The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

Posted May 13, 2014 by shooting in Uncategorized / 16 Comments

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith


Review by Lauren


copy from library; all opinions are my own


Official Summary: 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.

Review: For those that still aren’t aware, Robert Galbraith is actually a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling (I’ll refer to the author as Rowling throughout). I’ve been wanting to read this one for awhile now as I love Rowling’s work and I find detective/mystery stories to be quite fascinating. By the end of this book I could safely say that Rowling is one of my favorite authors, no matter what name she writes under. She provides a collection of diverse, but interesting and realistic characters that help push this story forward to its shocking conclusion.

If you’ve read the Harry Potter books, you should know by now that Rowling can write a great mystery. She gives readers clues throughout her novels, some of which might relate to the final reveal, while others could be red herrings or about something completely different. The Cuckoo’s Calling, in that respect, is an adult Harry Potter. Beyond the mystery aspects, this is a completely different look into Rowling’s writing. She tackles adult topics and uses their language to do so, which might shock off some new fans of Rowling’s adult fiction, but hopefully more people will give it a chance.

I read Rowling’s Casual Vacancy last year and while I really liked it, The Cuckoo’s Calling is my favorite of her adult books. I think that’s because it’s more mainstream, instead of literary, and the mystery aspect keeps you reading and guessing throughout the book. I don’t guess the culprit very easily when reading mysteries, but even for those that do, I think this one has enough surprises to keep you wondering for a long time. When all was revealed in the end, I was very shocked, but ecstatic by where Rowling took her characters and her novel.

While I’ve been enjoying a lot of books lately, I found The Cuckoo’s Calling to really capture my interest and I read whenever I could in order to finish the story. I’m excited that the sequel, The Silkworm, is coming out soon. According to the Robert Galbraith website, it will be released June 19, 2014 so not long now!

16 responses to “The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

  1. I am surprised I have seen very little about this one around, I had no idea it was so good. I definitely think I need to add this one to my TBR pile now.

  2. Like the above blogger I'm surprised I haven't heard more about this one.

    Whilst I enjoyed the HP series I can't say I was tempted by Casual Vacancy and to be honest whilst I'd probably read this one should the opportunity arise its not a book that would make my wish list.

  3. Oh, I was just reading about this the other day! I heard that JK Rowling really tried to keep her identity secret with this pseudonym – not a huge surprise that it didn't work out for her!

  4. This is such an awful thing to say, but I actually have no desire to read J.K's adult stuff.

    I liked HP more for the story and the phenomenal world-building / characters etc. than the writing, so I'm just not invested in her run of the mill type stuff, you know?

  5. Oh wow no I had no idea this was JK Rowling! Well I'm def intrigued now! It also sounds like a really good story and I really want o give her adult stuff a shot!

  6. I struggled to get into The Casual Vacancy, hence the reason I haven't picked this one up yet, but I have heard it's much better and works a lot better for readers too. I'll have to pick this up ASAP! 🙂

  7. I haven't picked this one up because I only read YA, but I'm definitely putting it on hold when I'm in the mood for an adult / more mature mystery read. I'm glad to hear you liked it though Lauren…she's such a fantastic author, right? 🙂

    ~ Zoe @ The Infinite To-Read Shelf

  8. YAYYY, LAUREN!! So glad you loved this one because I did too (obviously, heh). Jo sure knows how to write a good mystery! It did sort of remind me of an adult version of the mysteries from HP – and I was shocked at the culprit too! Cannot WAIT for the second book to be released… not too long now!! Great review, Lauren – I really loved reading your thoughts.

  9. I'll definitely have to check this one out now, I haven't read any of her adult books but I really want to and this sounds like a great book to start with. I always love her characters!

  10. I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed this one! I agree, Jo can definitely write a great mystery, and I look forward to checking this one out!

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