Strike: The Ink Black Heart — Review

Strike and Robin tackle their toughest case yet: the murder of the reclusive cartoonist Edie Ledwell. As they delve into the complex world of online fandom and obsession, they soon find themselves in deadly territory, where they must confront the killer, and face the consequences of their discoveries in an explosive finale.

Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger reprise their roles as Denmark Street’s crime solving duo in the sixth season of Strike. Based on the Ink Black Heart, Tom Edge adapts the longest book in the series into four episodes with Sue Tully returning to direct.

Creatively and visually, I think the production team have found their stylistic rhythm. Under Tully’s direction, the show leans into the gothic horror genre and the cinematography captures beautifully nuanced moments through the performances and more dramatic sequences.

On a personal level, this book is my favourite in the Robert Galbraith series, which is why I was particularly looking forward to this adaptation. While Tom Edge pens a pretty solid series which stays faithful to the novel, I genuinely think this and it’s predecessor Troubled Blood would’ve greatly benefited from five or even six episodes. Particularly with a book that’s over a thousand pages, it’s tough to decide what to cut and what to keep.

The mystery element of this plot was brilliantly written, choosing to focus more on this complex case with a large ensemble of suspects and the interpersonal relationship between Strike and Robin, torn between their growing feelings and their desire to protect their friendship and agency. Here, Burke and Grainger shine in their performances and their chemistry was fantastic as always.

Even though I knew what was going to happen, I couldn’t resist binge watching the whole season on BBC Iplayer over two nights. So much about this show I enjoyed, both as a fan of the book and show — but I couldn’t help but notice the pitfalls of what had to be cut. There’s alternative chapters in the book which featured group chats of the players of the fan made game of The Ink Black Heart, which gave insights to the suspects and even the killer, but these scenes were very limited and far between. However, the animation for both the game and show were absolutely stunning.

But focusing on Robin or Strike’s perspectives outside the game still translated well on screen for the overall story. However, there were references to events that occurred with Strike’s manipulative childhood sweetheart (played brilliantly by Natasha O'Keeffe) which readers knew from the books, but those scenes hadn’t appeared in the previous season and therefore seeing the repercussions of that play out this season was a bit jarring.

There was also a really interesting subplot with Strike’s toxic affair with a Robin lookalike which is condensed into phone conversations and a few snide remarks. Again, I think this could have been corrected with just an extra episode or two to allow these moments to play out.

While this was an abridged version of the plot — as all adaptations are — and there were disappointing cuts to certain plot points, this was a superbly crafted murder mystery. Plus this season also excellently captured the emotional complexities of the romantic subplot brewing between the leads and why the slow burn narrative was essential for these two characters. If you want to know how to write a compelling friends to lovers plot, Strike and Robin are a great example.

The ensemble cast were perfectly cast and captured a raw vulnerability to their characters, which ultimately leads to one of the darkest and most dramatic killer revelations of the series. Again, even though I knew what was going to happen, I was still hooked throughout this scene.

Overall, this was an enjoyable watch and with such a stellar cast and crew, The Ink Black Heart captured the essence of the original novel. My only minor complaint was that fans who know only the TV series may be confused by certain parts, so I’d highly recommend reading the book to understand the full scope of this plot.

My rating for Strike: The Ink Black Heart is ★★★★.

Strike: The Ink Black Heart is streaming on BBC Iplayer and the episode are airing 16th, 17th, 23rd and 24th December at 9pm.

Want to read my review of the book? Here’s my review of The Ink Black Heart.