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RIP JK Rowling: 'Harry Potter' author isn't dead but critics of her new book ‘Troubled Blood’ say her career is

Her latest book, the fifth installment in the ‘Cormoran Strike’ detective series, written under the pseudonym Robert Galibraith, is reportedly about a cis-gendered man who dresses up like a woman to kill other women

On Monday, September 14, #RIPJKRowling was trending on Twitter with thousands of people tweeting under the hashtag. But the ‘Harry Potter’ author is very much alive. It would seem that she has courted controversy once again.

Her latest book, ‘Troubled Blood’, the fifth installment in the ‘Cormoran Strike’ detective series, written under her frequent pseudonym Robert Galibraith, is reportedly about a cis-gendered man who dresses up like a woman to kill other women. A review of the book on The Telegraph, published on Sunday, September 13, notes, “Strike and Robin’s fifth outing is good on characterization, weak on everything else, and has a subplot to make Rowling’s critics fume.”

“The meat of the book is the investigation into a cold case: the disappearance of GP Margot Bamborough in 1974, thought to have been a victim of Dennis Creed, a transvestite serial killer,” the review noted. “One wonders what critics of Rowling’s stance on trans issues will make of a book whose moral seems to be: never trust a man in a dress.”

This is not the first time Rowling has revealed her supposed anti-trans ideology in her books. She wrote a trans character as being “unstable and aggressive” in the series’ second novel ‘The Silkwork’.

In June, Rowling took exception to an opinion piece titled “Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate” and argued that “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”

Her comments drew a flood of criticism from members of the LGBTQIA+ community, gender activists, and from actors such as Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, who have played major roles in the ‘Harry Potter’ films.

Responding to the backlash, Rowling wrote an essay on June 10, in which she revealed the domestic abuse and sexual assault she had survived, and how her concerns about women’s safety, arising from her own personal history, does not make her a TERF (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist) and is not exclusive of her sympathy for trans rights. But her essay only drew more flak. As expected, after the revelation of the plot of her new book, critics of the author took the opportunity to further decry her. 

“She’s not dead or anything, but even Tom Riddle is more alive than her career and reputation. #RIPJKRowling,” wrote a Twitter user. “In memory of JK Rowling. she ain’t dead, but she killed her own career by proudly hating trans people & no one would really miss her that much anyway #ripjkrowling,” wrote another Twitter user. “#RIPJKRowling she ain't dead but her career is,” said another fan of the ‘Harry Potter' universe.

Another critic of Rowling wrote, “in memory of jk rowling, she’snot dead but she killed her career by being a transphobic piece of s*** #RIPJKRowling.” A ‘Harry Potter’ fan wrote, “JK Rowling: Continues being an unapologetic TERF. Me: Hopelessly praying that it will soon be revealed that Rowling did not write Harry Potter and in fact Gilderoy Lockharted the work of another writer who is actually a good person so I can enjoy my fav books again #RIPJKRowling.”