Strike: The Ink Black Heart: How the book differs to the series

Strike: The Ink Black Heart is the sixth adaptation of JK Rowling’s popular crime series, and follows detectives Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott as they solve murders in London. In season six, the pair are tasked with an unusual case after a young woman who comes to them for help aftr receiving online death threats is murdered – but how closely does the show stick to the book? 

Strike and Robin’s near kiss 

In the opening episode, Strike and Robin are celebrating her birthday when, after a cocktail or two, Stike appears to go for a kiss, only for Robin to move away. 

While this is beat for beat the same as the book, the TV show misses both of their internal monologues following the moment, with Cormoran feeling foolish for having miscontrued his partner’s feelings for him, while Robin felt a fleeting fear at what it would mean for their business if they became romantically involved, only to intensely regret her reaction. 

However, the show does accurately depict the office awkwardness after the moment! 

The murder case 

In the show, Edie arrives asking for help with an online stalker, when Robin sends her away with recommendations for cyber detective agencies as she felt that she and Comoran would not be able to help with the specifics of her concerns. And, true to form, the TV show closely follows the events of the novel. 

© Rob Youngson

However, a key difference is that the novel delves much closer into the world of the Ink Black Heart forum, including several conversations concerning all of the users who you mostly meet only in real life in the show. This change was likely done to look more visually engaging on the show – as pages of forum conversation wouldn’t translate well to the silver screen!

Strike’s relationship with Maddie

The show makes several changes regarding his relationship with the jewelery designer. While in the show, Madeline doesn’t even appear on screen, with communication only shown when she is becoming increasingly frustrated while trying to contact Cormoran, eventually breaking up with him. 

© BBC

In the novel however, Maddie is a much more fleshed out character, and is presented as a nice, intelligent, thoughtful person who has no major issues, making things difficult to Cormoran to call things off with her despite his growing feelings for Robin. 

© Rob Youngson

Cormoran’s appearance

JK Rowling has revealed that her idea of Cormoran is much different from his depiction on the show, as she imagined an older, gruffer version of his TV counterpart Tom Burke. However, Cormoran has the same struggles in the sixth installment after struggling with his amputated leg after putting on weight, sending him on a health kick as his leg injury begins to impact on his work.