The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1) in Fantasy Buddy Reads

Jul 17, 2013 Shelli rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, favorite-author, in-a-series, i-recommend, buddy-read, read-in-2013, mystery

Loved, loved, loved this book! I'll admit that I jumped on it as soon as I found out JK Rowling is really the author, and why not, I love her writing! Harry Potter will forever hold a place in my heart. The Casual Vacancy was a completely different sort of read, but still very good.
This book though was just a complete page turner. Not for the reason you are probably thinking...the mystery. The mystery was good and I enjoyed it. I was kind of leaning towards the suspect as the killer after awhi ...more

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Sep 09, 2013 Kirsten rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

In some ways, I wanted to rate this higher. I really did. It's extremely well plotted and structured. A lot of thought has gone into characterization and making the characters three dimensional.

So, I decided to err with my feelings. It was a good mystery and I especially liked the scenes with Robin and Cormoran. However, at times, it felt a little clunky.

I am definitely interested enough to move on to book #2.

It's funny. J.K. Rowling's other foray into adult fiction, The Casual Vacancy, I found ...more

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Jan 12, 2020 mina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A buddy-read with Mom, after listening to Leila Chudori's podcast (Coming Home) in which she and her two friends passionately talked about the Strike series. One of my friends also mentioned that this series is worthy to have, even if it's just for the adorableness of the relationship between the titular detective (Cormoran Strike) and his secretary-slash-sidekick (Robin), since the detective story itself is the usual Agatha Christie-ish, nothing's new.

It's good that I have the English version A buddy-read with Mom, after listening to Leila Chudori's podcast (Coming Home) in which she and her two friends passionately talked about the Strike series. One of my friends also mentioned that this series is worthy to have, even if it's just for the adorableness of the relationship between the titular detective (Cormoran Strike) and his secretary-slash-sidekick (Robin), since the detective story itself is the usual Agatha Christie-ish, nothing's new.

It's good that I have the English version as a gift (I already forgot from whom, I had the book for quite some time), and then I bought Mom the Indonesian version, since she's also hyped up by the podcast. As usual, she started reading a few first pages, and then looked at the last chapter (she prefers knowing the killer in advance, so that she can enjoy reading the clues all through the book), while I prefer guessing based on (what-I-thought-as) clues. We are in Agatha Christie reading spree right now (or at least Mom), so this book fits right in.

It's a long book, and I thought, since recently I am reading more on the genre of sci-fi or fantasy or horror/thriller where a lot of actions happen, it would not be an easy read for me. I imagined Poirot-equivalent's going around boringly interrogating people (I prefer Miss Marple, by the way). Well, Strike did a lot of that, complete with meticulous writing in his notebook and file folders. The diiference is that the detective story is interspersed with the colourful background of Strike's family (one of the bastard children of a notorious lead singer!) and relationship and money problems. Yes, this is a detective story with (a lot of) entertaining drama. Strike is brilliant, but also adorable in character, while being incredibly big (> 100 kgs in weight) and haggard (in Indonesian terms: tampang preman, hati hello kitty).

Coming into his miserable office (and life): Robin, a talented secretary looking for jobs, but deep in her heart she aspired to be a detective. She's also engaged to someone else, so forget all those thinking about boss-secretary thingie, or at least it lays invisible under the surface. She's kept being torn between a real (relatively boring) job with good salary and an exciting experience helping Strike solving cases with small pay. She did everything passionately while unconsciously too invested in Strike's personal life. Reading the clueless and innocent interactions between Strike and Robin is delightful.

The crime story itself is exactly like my friend said: the usual private detective stories. It is still fun to read, though. I am quite surprised that there is a genre outside romance that can write love relationship into it without being cheesy or "meh". I think I will read all the rest of the series soon (4 books published so far). Also I might watch the BBC adaptation, I heard it's good. ...more

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Jan 28, 2018 Silvana rated it liked it

Shelves: female-nonbinary-authors, used-to-own, misc-fic, series-i-abandoned, solving-crimes

Pretty solid. And thank heavens this is much better than The Casual Vacancy.
Maybe there could be an extra star if I had not watched the TV series first. Sleuth novels lose their novelties once you already know whodunnit. *shrug*

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Oct 30, 2013 mary rated it it was amazing

The characters were so well described. The story was interesting, but the characters made the book. I'm hoping she writes additional Cormoran Strike mysteries so we can see what these 2 detectives do next. ...more

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Sep 12, 2018 Aquamarine rated it really liked it

As always, Rowling never disappoints. It started slow, but after a few pages, it lures you in. I am not big on mystery because I can always figure them out quickly. But this one kept me hooked till the end. Rowling was successful in keeping me guessing till the big reveal at the end.
I really enjoyed the characters, especially Robin. She was a kickass assistant and I want to read more about her.
Overall, a very intriguing read, very reminiscent of Agatha Christie novels.

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