The Cuckoo's Calling
Ratings465
Average rating3.8
I might file this one under guilty pleasure. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and the way it unfolds. The narrator read brilliantly bringing the protagonist to life, especially. The book might be twenty pages shorter if all the f-bombs were removed. And another 30 shorter if half the smoking was removed. I get that people smoke and talk like that in reality, but it's like having one's tomatoes salted for the first time. It stands out because I'm not used to it being there.
The lives of the rich and famous don't interest me much, and if anything, this book reenforces that stance. For me, this is all about the mystery and the work of solving it. I like this one well enough that I would read the next in the series.
This has been on my TBR since 2013, so I am very late to the party! When I first started this I found it incredibly slow and packed with seemingly unnecessary details. But I had faith in Ms. Rowling and she didn't disappoint. It all comes together in the end, with a healthy side of red herrings. I'll definitely stick with the series.
The characters are good and interesting and so is the story, but I found the plot turns a little conventional. Overall it is a good mindless read and I'll definitely be back for more Cormoran Strike.
I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. I picked it up mostly just because I was curious what Rowling would do under a pseudonym and without the shackling of Harry Potter.
I think the writing here is terrific. There's a rather large cast of characters that come into the story at different points, and each one of them had a distinct personalities and backgrounds. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Robert Glenister and he does such a great job with voicing the characters that I don't know if I would have loved the characters as much had I just been reading it. I loved hearing all the slightly different London accents and the way he captured the emotional state of all these people.
Giving the main character, Strike, an estranged father who was a famous rock star is a stroke of genius. It makes sense of the way all these rich socialites deal with him and gives him ins to certain situations that he shouldn't be in otherwise. I think there are a few little nice touches like this throughout the book.
I also kind of just love this type of hard-boiled detective story. There isn't really even a lot that happens throughout the actual events of the novel, it's a lot of interrogating and recounting of events, but I found it gripping my attention the entire time.
I was really close to giving this 5 stars, but ultimately the story isn't super unique or daring, even though I think it's quite excellent for what it is. And the central mystery, while things are teased out a bit and there are threads left out there for you to connect before the big reveal, results in a scene that really dumps everything on you at once. I liked it, but I think it could have been handled a bit more gracefully.
I didn't realize there were three more books in this series when I started it, I'm excited to check them out at some point now!
I really enjoyed the story it had me guessing as to who did it for a bit. The characters were likeable. I'm not sure if I'll read the next book or not as there was more swearing than I would have liked.
Did not finish. I do like it, but was reading it on my e-reader which died when I slipped on ice and fell on it this winter. I'll pick it back up.
Cormoran Strike is a private investigator hired to find the truth behind the suicide of the most famous top model of England. I don't want to say much about the plot, but I'll say that along the way he'll discover that things are not always what they seem.
It's an incredible book with amazingly written characters, you can feel their struggles in every single page. I hate paper cut characters, but these show to be very profund and complex human beings.
It has no relation whatsoever with the Harry Potter universe and it's very refeshing to read such a realistic thriller from J.K. Rowling
Udah lama banget gk baca novel detektif, terakhir pas sekolah-kuliah baca Agatha Christie sama Sidney Sheldon. Baru baca lagi & ini adult novel pertama JK Rowling yg coba kubaca.
Mgkn krn baru buku pertama ttg detektif Cormoran Strike jd buku ini terasa lambat sekali alurnya & narasi serta deskripsi segala sesuatu terasa panjang & membosankan. Udah lupa juga bagaimana novel detektif itu krn udah lama sekali sejak terakhir ak baca mengenai cara kerja Hercule Poirot jd gk bisa membandingkan.
Kasus di buku pertama ini mengenai seorang model yg menurut bukti2 bunuh diri, namun kakak sang model gk percaya, jd dia mendatangi Strike spy mengusut kasus ini. Endingnya mengenai siapa pembunuhnya kok kurang greget. Tapi ak akan mencoba baca buku keduanya...
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.
From Charlotte he had learned that the kind of money he had never known could coexist with unhappiness and savagery.
When her mouth puckered into hard little lines around the cigarette, it looked like a cat's anus.
“I usually, like, ricochet off the bouncers and they have to push me in.”
Nicely written, but overall cliche and not very interesting as a detective. Why then I couldn't put this book down?
Short review: I doubt I would have picked this up if JK Rowling hadn't written it. There are so many mystery/thriller series that it is hard to make an impression. I think that I read that this book only sold around 7000 copies prior to her name being connected to it.
This is a solid PI story. Nothing revolutionary but certainly good enough to pick up the next in the series.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/cuckoos-calling/
I am one of the many, I'm sure, who read this book primarily because JK Rowling wrote it. Nonetheless, I was intrigued to see Rowling aka Galbraith write a crime/mystery novel because of how much I enjoyed the Harry Potter novels. This mystery was hard to put down because I really wanted to know what happened next, even if some aspects of the novel were not to my taste or preference (e.g., cursing, sexual content), hence the 3 stars. Still, I appreciated that the ending was not obvious, hasty, or expected (at least for me). I also liked how much unfolded through dialogue, with commentary on body language, tone, and facial expressions coming together to discern motives, truths, lies, and what roles people did or did not play in the suicide or murder. I'm interested in reading more about Strike, such an unexpected protagonist who does not need fancy gadgets or doodads to solve mysteries, instead relying on the art of sleuthing, interviewing, and studying people to get the job done.
I actually enjoyed this book. Despite an unnecessary usage of adjectives and over embellishments, it was good. The plot kept you engaged, the characters had you invested and it was just fun. If you read this to expect the next great literary masterpiece , you will be dissapointed. But if you read it with an open mind, you might just enjoy it as much as I did.
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.
I really enjoyed this book. Has been on my list for awhile and glad I finally read it. Writing kept me engaged and I was guessing until the end. Looking forward to reading the others in the series.
Very good. These days it's seems popular to write bloody books, filled with cruelty towards children, but Cuckoo's Calling is very non-bloody. Sure, there are couple of dead bodies involved, but very little violence, and lots of classical detective work. That's refreshing, especially as the story is as well written as it is here. Cormoran Strike is a great character, and I also liked Robin as his sidekick – I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of these books.
The story was slow but it didn't bother me, I never felt bored. It was a good first crime novel I read.
I highly recommend to read this book, most chapters are sort if the size scares you.
I'm not really a crime novel reader, or whatever this genre would be called. I've listened to a few (listened to this on Audible as well) and they weren't awful but I found myself mostly impatient to know the end and be done with it. Here, I definitely wanted to know what happened but I also found the characters pretty entertaining and the process of getting there pretty fun.
I had no idea what to expect from Rowling in such a different genre, but she's a really good storyteller, and it showed here as it showed in the Potter books.
It wasn't a perfect book. But I think it knew its strengths and went with it – it didn't spend very long establishing Deeby Macc as a rapper, or go into much detail about his music, and I think that was a good choice, because that pretty much never ends well. Strike is a kind of cartoon of a private eye, but I loved it. It was good pulp. I mean, basically that's it. It was a fun read. I'll read the next one.
I listened to it, which I thought was perfect, and enjoyed it far more than I expected too. I have issues with the lack of nuance and more often than I'd like ugly=unpleasant/bad, but Cormoran and Robin were both fun to hang with.
BLUF: More writing than action. Good story, good writing, but unsatisfying ending.
The Cuckoo's Calling revolves around recently heartbroken Cormoran Strike. Down on his luck, and his funds, he is less than thrilled when the temp agency sends him a new, wannabe P.I. receptionist, Robin Ellacot. Lucky for him, he has a new client who is willing to pay Cormoran much more than he's worth in exchange for investigating a clear, and well-publicized suicide. Cormoran, against his better judgment and morals, takes on this case and soon discovers that things aren't what they seem.
There is little action in this book – it's all words. For me, that wasn't a problem at all. I love the way Rowling writes. The downside for me is that I'm not familiar with British English. I had to look up A LOT of words..
Another aspect of the book that presents an issue to the reader is the ending. It leaves more questions than answers.