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Il richiamo del cuculo

(Cormoran Strike #1)

Robert Galbraith,

J.K. Rowling,

Angela Ragusa (Goodreads Author) (Translator),

Alessandra Casella (Translator)

3.86 · Rating details · 501,835 ratings · 33,872 reviews

Londra. È notte fonda quando Lula Landry, leggendaria e capricciosa top model, precipita dal balcone del suo lussuoso attico a Mayfair sul marciapiede innevato. La polizia archivia il caso come suicidio, ma il fratello della modella non può crederci. Decide di affidarsi a un investigatore privato e un caso del destino lo conduce all’ufficio di Cormoran Strike.
Veterano dell ...more

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Hardcover, 547 pages

Published November 4th 2013 by Salani (first published April 18th 2013)

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Jul 21, 2013 Emily May rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller, 2013

Feb 3rd 2014 - Extra things you should know:
1) This is a negative review. If you are looking for reviews that confirm what you are already certain of (that JKR can do no wrong) here are some examples of positive reviews for you - 1, 2, 3.
2) I used some Mary Poppins gifs to make my point in this review. It seemed funny at the time. If you find MP gifs stupid/annoying/beneath you, then please feel free to go to the reviews I linked before.
3) I will no longer reply to comments saying I am stupid ...more

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Jan 25, 2014 Jayson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-mystery, genre-crime, 400-499-pp, genre-detective, read-in-2014, author-british

(B+) 79% | Good
Notes: A prototype yet to find its footing; its complex, interview-heavy plot poker-faces all clues until a bursting end reveal.

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Aug 02, 2013 Jane Stewart rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

Dull & tedious. I was frustrated with the style of writing. There’s no action. It’s all conversation. I wanted it to be over.

COURTROOM STYLE CONVERSATIONS - TELLING NOT SHOWING:
Private eye Strike is investigating a death. Throughout the book Strike has long conversations with many different characters. It felt like a courtroom, asking witnesses 30 or more questions one right after the other. Many of these were discussions about what “might have happened. For example “I don’t think he would have ...more

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Jul 13, 2013 Jason rated it really liked it · review of another edition

UPDATE 2: This is my final review of the book. Most of what I included in my preemptive thoughts is here, so you don't have to read this whole... thing.

Potential television series title #21: LONDON STRIKE

Alright, let’s address the hippogriff in the room: finding out that J.K. Rowling published a book under a pseudonym is something that I had I expected might happen post-Potter (and, embarrassingly, searched for), but when the question was brought up as to whether or not she'd write under one, ...more

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Apr 02, 2015 Kai added it · review of another edition

Fun fact: Robert Galbraith was a scientist who did experiments on humans to advance gay conversion therapy...and JKR thought it was a *great* idea to use that as her pen name.

Oh, something else that needs to be mentioned: trans lives matter.

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May 31, 2013 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: to-read-next-fiction

This is a wonderfully entertaining new crime debut, which although it contains nothing amazingly original, works really well. Firstly, there is the main character, Cormoran Strike - a wounded war veteran, with a troubled past, damaged love life and financial woes, which see him sleeping in his office when we first meet him. Strike has left the army, which provided him with the structure and home life his mother never could, and set up as a Private Detective. The only problem is, a lack of paying This is a wonderfully entertaining new crime debut, which although it contains nothing amazingly original, works really well. Firstly, there is the main character, Cormoran Strike - a wounded war veteran, with a troubled past, damaged love life and financial woes, which see him sleeping in his office when we first meet him. Strike has left the army, which provided him with the structure and home life his mother never could, and set up as a Private Detective. The only problem is, a lack of paying clients. He then receives a new temporary secretary, Robin Ellacott, with her slightly stuffy fiance and her secret desire to be a detective. Both Strike and Robin, are fully fleshed out characters that we care about deeply by the end of the book.

The crime Strike is asked to investigate involves a famous supermodel, who falls (or is pushed) from her balcony on a snowy, London night. Lula Landry is the adopted daughter of a wealthy family and her adopted brother is insistent that she had no suicidal feelings when he met up with her that day. As Strike sets out to investigate, we are introduced to a cast of identifiable characters - the effeminate dress designer, drug taking Paparazzi avoiding boyfriend, disgrunted 'wannabee' film star chauffeur, elderly, dying mother, disapproving family members, etc. Although the plot is really quite a simple one, it works very well. The author has created a totally realistic scenario, with London almost becoming an extra character as Strike walks the streets and a satisfactory plot with a good cast of suspects.

I would say that Cormoran Strike is the best new addition to the P I genre that I have read for a long time. He certainly deserves a series and I hope to see him appear in many more books. There were tantalising glimpses of his past which need much further exploration and perhaps the author can be kinder to him in the next book and, at least, get him a proper place to sleep. I feel he will serve the author well and deserves a little looking after! If you enjoy really intelligent, well written crime novels (P D James, etc) then this will be a book you will love. Great start to what will, hopefully, become a long running series.

* Have just found out this was written by J K Rowling. I am glad I didn't know that when I read it and I hope it doesn't put her off continuing the series, now she has been 'outed' as the author. It is a good read on its own merits. ...more

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Jul 19, 2013 Namratha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thrillers, mystery, crime-fiction

A first-time author who goes by the unassuming name of Robert Galbraith comes out with a mystery novel called The Cuckoo’s Calling . The book receives favourable reviews and is wholeheartedly accepted by the fraction of the populace that reads it.

And then (and this I borrow from reliable old Wikipedia), the Sunday Times scratches it’s stubbly chin and wonders how a first-time author with a background in the army and the civilian security industry, could write such an assured debut novel.

So, ...more

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Jul 14, 2013 Mohammed Arabey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: for-dif-language-review

Meet Cormoran's First Strike..

His first 'Mystery' which haunt me from the early beginning,
even the epigraph.

Why were you born when the snow was falling?
You should have come to the cuckoo’s calling,

It starts When snow was falling..and a 'Cuckoo' fell...
A famous model star fall off the balcony to her tragic death..the paparazzi gather around her body just as they did when she was alive..

Her neighbor assert that she heard her arguing and shouting with a man "The Killer" right before seei ...more

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Jul 20, 2013 Nataliya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-reads

“He had never been able to understand the assumption of intimacy fans felt with those they had never met.”

I'll venture a guess that J.K.Rowling is not a stranger to this feeling. Propelled to household-name fame for her lovely gift of imagination, she gets to experience the uglier side of fans' adoration - the side that comes with suffocating hard-to-meet expectations and stifling atmosphere of demanding hype. Is it any wonder she'd look for a respite in releasing a book under a pseudonym?

And yet yours truly is selfishly celebrating the infamous leak of the unknown mystery writer's true identity since otherwise I would have been quite unlikely to pick up this tome given the ever-growing size of my precariously balanced to-read pile that is beginning to dangerously resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Lula Landry, a supermodel, falls to her death from her balcony; the police called it a suicide, her brother feels it was foul play and hires Cormoran Strike, a bear-like ex-soldier, to investigate. Propelled by his desperate need for money and aided by his lovely idealistic temporary secretary Robin Ellacott, Strike plunges into the shallow world of celebrity culture and London's rich and wannabe-rich, slowly unraveling the threads of the mystery of Landry's fall.

The Cuckoo's Calling is an unusual mystery novel by today's industry standards. It's lacking high stakes or important villains or breakneck-fast pace or shocking twists that seem to have become almost a requirement of the genre. Its language is slow, a bit formal and occasionally reminding me of the early years of the past century rather than modern times. It's a slowly developing story, quiet and observant, focused not on the plot but on the wide tapestry of characters, spending time with them through conversations and somewhat old-fashioned 'detecting' in a way that to a certain point reminded me of the works of the Queen of the genre, Miss Agatha Christie. But only to a point, as it's missing the annoying know-it-all smug detective and instead has a gruff but very human quite flawed war veteran tuned PI Cormoran Strike:

“Other people his age had houses and washing machines, cars and television sets, furniture and gardens and mountain bikes and lawnmowers: he had four boxes of crap, and a set of matchless memories.”

I can barely express the enjoyment I experienced from the interactions of Strike with the wide cast of potential suspects and witnesses, most of them belonging to the world of British rich and famous; his ability to zero in on different aspects of their personalities, to study their very essence, to get them to slowly reveal their real frequently shallowly unattractive selves - so often ugly and petty - that satisfyingly replace any number of car chases or gunfights or mad dizzying dashes from place to place to place that I came to expect from the genre.

“How could the death of someone you had never met affect you so?”

But what I really appreciated in this slowly developing character-centered even-keeled narrative was the ever-increasing spotlight on Lula Landry - a young woman whose death started it all, who ends up being more than just a springboard for the story but its heart, its centerpiece as we get to glimpse more of her through Strike's eyes, as we see her morph from just a pretty face into a full fleshed presence behind the story.

“He had hoped to spot the flickering shadow of a murderer as he turned the file's pages, but instead it was the ghost of Lula herself who emerged, gazing up at him, as victims of violent crimes sometimes did, through the detritus of their interrupted lives.”

Lula may initially appear to have little substance to her, to be little but a blank slate on which gossip-hungry public is eager to project their desires and hopes and even spite. But as the novel progresses, we see the glimpses of her personality and the uglier sides of the world of fame she inhabits - the world of flashing camera lights blinding your each step and every word you say having potential to end up in a yellow press column. Rowling's disdain of such flipside of fame is palpable indeed.

“How easy it was to capitalize on a person’s own bent for self-destruction; how simple to nudge them into non-being, then to stand back and shrug and agree that it had been the inevitable result of a chaotic, catastrophic life.”

I quite enjoyed this book. I liked the smart mystery, the unexpected light humor, the apt descriptions (even if at times they would get a tad too wordy), the stinging satire, and, of course, the frequent grave seriousness when Rowling turns her eye to the 'real world' problems.

“The country was lumbering towards election day. Strike turned in early on Sunday and watched the day's gaffes, counterclaims and promises being tabulated on his portable TV. There was an air of joylessness in every news report he watched. The national debt was so huge that it was diffcult to comprehend. Cuts were coming, whoever won; deep, painful cuts; and sometimes, with their weasel words, the party leaders reminded Strike of the surgeons who had told him cautiously that he might experience a degree of discomfort; they who would never personally feel the pain that was about to be inflicted.”

I'll easily recommend this book for anyone who'd like a few enjoyable afternoons with a brainy delicious story. 4 stars and an excited anticipation for more offerings from Rowling, Galbraith or whatever name she chooses to use for her future writing endeavours.

----------------------------

My old pre-review (the one responsible for the discussion in the comments) is below in a spoiler tag:

(view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 19, 2013 Alejandro rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel, detective

I like detective novels and I am a fan of J.K. Rowling, so when I found out that this "Robert Galbraith" was a pseudonym of Rowling, I thought that it was the perfect combination of elements that I have to read the book as soon as possible.

I have to admit that in good amount of the book I wasn't enjoying it so much. I was feeling it too slow, and nothing exciting was happening, since Cormoran Strike, the detective, wasn't doing much just asking questions to each witness and the events was gettin ...more

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Jul 10, 2016 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, crime-mystery, 21th-century, fiction, british, novels

The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike #1), J.K. Rowling, Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It is the first novel in the Cormoran Strike series of detective novels and was followed by The Silkworm in 2014 and Career of Evil in 2015.

Disabled Afghan War veteran and struggling private investigator Cormoran Strike is approached by John Bristow, the adoptive brother of Strike's childhood schoolmate Charl The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike #1), J.K. Rowling, Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It is the first novel in the Cormoran Strike series of detective novels and was followed by The Silkworm in 2014 and Career of Evil in 2015.

Disabled Afghan War veteran and struggling private investigator Cormoran Strike is approached by John Bristow, the adoptive brother of Strike's childhood schoolmate Charlie. Bristow believes his supermodel sister Lula Landry, whom his parents adopted after Charlie died, did not jump to her death three months earlier and wants Strike to investigate further.

Although initially unconvinced, Strike takes on the case due to his need for money to repay a loan that he had been given by his biological father, rock star Johnny Rokeby, because Rokeby's lawyer is demanding repayment.

As the investigation commences, Strike meets Robin Ellacott, who has been assigned by a temp agency to act as his secretary, and hires her for a week despite his lack of funds. Robin, who has just become engaged to longtime boyfriend Matthew, turns out to be much more competent than Strike expected, prompting him to extend her stay. ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: دهم ژوئیه سال 2015میلادی

عنوان: آوای فاخته کتاب اول؛ جی.کی رولینگ؛ مترجم: ویدا اسلامیه؛ تهران، کتابسرای تندیس؛ 1393؛ در 656ص؛ چاپ چهارم زمستان 1394؛ شابک 9786001821196؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیایی - سده 21م

مترجم: حامدحسین دیزبند؛ تهران، نشر دامون؛ سال 1393 ؛ در 214ص؛ شابک 9789642714377؛

کتاب دوم این سری: «کرم ابریشم»؛ کتاب سوم: «رد پای شیطان» کتاب چهارم: «سفید کشنده»؛ کتاب پنجم: «خون آشفته»؛ و ...؛ است

نخستین رمان از مجموعه داستان‌های جنایی «کورمورن استرایک» است؛ که به گفته ی نویسنده، بیش از هفت جلد خواهد داشت؛ موضوع رمان درباره ی «کورمورن استرایک»، کهنه‌ سرباز زخم‌ خورده در جنگ «افغانستان» است؛ که اینک به عنوان کارآگاه خصوصی، درگیر پرونده ی خودکشی یک مانکن است

نقل از متن: «خبر این رویداد، اخبار سیاسی و جنگ و سوانح طبیعی را کنار زد، و روایت‌های گوناگونش با عکس‌هایی از چهره‌ ی بی‌نقص و اندام ترکه ‌ای و چالاک این زن مرده، به درخشش درآمد؛ در طول چند ساعت، همان چند واقعیت انگشت ‌شمار همچون ویروسی به میلیون‌ها نفر انتقال یافت: بگومگو با نامزدش در مکانی عمومی، تنها رفتنش به خانه، صدای جیغ ‌و دادی که از خانه ‌اش به گوش رسیده بود، و دست ‌آخر سقوط مرگبارش...؛ نامزدش به یک مرکز توان‌بخشی پناه برد، و پلیس سردرگم ماند؛ کسانی را تحت تعقیب قرار دادند که آنشب، پیش از مرگش همراهش بودند؛ هزاران ستون از جراید و ده‌ها ساعت از برنامه‌ های تلویزیونی را به خود اختصاص داد، و زنی که قسم خورد، بگومگوی دیگری را لحظاتی پیش از سقوطش شنیده بوده است، نیز به ‌طور مختصری مشهور شد، و عکس‌های کوچک‌تری از او، کنار تصاویر دختر زیبای مرده، به چاپ رسید؛ اما بعد با آهی از سر ناامیدی که کمابیش قابل ‌شنیدن بود، ثابت شد، که شاهد ماجرا دروغ گفته است، و با به حاشیه رفتنش، مظنون اصلی مشهور پرونده نمایان شد؛ همچون زن و مرد داخل جعبه نشانگر هواشناسی که هرگز باهم بیرون نمی‌آیند.»؛ پایان نقل

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 04/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Jun 17, 2013 Jane Walker rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I'm a bit puzzled by the rave reviews. It's okay, but a fairly run-of-the-mill detective story. A private eye with a silly name solves a murder mystery, and there is a long exposition at the end of the how and why. The characters are quite well drawn, and the writing is competent, but I wouldn't seek out any further books with the same star.

I didn't know, when I reviewed this, that it was written by J K Rowling! But it doesn't change my view. ...more

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Mar 26, 2015 Diane Wallace rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Enjoyable read! good detective work,action pact,little mysterious and some interesting storyline..the only negative about this book-the plot was slow to get into but picked up eventually..nice ending which only leads to this story continuing..can't wait to see what happen in book#2 (paperback!) ...more

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May 16, 2018 Crumb rated it liked it · review of another edition

A hard-boiled mystery about the suspicious suicide of a supermodel and a curmudgeon as the detective, who delves into the underground world of the rich and famous, daring to ask questions no one else will.

This was the first book I've ever...wait for it... read by J.K. Rowling writing under a pseudonym as Robert Galbraith. Is this your reaction?

Or perhaps, you look a little like this?

I know, I know.. where have I been? How could I have never read the Harry Potter series? To be honest, the hell if ...more

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Mar 24, 2017 Melindam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-detective-fiction

I admit that I am not a great fan of contemporary detective fiction. I find most books are too grim, even perverted with gratuitous violence, or unnecessarily long-winded with too much forced, fake-philosophical contemplation from detectives instead of actual action.

So I am happy to say that I enjoyed JKR's debut detective novel a lot. The minus 1 star is for the writing, which had a superfluity of totally awkward metaphors & "artistic" descriptions & over-complicated sentences. This grated a bi ...more

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Apr 10, 2018 ❄️BooksofRadiance❄️ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery-thriller

Oh, wow.

I’m speechless. I am speechless at how bad this was.

The only thing that kept me from quitting altogether was the characters. The only two, to be precise.

I was more interested in Strike and Robin’s personal lives than that sorry excuse for a mystery plot.
The entire mystery/thriller (?) element of the book and the investigation process were so painfully and mind numbingly boring that not only did I forget every single character the moment they were no longer in the scene, I also seriou ...more

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Jun 10, 2017 Philip rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: author-woman, mystery, thriller

3.5ish stars.

Far from perfect, but far from awful. Despite its many faults it's never less than highly readable and fluid. It's never particularly pulse-pounding but it somehow always held my attention.

It honestly isn't twisty or suspenseful enough for me. It's super streamlined and reads more or less like a series of neat, orderly interviews with each of the various players in the mystery. Even at the 11 o'clock reveal, there's never a sense of danger or serious tension, it's just the natural p ...more

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Nov 23, 2013 Alex is The Romance Fox rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: authors-a-h, adventure-mystery-crime-thriller, lendable

I’m about to reveal my secret!!!!!!!! I have purchased lots and lots of Harry Potter’s books – you know the time that every small and big kid wanted one….well, I gave them out as birthday and Christmas presents….but me…. I haven’t read any of them….though my son devoured each book and I have the entire series in my bookcase…I just haven’t had that “read me, read me” pull….Yes, truly!!!.
I started book #1 and gave up after a couple of chapters. I know….I should have persevered but I did not…….may I’m about to reveal my secret!!!!!!!! I have purchased lots and lots of Harry Potter’s books – you know the time that every small and big kid wanted one….well, I gave them out as birthday and Christmas presents….but me…. I haven’t read any of them….though my son devoured each book and I have the entire series in my bookcase…I just haven’t had that “read me, read me” pull….Yes, truly!!!.
I started book #1 and gave up after a couple of chapters. I know….I should have persevered but I did not…….maybe one day…it did take me over 30 years to read the Lord of the Rings books (which I totally loved)...so who knows!! But wait, I am not doing a review on Harry Potter or Frodo! I’m writing about a totally different book altogether and the only connection to Magical Harry P is the author.

That’s right!!! A more different genre could have never been guessed by us veracious readers!!!– And if you haven’t read all the hype about her writing something not in same genre of Harry P and using a pseudonym…then you must be one of the very few people on this planet!! And if anyone ever believed that it was “overs” for JK after the epic and magical saga of Harry P..let me just say how wrong they would be!!! Yes, even despite all the hype and build-up.

A Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith a.k.a J.K. Rolling is actually pretty good. No magic wands, no potions, witches and spells…here we have a good, gripping, and interesting mystery tale filled with supermodels, fame, family, murder, betrayal, greed that introduces a character that is not your hero norm, but wow…..by the end of the book….he’s become one of those unforgettable fiction characters that stay with you for a long time.

I loved the take on rockstars!!!!!!!!!!!

“Like other inveterate womanizers Strike had encountered, Duffield’s voice and mannerisms were slightly camp. Perhaps such men became feminized by prolonged immersion in women’s company, or perhaps it was a way of disarming their quarry.”

Cormoran Strike is a private investigator whose business is not doing too well. One-legged (lost the other in Afghanistan fighting for Britain!!), overweight, bad dresser, not handsome in the least, homeless and living in his office – a total underdog!! Really!! his father, the ageing rock star who never married Cormoran’s dead groupie mother, is even demand interest on a loan he made to C!!! But under all that is an honorable and honest human being and that’s what pulls you in and has you wanting him to win all the obstacles in his life.

“Strike was used to playing archaeologist among the ruins of people’s traumatized memories;”

Besides C, there are so many other memorable characters. Robin, his secretary was the other favorite of mine in this story

“Robin was disposed to feel desperately sorry for anyone with a less fortunate love life than her own – if desperate pity could describe the exquisite pleasure she actually felt at the thought of her own comparative paradise.”

, about a murder of Lula Landry, a supermodel.

The writing style is really great - elegant prose that flows beautifully, keeping you turning page after page.

I loved the Englishness in this story……..I really smiled reading 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.

The imagery……

“Yeah,” he said.
Duffield had returned, holding another drink, cleaving his way back through the crowd, whose faces revolved after him, tugged by his aura. His legs in their tight jeans were like black pipe cleaners, and with his darkly smudged eyes he looked like a Pierrot gone bad.

The settings in a dark photo images3_zps12d97549.jpg

and gothic London photo images1_zps52b4464e.jpg

are so vividly written that you can feel the cold, photo images_zpsa727ef55.jpg

the grayness photo download_zps697004c4.jpg

and menace that surrounds this world of rock stars, supermodels, designers and the paparazzi.

Incredible sense of place and characters that brings it and them all to life.
Allright….let me just say – get this book, not because it’s a J.K. Rowling only but that it’s a great mystery read.
Some quotes that I thought were great…..

“How easy it was to capitalize on a person’s own bent for self-destruction; how simple to nudge them into non-being, then to stand back and shrug and agree that it had been the inevitable result of a chaotic, catastrophic life.”

“The dead could only speak through the mouths of those left behind, and through the signs they left scattered behind them.”

How true is this????

“Couples tended to be of roughly equivalent personal attractiveness, though of course factors such as money often seemed to secure a partner of significantly better looks than oneself.”

And yes, I am hoping we get a bit more of Cormoran Strike. I loved his way of solving the case and it would make a great series. ...more

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Jul 16, 2013 Tomoe Hotaru rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, fiction, twas-good, adult, crime

16 Jul' 2013

Full confession:
Pfft yeah, I totally did grab this after I heard it was written by JK Rowling?

Mostly because I hadn't even heard of this book prior to the news. But the blurb itself makes it sound like my type of novel on a cold, rainy day, regardless of the author.

Look, I'd like to pretend as if I were one of those people who wouldn't give a limp banana that Rowling wrote this book. I'd love to have the same level of self-restraint to cringe my nose in disgust and walk aw ...more

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Nov 29, 2015 Warda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: re-reads, put-down-for-now

Book, I'm sorry I ever doubted you.

Wow! This exceeded my expectations. I absolutely loved it! Why I was hesitant about it in the first place, I don't know, but I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I have. Such a fantastic start to a crime series I know I'll love. Should've known, really. As if you could expect anything less than remarkable from J.K. Rowling herself. Her majesty, the queen. ...more

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Jul 19, 2015 Robin (Bridge Four) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: awesome-audio, 4-5-stars

Sale Alert: Kindle Deal Nov 1, 2020 $2.99

After reading The Casual Vacancy I had decided that I probably wouldn’t read any of her adult fiction books. I didn’t expect it to be like Harry Potter but I really wasn’t expecting it to be more of a character study and it was really bleak. I was depressed after reading it. I mention this because I didn’t have very high hopes going into The Cuckoo’s Calling and therefore I am pleasantly surprised.

This is a pretty straight up who-dun-it. There isn’t a lot ...more

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Jul 13, 2013 Jon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

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When it was revealed that J.K. Rowling had written a novel under the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith; I knew I had to read it. Rowling filled my childhood with magic, intrigue, and beauty with her Harry Potter series so I was eager to read her sophomore adult novel. It angers me how Rowling was betrayed by a friend who had revealed that she was the genius behind The Cuckoo's Calling. Every cloud does have it's silver lining and now, millio Check out Scott Reads It! for reviews, giveaways, & more!

When it was revealed that J.K. Rowling had written a novel under the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith; I knew I had to read it. Rowling filled my childhood with magic, intrigue, and beauty with her Harry Potter series so I was eager to read her sophomore adult novel. It angers me how Rowling was betrayed by a friend who had revealed that she was the genius behind The Cuckoo's Calling. Every cloud does have it's silver lining and now, millions of people will be introduced to a clever mystery noir. Another silver lining is that Rowling will be donating her royalties from The Cuckoo's Calling to charity for the next 3 years. I'm still angered how someone could have betrayed Rowling in such a cruel manner.

The Cuckoo's Calling is a much stronger novel than The Casual Vacancy and will definitely appeal to a wider audience than her adult debut. The Cuckoo's Calling is filled with all of Rowling's signature wit and charm that readers love. It's extremely evident from the writing style that Rowling still has the ability to create a tour de force, a novel that will definitely be looked on fondly 50 years in the future. This novel is a triumphant return for the Queen of Literature and it proves that J.K's domain and prowess doesn't just extend to children's literature.

This is an impressive piece of literature that is filled with immense intrigue and mystery. Albeit the beginning does have it's faults and is a tad slow-paced, this novel was extremely riveting. From start to finish, The Cuckoo's Calling does have it's share of dull moments, but they are overshadowed by the brilliance of Cormoran Strike. This is the mystery novel that I've been waiting for!

This novel has all of the star qualities of Stieg Larsson's novel and BBC's Sherlock. Cormoran actually really reminded me of Dr. Watson from BBC's Sherlock (Martin Freeman). Maybe it's because of their military past or that they both are a bit troubled? I really liked Cormoran, but I thought that he should confront his girlfriend and move on. I wasn't a huge fan of Robin, Cormoran's secretary because I never learned too much about her. I really didn't like how Robin put up with her boyfriend, Matthew (I think) who kept on bossing her around and Robin didn't really act like anything was wrong with that. The whole plotline with Robin was extremely predictable right from when she was interested and was too simplistic.

The mystery in The Cuckoo's Calling is well-throughout with just enough intrigue to keep me peeled to the page. I actually had no idea who the killer was throughout the novel; I had my incorrect suspicions though. I really liked how Rowling explored the world of the media and celebrities in such an unique and unusual way. You never really see celebrities as actual people in novels, they are usually portrayed as these untouchable gods that ordinary people have to gloat over. The fact that Rowling to decide to add a layer of vulnerability to Landry, added an interesting touch to this book.

The Cuckoo's Calling is a novel worthy of immense praise. I'll admit that the only reason I read this book was because it was written by Rowling. I'm definitely eagerly awaiting the next installment in the Comoran Strike series and I can't wait to see what antics Strike and Robin get into next. Color me surprised, but I really enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling! ...more

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Sep 25, 2020 Amalia Gkavea rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: london, contemporary, tv-series, britain, british-literature, england, mystery, crime, united-kingdom

‘’Why were you born when
the snow was falling?
You should have come to the
Cuckoo’s calling,
Or when grapes are green in
the cluster,
Or, at least, when lithe
swallows muster
For their far off flying
From summer dying.

Why did you die when the
Lambs were cropping?
You should have died at the
Apples’ dropping,
When the grasshopper
Comes to trouble,
And the wheat-fields are
Sodden stubble,
And all winds go sighing
For sweet things dying.’’
Christina G. Rossetti, ‘’A Dirge’’

Tight plot, extraordinary dyna ...more

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Oct 25, 2016 April (Aprilius Maximus) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016

1.) The Cuckoo's Calling ★★★★
2.) The Silkworm ★★★

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SO GOOD. I literally had NO IDEA who the killer was until the very end. Jo is such a clever woman! ...more

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May 07, 2013 Gail rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, unforgettable-books

Two words for this: simply stunning.

Cormoran Strike is my new hero. What an absolutely fantastic character Robert Galbraith has created. I just love everything about him, his size, his lovely caring attitude and his fearless quest to uncover the truth of the apparent suicide of Lula Landry, supermodel.

Coromoran is hired by Lula's adoptive brother, John Bristow, to investigate her death as he doesn't believe she committed suicide, albeit the Police do and have ruled it so. There is also the very ...more

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May 05, 2013 Ships rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: cop, crime, funny, drugs, humour, suspense, detective, mystery, slow-burn, contempory

For me 5 stars, I stumbled on this by accident and glad I did..

Strike ia a Cornish ex-military policemen, based in London, at a very low point in his life, Strike is sinking fast. I loved his clever, sharp stubborn character, especially the prickly ebb and flow relationship with his quick witted sidekick secretary Robin.
The other plus for me was the twisty, story line, I did not guess who did it at all! was rather shocked in the end but in a good way, having just read 2 out of 3 of the Larson Mi ...more

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Jul 22, 2017 K. Elizabeth rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, 2-stars, thriller, boring, owned, dnf-or-skimmed, fiction, reviewed

DNF

Ah, come on. Why couldn't I just enjoy a different series written by J.K. Rowling? I was really expecting to love this, which may be why I pretty much came to hate it. Or, at least I think so. What I'm trying to say is that my expectations were really high. I mean, really high. Still. I was so bored reading this that I opted to just sit and listen to music rather than read. And that literally never happens with me. I always read if I have time to.

All right, getting straight to the point: I di ...more

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Jul 13, 2017 megs_bookrack rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Cormoran, Cormoran, Cormoran.

I'm not sure if it is Cormoran the character, or Cormoran the narrator for the audiobooks, that I love so much, but either way, I'm in love.

Robert Glenister's voice IS Cormoran, it's just absolute perfection.

This story was right up my alley. I love characters like Strike. Gritty and flawed, yet super intelligent, humble and genuine.

Additionally, I truly enjoyed the chemistry between him and his accidental assistant, Robin. I can't wait to watch their relationship g ...more

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Oct 16, 2013 Shelby *trains flying monkeys* rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2013

This novel begins slowly. I actually almost put it down but then I thought it's JK Rowling-give it a chance.
Cormoran Strike is a down on his luck private detective. He has a famous father who he has no contact with, his live in girlfriend and he split up, he is living in his office, no money, one leg..the list goes on. He doesn't play the pity party though. It's just statements of life. He actually doesn't like people finding out those facts.
He takes on a client who believes that his supermode ...more

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Nov 30, 2015 Reading Corner rated it liked it · review of another edition

For me, this book didn't stand out especially in this genre. The plot wasn't very interesting and I only really found it exciting towards the last hundred pages. The best bit for me was the characters as I loved how well they were developed and how they interacted with others, especially Cormoran Strike.

The story follows Cormoran Strike, a private investigator and ex military man who has been left with a severe injury as a reminder and has to cope mentally and physically with his injury. John B For me, this book didn't stand out especially in this genre. The plot wasn't very interesting and I only really found it exciting towards the last hundred pages. The best bit for me was the characters as I loved how well they were developed and how they interacted with others, especially Cormoran Strike.

The story follows Cormoran Strike, a private investigator and ex military man who has been left with a severe injury as a reminder and has to cope mentally and physically with his injury. John Bristow approaches him with a case linked to fame and tragedy as John requires Cormoran to investigate his sister, Lula Landry's apparent suicide. The famous supermodel allegedly jumped off her balcony but John believes it was murder.

The opening had me immediately hooked but this went downhill quickly with lack of action and tension. About a hundred pages could have been cut from this book as nothing of real significance happened and the story was long winded at times. The actual case wasn't very intriguing and I never felt a threat of danger or tension. At times, I found myself immensely bored and I just wanted to put down the novel.

However, I definitely did enjoy the characters specifically Cormoran, Robin and Guy Somé's small appearance. Cormoran is a complex, engrossing character who made a great protagonist and Robin, his temporary secretary was a fantastic addition as she is wonderfully curious, assertive and clever. Guy Somé is full of hilarious lines and his scene is without a doubt one of the best bits in the book and the funniest.

Towards the end, the novel became exciting and thrilling as the story finally began to unfold and things began to link together. The ending is nicely done with a slightly shocking twist but the way the clues weave in together with the solved mystery is brilliantly done.

J.K Rowling displayed versatility in writing different genres but to be honest, I think this book was mediocre and I'm not bothered about reading the next book unless I can find it cheap. ...more

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About Robert Galbraith

Robert Galbraith

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This is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults.

NOTE: There is more than one author with this name on Goodreads.
Robert Galbraith - Marine Biologist

Rowling was born to Anne Rowling (née Volant) and Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) north This is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults.

NOTE: There is more than one author with this name on Goodreads.
Robert Galbraith - Marine Biologist

Rowling was born to Anne Rowling (née Volant) and Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.

Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.

Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.

...more