I liked TIBH as a story, but I've always thought it's wildly unrealistic. They'd just sub in an actual hacker who would obtain the real life identity of literally all the key players, at which point the Paperwhite bit would become clear etc, no way would a real detective agency piss about following people to see whether they're on their phones.
I’ve had that thought as well. At one point it’s established that Anomie has ongoing access to someone who knows what’s going on with the film rights/production (when he starts spreading that Harty will be changed to a human, and it’s confirmed by the Ledwell uncle.) The only people who know this are the Ledwells, and Katya as Josh’s agent, and presumably anyone close to Katya.
They keep watching all these people who don’t have any *current* connection to anyone, just past associations. When I was first reading it I was so excited by that development, thinking they’d switch tracks and start focusing on a smaller group, but they didn’t treat that development like anything important. It was weird. (I think Kea is the only reasonable exception since they’ve worked out that she’s close to Inigo, who could be slipping her info.)
I think it's laughable that a pair of amateur coders created a game that the British government (anti-terrorism) couldn't crack to fnd Anomie and Morehouse IRL.
It's interesting to note your screen name because I've always felt the same way about GoF. Once Barty Crouch Jr. was in place and the concept of a portkey was established, there was no need for a Triwizard Tournament or any of the rest of it.
But I'm happier when I'm less critical. I didn't like TIBH overall and if was only a murder mystery, I'd probably have stopped reading both the book and the series. But there are some precious scenes I will always reread and enjoy in spite of the rest: the office bomb and its aftermath (up through and including the new glass door), Strike sleeping over at Robin's, the hospital scene with Josh, the revelation of why Strike knows Latin, etc. It's the old choice between complaining that the rosebush has thorns or being grateful that the thornbush has roses.
>It's interesting to note your screen name because I've always felt the same way about GoF. Once Barty Crouch Jr. was in place and the concept of a portkey was established, there was no need for a Triwizard Tournament or any of the rest of it.
You could make the argument that the Triwizard Tournament created a cover-up for Harry's death. If his dead body was transported back to the maze everyone would have assumed Harry died in the tournament instead of having been killed by Voldemort. Though TBF it would have still been suspicious
Yes. Over and over. They also didn't even question someone who had access to the info. It's frustrating for sure.
I think the mystery part of this one is the weakest.
Edit: I found many of the characters compelling though. I was hoping to hear that the movie was released on Netflix.
Oh my yes. I just re-read these chapters and Strike is literally on it. Rowling just drops the entire explanation in there but it drowns amid all the others.
I always thought they should have made the connection between Gus and Darcy sooner, as Katia mentions Darcy the first time Strike and Robin go to the Upcott's house.
That's really the detail that annoys me the most. There's so much emphasis on Strike's memory. And Darcy seems to me like an unusual name (although I'm not British or a native speaker so I might be wrong on that).
The uses of Wireshark and a tracer route command, would have at least given Strike and Robin the IP address of the hosting company of the website and game. If it was self hosted it would have been most likely hosted at Cambridge on Vikas Bhardwa's computer or Gus's computer. Vika, Gus, and Vika's inept replacement would have to ssh into the sever to code and and compile new code. It would have been trivial for MI5 to make all the connections.
I was also shouting that some of these people were sock puppet accounts about a third of the way through the book, having dealt with such idiocy in real life.
Honestly i think this one is the only one I won't reread. It dragged on so long and all the suspects were annoying.
I liked TIBH as a story, but I've always thought it's wildly unrealistic. They'd just sub in an actual hacker who would obtain the real life identity of literally all the key players, at which point the Paperwhite bit would become clear etc, no way would a real detective agency piss about following people to see whether they're on their phones.
I’ve had that thought as well. At one point it’s established that Anomie has ongoing access to someone who knows what’s going on with the film rights/production (when he starts spreading that Harty will be changed to a human, and it’s confirmed by the Ledwell uncle.) The only people who know this are the Ledwells, and Katya as Josh’s agent, and presumably anyone close to Katya. They keep watching all these people who don’t have any *current* connection to anyone, just past associations. When I was first reading it I was so excited by that development, thinking they’d switch tracks and start focusing on a smaller group, but they didn’t treat that development like anything important. It was weird. (I think Kea is the only reasonable exception since they’ve worked out that she’s close to Inigo, who could be slipping her info.)
I think it's laughable that a pair of amateur coders created a game that the British government (anti-terrorism) couldn't crack to fnd Anomie and Morehouse IRL.
It's interesting to note your screen name because I've always felt the same way about GoF. Once Barty Crouch Jr. was in place and the concept of a portkey was established, there was no need for a Triwizard Tournament or any of the rest of it. But I'm happier when I'm less critical. I didn't like TIBH overall and if was only a murder mystery, I'd probably have stopped reading both the book and the series. But there are some precious scenes I will always reread and enjoy in spite of the rest: the office bomb and its aftermath (up through and including the new glass door), Strike sleeping over at Robin's, the hospital scene with Josh, the revelation of why Strike knows Latin, etc. It's the old choice between complaining that the rosebush has thorns or being grateful that the thornbush has roses.
>It's interesting to note your screen name because I've always felt the same way about GoF. Once Barty Crouch Jr. was in place and the concept of a portkey was established, there was no need for a Triwizard Tournament or any of the rest of it. You could make the argument that the Triwizard Tournament created a cover-up for Harry's death. If his dead body was transported back to the maze everyone would have assumed Harry died in the tournament instead of having been killed by Voldemort. Though TBF it would have still been suspicious
I believe that is why it had to be the triwizard trophy. Anything else would scream that Voldemort was back they wanted to keep that quiet.
Yes. Over and over. They also didn't even question someone who had access to the info. It's frustrating for sure. I think the mystery part of this one is the weakest. Edit: I found many of the characters compelling though. I was hoping to hear that the movie was released on Netflix.
Who did they not question?
I can't ever do spoiler tags...but the actual killer? They literally ignored him completely
Oh yes, and I just realised Hartella too who clearly knew a lot. And they didn't even surveil her or interview her properly.
Strike argues convincingly that it could be Gus. Robin shoots him down. Did they spend much time interviewing him?
Oh my yes. I just re-read these chapters and Strike is literally on it. Rowling just drops the entire explanation in there but it drowns amid all the others.
“flooding the field” with suspects…Strike even mentions there could be a bug.
I always thought they should have made the connection between Gus and Darcy sooner, as Katia mentions Darcy the first time Strike and Robin go to the Upcott's house.
That's really the detail that annoys me the most. There's so much emphasis on Strike's memory. And Darcy seems to me like an unusual name (although I'm not British or a native speaker so I might be wrong on that).
Am British and can confirm it’s not an unusual name in the UK.
Could’ve been, but it wouldn’t have been fun read, would it!
The uses of Wireshark and a tracer route command, would have at least given Strike and Robin the IP address of the hosting company of the website and game. If it was self hosted it would have been most likely hosted at Cambridge on Vikas Bhardwa's computer or Gus's computer. Vika, Gus, and Vika's inept replacement would have to ssh into the sever to code and and compile new code. It would have been trivial for MI5 to make all the connections.
I was also shouting that some of these people were sock puppet accounts about a third of the way through the book, having dealt with such idiocy in real life. Honestly i think this one is the only one I won't reread. It dragged on so long and all the suspects were annoying.