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

Nov 17, 2015 Jason rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own

Solid detective novel.

I saw many reviews of this book, but refused to read any fully, because I wanted to go in fairly free of suggestion. I couldn't help but notice however that this book seemed to be rather polarizing - ratings at one end of the spectrum or the other. So, color me surprised to find that I deemed this book to be neither mind-blowing nor a massive miss. I think if you try to leave out your preconceptions of Rowling (which is nearly, if not completely, impossible - our past alwa Solid detective novel.

I saw many reviews of this book, but refused to read any fully, because I wanted to go in fairly free of suggestion. I couldn't help but notice however that this book seemed to be rather polarizing - ratings at one end of the spectrum or the other. So, color me surprised to find that I deemed this book to be neither mind-blowing nor a massive miss. I think if you try to leave out your preconceptions of Rowling (which is nearly, if not completely, impossible - our past always frames our perception of the present) you will find this Galbraith book to be 'pretty good'.

There is also the reader's expectations of detective novels. I find there to be a prevalence of ridiculous action sequences and adrenaline-pumping split-second decisions in the mass produced 'suspense-thrillers' that we find so oft thrust in our faces while attempting to locate sunscreen, toothpaste, snacks, and other sundries, and if you go in looking for that sort of thing from this book you will probably come away disappointed. This is going back to a more classic, systematic, 'whodunnit' - which I personally find much more appealing. If a series of interviews and fact-checking is not what you want, go elsewhere.

I was also fairly happy with the characters, our main protagonist, Cormoran Strike, was a bit of a serious and afflicted underdog, but not saintly nor too dark to be believable. Cormoran's 'temporary' secretary, Robin Ellacott, is extremely likable, some might even find her annoyingly so, but I'm betting there will be more dimension-ality to her as the series progresses.

Twists and surprises - Galbraith does pretty well here. The mystery is pieced together slowly with all the elements before our eyes, but coming together in way that is near to impossible to guess at before the final chapters. I am someone that is constantly coming up with theories as the pages turn, much like the reader's stand-in Robin seems to be doing, but I was not able to settle on any one theory with 100% certainty before it was made clear by the author - so kudos.

All in all I feel I have provided an unremarkable review for a fairly unremarkable novel - enjoyable in it's own right, but nothing to get worked-up about either way. ...more

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May 22, 2015 Edward Chamberlin rated it it was ok

Perhaps it was the fact that I read this over a long period of time (I think a month), but the story and writing in this mystery never really sucked me in as Rowling's Harry Potter books did (I haven't read her other "adult" books yet, although I do own Casual Vacancy).

I would be willing to read the other books in the series, though, just to see what ends up happening with the two main characters. Hopefully the crime mysteries in their plots end up being a bit more intriguing than in this. ...more

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