The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1)

by Robert Galbraith

Robert Glenister (Narrator)

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.

• ISBN10: 1478980834
• ISBN13: 9781478980834
• Publish Date: 27 August 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Hachette Book Group
• Edition: Library Edition
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Pages: 13
• Language: English

Reviews

[mrs_mander_reads]

I need to say this first: It took me almost two full weeks to listen to the audio of this puppy. If you're looking to read something quickly, DO NOT LISTEN TO THE AUDIO. Although the audio was fantastically narrated, the narrator was so freaking slow, I thought I'd lose my mind.
Now that that's out of the way, I can say just how much I enjoyed the book. I thought that characters were full of depth and life, and I had no clue who committed the murder until it was revealed in the last hour of so of the audio. I'll definitely be picking up the second Cormoran Strike novel in the future.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

First Impressions

I was a Harry Potter connoisseur growing up. Hence, it only seemed natural for me to venture into Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike series beginning with The Cuckoo's Calling.

Impressions on Detective Work

There weren't as many twists and turns as I had been hoping for and had suspicions of my own as to who murdered Lula Landry. Therefore, while Cormoran was a top-notch private detective and was very thorough with his research there was a spark that was missing.

Robin, his assistant I enjoyed more. She has great potential and at times felt like she was better on her feet than her boss. I am glad that Rowling/Gabraith has decided to keep her on and develop the character further.

Impressions on Narration

Robert Glenister did a marvelous job bringing the characters to life. He threw his voice appropriately and made The Cuckoo's Calling highly listenable. I could see myself listening to something narrated by him again.

Final Impression

Overall, I think The Cuckoo's Calling held potential for future novels in the series and can see myself continuing it. For this Harry Potter fan, the novel was a decent departure from Hogwarts and miles above The Casual Vacancy. However, it did take a while for the mystery to get on a roll. Therefore, a person with a short attention span may have difficulty with its lackluster beginning. Although, if the reader sticks with it they will be rewarded by a dubious conclusion that is worth the time.

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

Public Service Announcement: Robert Galbraith = J.K. Rowling, of Harry Potter fame and the almost-singlehanded ensurer of the continuation of the love of reading in the Millennial Generation. Pretty sure most people know that already but just in case, I wanted to put it out there. Knowing that really affected my expectations of this book – whether that’s good, bad, or indifferent I’m really not sure.

The Cuckoo’s Calling (1st in the Cormoran Strike series, 2013) is Rowling’s attempt at a detective novel aimed at fans of hard-boiled crime. I had such ridiculously high hopes for this book! Which, I am happy to report – I found mostly met and justified. Overall I think “hard-boiled” is a bit overstated, as Rowling (I can not refer to her as Galbraith, so help me) seems to shy away from anything particularly descriptive as far as violence or sex, though the language is colorful at times.

We’re first introduced to the secondary main character, Robin – I can’t think of her in anything but that term, because while yes, there are technically TWO main characters, Robin and Strike, Robin is decidedly in the background.

Robin might be a pretty girl, but she could not hold a candle to the woman he had just left.

Oh, but our down-and-out, recently single detective, Cormoran Strike, is so impressed by her efficiency and intelligence, despite her “lack” of physical charms. Which is ironic, given the manner of their first meeting (but I’ll leave that for you to discover yourself). Strike’s ex, Charlotte, while in the background for most of this story, is left not completely tied up. I’m thinking her story is far from finished.

From Charlotte he had learned that the kind of money he had never known could coexist with unhappiness and savagery.

I was a little worried in the beginning that this was going to dive off into the realm of detective love story, seeing as a good portion of the first 75 pages was dedicated to the “whose-fucking-who” of the book…but to my great relief it was left alone for the vast majority of the pages after. The love life of the protagonists is set, but definitely in the background. Phew. Much applause.

The writing is no less than I would expect from someone of Rowing’s caliber. Smooth, flowing, and she manages to weave the threads of so many different stories together so deftly that I found myself interested in them all and yet not getting lost in them (unlike my disastrous attempt at reading Game of Thrones…by the time I was at something like chapter 5 I was so lost in the incest and many different narrators I didn’t know which way was up). There is of course, the murder mystery…which involves both the victim, supermodel Lula Landry, and several members of her family with their own stories. Strike, with his shady and rather convoluted past. Robin, perhaps the most straightforward character of them all but also with the most relatable story for many of us that were spared an abnormal childhood. Lula’s story is convoluted and part of the fun for me was watching Strike weave in and out and around the maze around her.

Rowling is her usual stellar self when it comes to description, entertaining both my brain and my inner ear with her prose. Her style works very well for me…none of the odd turns of punctuation, phrasing, or editing that seem to plague authors sometimes.

When her mouth puckered into hard little lines around the cigarette, it looked like a cat’s anus.

Oh dear god, help me. Did she pluck that ungenerous thought right out of my head? Obviously I am not, as I previously assumed, the only one to be so uncharitable.

“I usually, like, ricochet off the bouncers and they have to push me in.”

I love the way different characters have their own distinctive voices. It isn’t as easy as we might think, to write dialogue in such a way as for the reader to recognize the speaker by reading their lines alone. And she does it pretty consistently.

Strike is also not painted as the dashing hero – and I like that. I like that he is unlikeable, at least in the beginning. Of course by the end I had rather a soft spot for him, but he’s still uncouth and raw and stubborn as hell. He does however, have a keen sense of observation – and one that is believable not only due to what we learn of his background but to little things he says or does throughout the book. To me that is a very important aspect of any mystery novel, because if I can’t believe in the abilities of the detective…well. No. Go.

Overall, I gave this book 4/5 stars on initial reading (which was almost 2 weeks ago). Writing this now, maybe I should have said 3.5/5…but when I finished it, 4/5 was really how I felt. I enjoyed the writing, I liked the characters and I’m really looking forward to the next book because I want to know what happens in their lives. The mystery itself, while finessed and characterized well, wasn’t particularly ingenious but it wasn’t one I guessed within the first hundred pages, either. My feelings on the series could probably go either way, depending on what happens in the next book.

[Amber]

It took me a long, long time to get around to reading The Cuckoo’s Calling because I wasn’t sure I wanted to read anything by JKR that wasn’t set in the HP universe. I’m a bit weird like that. But I finally got to it and I enjoyed it, thank god, otherwise I would have been pretty distraught. (Also why I’m not reading The Casual Vacancy.)

I don’t have too much to say about The Cuckoo’s Calling, other than that it was enjoyable. I really liked the mystery and I mostly liked the way that JKR unveiled it. I had very, very few theories in regards to who the killer was, which is always a sign of a good mystery story for me.

I also liked learning about the backgrounds of various characters, particularly Strike and Robin. However, Robin wasn’t featured nearly enough for my liking. I would have preferred the book if there had been more of a balance between Strike’s POV and Robin’s. Firstly, because she was awesome, and also because having Strike know what was going on but not saying anything was odd since we were in his head. If the points of view had been more balanced, we could have spent more time with Robin without feeling as though Strike was hiding things from the reader just for that big reveal at the end.

That was my main problem with the story, and then there’s the fact that every single one of the female characters seems to be a bit dim. Strike interviews many women and they’re all either unintelligent or they have various issues. I mean, the male characters weren’t exactly flawless, but since we had very limited time was Flawless!Robin, it would have been nice to have some female characters who were just average or “normal” like some of the male characters.

I will definitely be picking up the sequel in the future, although I won’t be rushing out to buy it. Maybe I can buddy read it with someone like I did with this one.

[lisacee]

Not my usual sort of book, but I really enjoyed it. A good mystery that kept me guessing and some memorable characters.

[brokentune]

This review was first posted on BookLikes: http://brokentune.booklikes.com/post/978934/the-cuckoo-s-calling

Just a short ramble:

To me the obvious question reading this book was whether knowing who wrote it made a difference to my enjoyment of The Cuckoo's Calling.

I really liked the writing. The dialogues were crisp, the descriptions to the point. There were some marvelous scenes that just really came to live reading them. Based on the writing, I should have enjoyed the book much more than I did.

Where it fell down for me was with the story. I just couldn't get into it at the start, and once the story did develop I couldn't care about the who-dunnit part - which for a crime novel is a not a good sign in my book.

To come back to my original point of whether knowing that JKR wrote it made a difference: I guess I was slightly disappointed because The Casual Vacancy had more bite than this one, but then this is a different genre. However, it is unlikely that I would have picked up The Cuckoo's Calling if I had not known that it was written by JKR.

[boghunden]

I don't know how to rate this book... I feel like it should be three or five stars. Not four. No. That's just...wrong. I don't know why.

The writing was good, but it took quite a while to read. English isn't my native language, and with all the slang, accents etc., it was pretty hard every now and then!

The plot... It was rather slow, but I feel like I got to know the characters.

The ending though... Let me tell you this: Not worth it!
So very predictable and the easy way out.

[tellemonstar]

Very interesting. Certainly kept my attention and the whole time I was trying to figure it out as the clues were subtlely presented.

Originally I was going to give it 3 stars but I liked how it all came together in the end. At first I found the first half of the book a bit dull. The chapters in the beginning are really all about the interviews which was a bit long, I see now why she wrote it in that manner and it made sense in the end.

[Kelsey D]

Do not go into this book thinking its JKs. Go in with the mindset of a new author, new life. I loved it. beginning to end. If you don't like crime novels, you might not enjoy it.