Name: Bruce Flesser's review of The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
Item: The Cuckoo's Calling
Rating: 5
Author: Bruce Flesser

Robert Galbraith

'The Cuckoo's Calling reminds me why I fell in love with crime fiction in the first place' VAL MCDERMID ----- Now a major BBC drama: The Strike series When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case. Strike is a war veteran - wounded both physically and psychologically - and his life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model's complex world, the darker things get - and the closer he gets to terrible danger . . . A gripping, elegant mystery steeped in the atmosphere of London - from the hushed streets of Mayfair to the backstreet pubs of the East End to the bustle of Soho - The Cuckoo's Calling is a remarkable book. Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. *** The latest book in the thrilling Strike series, TROUBLED BLOOD, is available to pre-order now! *** ----- PRAISE FOR THE STRIKE SERIES: 'One of the most unique and compelling detectives I've come across in years' MARK BILLINGHAM 'The work of a master storyteller' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Unputdownable. . . Irresistible' SUNDAY TIMES 'Will keep you up all night' OBSERVER 'A thoroughly enjoyable classic' PETER JAMES, SUNDAY EXPRESS

Cormoran Strike Book 1

The Cuckoo's Calling

Ada Puerto

Anita Rut Kristjansdottir

Bruce Flesser

Maelys

I particularly appreciated the author’s knack for creating unique and very picturable characters and for embodying their way of talking and thinking so convincingly. Cormoran Strike and his sidekick Robin are very likeable and touching heroes and the investigation was pleasurable to read along, thanks to humour and vivi characters‘ descriptions. The ending was a bit far-fetched and in total Poirot-esque fashion with the final confrontation between the detective and the murderer. Still, I’m looking forward to the next installment !

Meagan Fischer 

I was excited to read anything new by Jo when I found out these were coming out, and the story drew me in well enough when I initially read it. Mystery/crime novels have a way of doing that. But the characters were shallowly drawn and annoying or unrelatable at times - why is Cormoran such an asshole about his godchild? (Or is that in the second one? Doesn't really matter - not plot relevant.) It was a good casual read but no great work of literature. I guess within the upper half in terms of quality for the genre. Not much stands out as very memorable, but I still might read some of the later works in the series if I didn't have other things higher on my to read list.

Melissa Palmer

Book #63 Read in 2014
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)

This is the first in a series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike, a war veteran and son of a rock star. In this book, Strike is hired to look into the death of a supermodel; the police call it suicide but her brother believes it was murder. Strike looks into her death, with help from his trusty sidekick and assistant, Robin. He realizes that there is many layers to Landry's life and tries to untangle them to find out what really happened to her. 

This book was a good read but a slow read for me. It bogged down a bit for me in the middle but picked up in the second half. I liked the character of Strike and I liked Robin. I have the second one in my TBR pile.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Denaiir

A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide. After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man. You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this. Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Lara Engle

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It does rely heavily on tried-and-true PI story tropes, but they don't seem old. The mystery had sufficient twists to keep me thinking, but the solution didn't seem manipulative or manipulated. Cormoran Strike is an enjoyable character, even if he does have that macho soldier thing going on. Robin the secretary is clever at work, although a bit boring and lame in her personal life. I hope she is starting here so she has room to grow. I'll definitely read more of the series.

Moth

Our warning sign was how completely racist this book is and yet we all just uncomfortably went 'hahaha...'. I knew that it was messed up then but I didn't want to believe she MEANT it. But at this point we all know she did.

Nessa Luna

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

I don’t often read crime novels, just because they don’t interest me a lot, but I wanted to give this one a try because it was written by J.K. Rowling, and she’s just one of my favourite writers.

I kinda liked this book, and I actually thought it was thrilling, I really wanted to get to the last couple of pages, so I could see if Lula indeed had been murdered, and who would have done it. I can say I was surprised when I read the end, and I think I actually went:



And though I like Rowling’s writing, I was again annoyed by the fact that she likes to write out accents. Especially the accent of one of a woman that Strike interviewed was really annoying to read, and I actually found myself skipping the sentences she said a couple of times. I also found it a bit weird that with every part in the book (it had four or five parts in total I think) the chapter numbers started all over again. I mean, why not just continue the chapter numbers, but that’s just one of my little pet peeves.

Like I said, I liked the book, and out of all the characters I liked Robin, and her excitement about solving this case, the most. I really hope we’ll be seeing more of her in the following book(s), and I am sure I will continue to read this series, though my opinion on crime novels still hasn’t changed!

This is probably a rare event that I will say that the “movie” is better than the book.  The Netflix Series was so much better than the book.  This book was extremely slow and the vulgar language was a bit over the top.  A real author can express themselves with a more extensive vocabulary than an Fbomb every other word.

A famous model appears to have committed suicide and Strike is hired by the brother to investigate further.

Trigger warnings:  suicide, strong language, smoking, drinking, mention of war.

Barbara Williford

This is probably a rare event that I will say that the “movie” is better than the book.  The Netflix Series was so much better than the book.  This book was extremely slow and the vulgar language was a bit over the top.  A real author can express themselves with a more extensive vocabulary than an Fbomb every other word.

A famous model appears to have committed suicide and Strike is hired by the brother to investigate further.

Trigger warnings:  suicide, strong language, smoking, drinking, mention of war.

W. J. Long III

From the earliest pages, I knew this would be one of my favorite books this year. Cormoran and Robin land in a full sprint that made me want to keep pace with them throughout the four hundred-plus pages of the novel.

I won't summarize the plot here, but suffice it to say that as a postmodern detective yarn, The Cuckoo's Calling excels at threading several narrative hooks early on that will pull you through the book by the nose.

As I've said before, the lead characters are by far the book's highlight, and refreshingly they make it through the story without the tried and true romantic angles that have become so predictable in most fiction of this sort.

Basically, if you like crime fiction with hard done by investigators in a seedy world where few things are as they seem, The Cuckoo's Calling has you covered.

Mythos

1/5 stars 

I read this when I was 11. It took me 4 years to realize it was written by JKR. It was a weird read. I've read better mystery books.

Cuckoo's Calling

Colleen

3 Stars

This review contains some spoilers.

Well, I am not entirely sure what to think of this book. I tried to go in with an open mind and not be fixated on the author's other works: iconic as they are. Obviously there would be major differences between a Young Adult Fantasy series and an Adult Mystery series. But one of the things that I most love about the Harry Potter Series is the minute details that all tie together in a beautiful, complicated way. Not like knots in a child's shoelaces, but rather like a complex Celtic knot. I thought that ability to weave details would lend itself effortlessly to a mystery novel. But I never felt that spark. In fact, I would never ever have guessed that these were written by the same author.

None of the characters were particularly appealing to me. Strike is obviously supposed to be a flawed and complex character, but I found him off-putting (mainly due to the lewdness: more on that later). Robin was such a desperate wannabe detective that you could practically hear her writing "OMG, I want to be Nancy Drew!" in her diary. Probably with a pink sparkly pen. While she was obviously smart and competent, I was constantly repelled by the Daddy issues that left her perpetually seeking validation both from her boss and her fiancé. I suppose this was meant to build her as another flawed character, but her attitude was very disconcerting. 

Then there was the plot. I just was not that invested in the mystery. The plot was fairly straightforward and not enthralling. I really tried, but I was never captivated. Rather than plowing through in a couple of days, it took me nearly two months! I was able to easily put it down and finish several other books first. The story seemed unnecessarily long; I don't even know what made up the majority of the book. They spend a lot of time chasing clues and avoiding personal problems. But I really could not tell you why it took so long to spit it all out. Perhaps because even the smallest actions of these characters is bogged down in verbose sentences. It was not terrible, but this book did not reach any where near the depths I hoped for.

The main thing I found off-putting about this book was the vulgarity. It may sound prudish, but this book made me uncomfortable very often while reading it. No, it was not the swearing (although there is a ludicrous amount of that). Rather, it was the near constant sexual innuendo and awkward sexual tension. The women in this book are constantly objectified. It was as if by using a male pseudonym, Rowling felt obligated to smother the reader in uncouth analogies and smutty references to breasts and nipples. Women are hardly mentioned without first talking about their breasts and nipples. And then there are quotes like this: 

“She looked away from him, drawing hard on her Rothman’s; when her mouth puckered into hard little lines around the cigarette, it looked like a cat’s anus.”

And this:

"She leaned forwards to brush off what Strike thought were pizza crumbs. He caught a strong whiff of her sweet, spicy perfume. The silver material of her dress was so stiff that it gaped, like armor, away from her body, affording him an unhampered view of small white breasts and pointed shell-pink nipples."

I cringed so many times while reading this book. I think I was made more uncomfortable by Strike's pretending not to be checking out all these women while doing just that than I would have been if he had just been made a creeper outright. (view spoiler)[I really hated the awkward sexual tension between Strike and Robin. Relationships with big age gaps are one thing, but going on and on about the pressure between these two was unbearable! Robin's aforementioned Daddy issues and awe at working with a real detective have her panting after him. All the while she goes home to her fiancé and trash talks Strike to him to try to hide her attraction to him. Then you have Strike who makes half-hearted attempts at being noble and is constantly reminding himself that she is engaged, too young for him, and his employee; yet is also constantly ogling her and doing inappropriate things like buying her a sexy dress. Disgusting. It is obvious that they will end up sleeping together later in the series. That thought is enough to make me want to avoid reading the rest of the series. Yuck. (hide spoiler)] 

I do appreciate the double entendre of the title. Big Spoiler: (view spoiler)[The full impact of it does not become apparent until the end. For most of the book, one is led to believe that the title solely derives from Lula Landry's nickname being Cuckoo. But with the big reveal at the end it becomes apparent that Lula is not truly the Cuckoo in the story. Cuckoo birds are known for laying their eggs in other birds' nests. Then the hatchlings push their adoptive siblings out of the nest so that they can have all the food. Compare that to the adoptive son who coldly pushes his siblings to their deaths so that he can get all the money. Very fitting. (hide spoiler)] THAT was the type of detailed connection I was yearning for the entire book. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. So while the book was satisfactory overall, it was far from mind-blowing. 

RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 2 Stars
Characters: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Attention to Detail: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Note: I forgot to mention that another thing I loved about Rowling's other books was the hidden morals. Initially I thought the message of this book would revolve around society's obsession with famous people. There were quotes like, “He had never been able to understand the assumption of intimacy fans felt with those they had never met.” And I suppose that message was there, but like the rest of the story it lacked power. So by the second half of the book, I had given up on finding any deeper meaning.

Victoria

I tried reading this book again with the intention of finishing it this time. But alas, it's just motherfucking boring and dull and tedious and I cannot, for the life of me, get past the 7th chapter. I don't know what the fuss is about. I think a chunk of the credit of this book being supposedly "great" is from the fact that the author of this is the same person that gave life to Harry Potter.

But no, I just could not be bothered by this shit any more. Bye.

***

CURRENTLY READING

I just cannot at this point. This book is just dragging me to the ends of the Earth and I don't want to jump off the edge just yet. I'm putting this down for now. Sorry, Rowling fans. There's probably a reason why I have never been interested in joining the Potterwagon.

Vilandra

Very Agatha Christie-esque mystery. What you would expect from JK Rowling - someone we know can write - but adult. I was invested in the story and characters, and I didn’t think the particulars were blatantly obvious. I would definitely read the next book.

Beatrix Haase

Quite good. I will probably read the other books when I am home for the summer.

xoxo,
Bea

Autumn Wolf

While the story line is interesting, the book is tedious. Had I not been the type who insists on finishing a book that has been started, I would have never looked back after the first few chapters.

Prashanth Srivatsa

Seasoned crime fiction readers would possibly pass this off as yet another trite but fast moving murder piece, but there's still that attachment to your characters that Galbraith (read Rowling) has retained from Harry Potter. It's predictable to quite an extent, but there's no denying the excitement you face at 3 in the morning waiting to read how Strike caught the killer.

aisha

*4.0*

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE CRIME TV SHOWS AND SO WHEN I FOUND OUT THE HYPE ABOUT THIS BOOK I WAS LIKE "GO FOR IT." After that moment however, I left the book sitting on my shelf, unread for months. I picked it up several times trying to enjoy reading it. I finally did after a long wait. I took my time reading this book. It got me hooked on the 200 page mark, which is a bit further than my usual page mark but for a first dive into crime fiction it's an amazing start. Starting off a little slow doesn't bother me at all. 

The characters in this book is so well described. Even though I wasn't emotionally attached to them they felt real. I wouldn't be able to come up with such realistic fictional characters. They way the investigation pieces together is just amazing. I had guessed correctly what happened, even though I was slightly wrong with the reasoning by the middle of this book but it might be different for all. 

Overall, this book makes me want to explore genres even if it took me a lot of time.

Thank you to Littlemissbookworm for making me committed to reading this book.

"After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: his sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man."--Dust jacket.

Izza

3.5/4 stars | I really enjoyed this book! :) I thought it was a solid mystery and I didn't suspect the killer until the very last pages before they were revealed. 

It wasn't as compelling as I usually like my thrillers to be, but pretty great over all.

Thais Souza Passos

Besides the fact that it's a very long book, it's also an exhausting one. It toook me more than three weeks to finish, and also the exciting part takes a very long time to finally appear :( It's a good book, but J.K. took so much to write a story that could be finished in a short time

Denise

Sebastián

Great read, a bit slow at the beginning but it definitely catches up by the middle of it (regarding rhythm). Cormoran Strike is quite an interesting and complex character that makes up for the uniqueness of this story.

Haley Murray

I don’t know if so would have enjoyed it as much if I hadn’t already watched the adaption. Picturing the actor who portrayed Strike in the adaption made some of the questionable and sketchy decisions bearable.

Anita Rut Kristjansdottir &
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

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