Reviewed by celinenyx on
The Cuckoo's Calling is a for me thoroughly British mystery. In my rather limited experience with the mystery and crime genres, I associate these kind of quiet, meandering kind of mysteries to British television (like Midsomer Murders) while the flashy action based ones seem American to me (like CSI). I might be completely prejudiced, but I do think the Midsomer Murders analogy works good for The Cuckoo's Calling. All the actual detective work is done by having conversations, instead of "doing" things.
Cormoran Strike is an ex-military with only one leg, trying to make ends meet by being a private detective. When the brother of one of his high school mates asks him to look into the death of his adopted sister, a well-known model, he agrees. Together with his temp assistant Robin he tries to unravel why Lula ended up falling from her balcony on a cold winter night.
In an interview with Ms Rowling about The Casual Vacancy she showed a profound interesting into delving into the workings of human nature. In my opinion characterisation is the main thread that follows through all of her works - but Harry Potter and adult books. Through internal monologue and actions she tries to make these characters real. All of the characters do what they do for a reason - all the motivations are true to their specific nature. This also means that plenty of Rowling's characters are very unpolished and sometimes weird. Humanity is sometimes very unpolished and weird.
I agree with other reviewers that The Cuckoo's Calling doesn't make a huge impact. It hasn't got the mind-blowing climax that other novels have, but I didn't mind that it didn't. After reading The Casual Vacancy I thought to myself, "I wish she would write a mystery novel - she'd be great for that". I got my wish, and I loved immersing myself into Rowling's writing trying to unravel this mystery along with Strike. I'm thrilled that the next book in the Cormoran Strike series is already scheduled, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 21 September, 2013: Finished reading
- 21 September, 2013: Reviewed