Nick Jeffery and John Granger do a Compare and Contrast test of the latest Cormoran Strike novel, The Hallmarked Man, and the previous seven books in Rowling-Galbraith’s longest series of novels. Adapting a list of ‘Greatest Hits’ moments from the first ‘Reading, Writing, Rowling’ podcast John did with Katie McDaniel and a panel of Potter Pundits in Roanoke, Virginia, Nick and John share their favorite moments first from the series and then from Strike 8 before contrasting the quality of these highlights.

The point of the exercise? Besides being a fun review of Strike-Ellacott adventures, a Greatest Hits collection of their highs and lows, Agency cases and sub-contractors included, the absence of any Hallmarked Man moments that merit a ‘Best in Series’ badge suggests that Strike 8 will be remembered best for how it set up Strikes 9 and 10.

Whatever your thoughts about that thesis, please share the scenes on your Greatest Hits list, both for the series and Hallmarked Man, per the numbered categories below. Nick and John have a few more to run through that they couldn’t get to on their first ‘go’ at this; feel free to share categories they should discuss in addition to the ones listed here:

* Top Pat Chauncey scene

* The One Scene that You Remember Most Often or ‘That Changed Your Life’

* Top ‘Text-within-a-Text’

* Funniest Scene

* Top ‘Drop the Book’ moment

* Best ‘Narrative misdirection/Ostrananie’ Moment

* Conclusion: Series and Hallmarked man

John is working on his charting of Hallmarked Man for the paid subscriber list as well as reviewing and revising his 2017 online course, ‘Wizard Reading Formula.’ More on those projects and the Kanreki Series in his next conversation with Nick; stay tuned!

Links to Ideas, Posts, and Theories Mentioned

* Talbot’s ‘True Book’ in Troubled Blood

* Kathryn Kent’s weblog post in The Silkworm

* The Goldfish in the Agency Office

* Running Grave and Hallmarked Man overlaps, and Ryan Murphy’s involvement.

* Three Take-Aways from Hallmarked Man: What We Know Readers will say in Ten Years about Strike 8

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