enjoy the central characters, Robin and Strike, and the way their histories and lifestyles are believably depicted, and their relationship is developed for the reader largely via their separate internal thoughts. The author is very strong at creating colourful, distinct characters whose actions are always true to the inner landscapes they keep hidden but the reader knows well.
As with all good mysteries, I enjoy the way the author weaves clues throughout the book and the minor characters' actions keep you guessing.

Would you recommend The Silkworm to your friends? Why or why not?

I would. Although Robert Glenister's narration takes a while to get used to and he falters on changes of accent very occasionally, overall it is well done, and he performs the dialogue very well. If anybody read/listened to the first Strike book and enjoyed it, they will no doubt want to find out what happens next in the lives of Cormoran and Robin.

What does Robert Glenister bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

He performs the dialogue brilliantly, getting across emotions, grudging sentiment and evasiveness of characters particularly well. The accents are generally believable, and he plays the humour of various scenes in Strike's office nicely.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I enjoy the switches between Robin's perspective and Strike's, and the snowy car journey out to Devon is a good example of this - we see Strike's admiration of Robin increase along with Robin's own self-esteem - it's a nice passage which cements their budding professional partnership, respect and friendship even under incredible pressure. I found myself desperately hoping Robin would make the train in time (even feeling that her engagement is surely doomed - I didn't want it to fall out under the horrible circumstance of missing her mother-in-law to-be's funeral!) which surely shows how I have connected to and warmed to the character, something that doesn't happen with every book you read.

Any additional comments?

Looking forward to a third book, hopefully with a more exciting mystery - I wasn't invested in the Quine murder in quite the same way I found myself hooked on the mystery of Lula's balcony drop in the first book. Ultimately, I am really enjoying the two central characters and want to read more of their Christie-esque sleuthing.

Robin and Strike, book 2

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Having listen to the first book 'The Cookoo Calling' , I was looking forward to the second book in the series and I wasn't disappointed. There are several complex characters/suspects set in the world of authors & publishing. The descriptions of the winter setting of snowy London made me feel very cold & I even felt like I was experiencing the blizzardy weather in some places. The working relationship between the two main characters Comoran Strike & Robin Ellacot is developing well. Robert Glenisters narration is perfect & I could envisage the characters in a dramatisation. Unlike a few other reviewers I thoroughly enjoyed this second book, would recommend it & urge others to listen & make up there own minds.

Loving these Cormoran Strike books

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was fast pace, intregeing, enjoyed every minute change of genre for me glad I did.

Loved it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
very good, enjoyed listening to it, got better as it progressed. looking forward to the next one.

silkworm

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
loved the book, had me gripped until the end.
I hope there are a few more on the way

excellent book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found this gripping and compelling, listened to it all in one go. Great characters

Rowling’s an ex smoker can you tell?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great story with a bit of development for Robin. love the characters even the ones your supposed to hate!

Awesome. love the protaganist

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What is the point of all the quotes before each chapter? It is annoying, irritating needless and unnecessary for the plot. Every time I hear one I think that the author is trying to make up for shoddy writing by trying to convince the reader that she is well read. Pathetic enough to put me right off. The stories are ok but the quotes? NO.

Dont think I can stand any more

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I started listening to audiobooks last year so that I could do other things and still consume books. I loved A Casual Vacancy so tried the Strike books about 3 weeks ago. They are so good that I have listened to all 4 since: when I wake up, when I go to the allotment or into the garden and when I am knitting. As a journo and editor, I tend to notice more than others when someone's writing does not flow effortlessly. As a former performer, I also notice bad acting. Both hurt. But here is that rare combination of great, simple, apparently effortless writing combined with great performance skills. Listening to Robert Galbraith is like listening to a friend tell a story. Listening to Robert Glenister is like listening to a cast of thousands. I forget I am listening and I am there. There's nothing more than one can ask of a book than to forget the one is where one is and not in the thick of it, with the characters. A perfect combination. Thank you both so much. Now all I have to do is wait 3 months for Book 5.

Unputdownable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews