Books

Read Two Chapters of Her New Book Now

by Meredith Turits

J.K. Rowling-lovers (or, um, Robert Galbraith-lovers), make to your office printers: the first two chapters of The Silkworm , the new novel from Rowling aka Galbraith, out June 19, is up for download. I'll wait patiently while you scramble away from this browser to open up another tab... aaaand welcome back.

The Silkworm is the follow-up to last year's crime novel The Cuckoo's Calling about private detective Cormoran Strike, which sat in a mediocre sales position under the Galbraith pseudonym until — whoopsa reporter revealed last July that Rowling had penned the title. It surged to become the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon soon thereafter because J.K. Which is an actual explanation (for most people, at least).

The 12-page excerpt is dark, fast-moving, and vivid — and delightfully easy to devour in a clip. It may cause you to put up a countdown calendar until the title is released at the end of the month; that is, if you don't have one up already. (Note: Pre-orders of The Silkworm are blocked on Amazon because of the Hachette vs. Amazon conflict, so don't expect to be getting your early fix there. There's always Powell's, for instance, as an alternative. GO INDIE .)

Oh, and there's one extra bit of super-fan news: There's a rumor that Rowling is already working on a third and could write up to seven Corman Strike novels (perhaps in George R.R. Martin fashion?), so basically, we all have a lot to look forward to.