The Hallmarked Man

Throughout The Hallmarked Man, Galbraith explores the psychological toll exacted by investigative work, illustrating how Strike and Robin navigate a profession defined by violence, secrecy, and human suffering. The detectives’ inner lives underscore the cumulative strain of a life spent confronting corruption and depravity. The author also examines how this strain shapes the protagonists’ identities, relationships, and sense of future possibilities.

Across the series, Robin’s arc emphasizes the ways her work with Strike empowers her and allows her to heal from her past trauma, while simultaneously exposing her to additional danger and anguish. She is deeply committed to her work, which gives her purpose and identity, and has played a crucial role in her recovery from a rape years earlier. At the same time, her role as a detective continually places her in situations where she is harassed, assaulted, and endangered. Investigating crimes rooted in misogyny, sexual violence, and coercive control forces her to confront both the vulnerability of women in general and the unresolved wounds of her own history. The eight-inch scar on her forearm is a physical reminder of “yet another man who’d come at her, out of the dark” (756), and the ever-present threat of recurrence. Griffiths’s use of gorilla