The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Jul 16, 2013 Astrid Lim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, lovely-heroine, dysfunctional-family, thriller-mystery, british, dramatic

I love this book. Will I love it if I didn't know the real author? Probably yes. Because the main characters are so likable, the development is believable, the mystery is acceptable, the twist is not that predictable, and the setting is very vivid. London seemed really interesting here, with the background of celebrities life and the juicy gossips. I do hope to see more Cormoran and Robin in the future! And yes, there are so many Rowling's fingerprints all over the story that it's impossible to ...more

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Jul 15, 2013 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hard-boiled, mystery, best-audiobooks, audio, detective-mystery

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.
-- A Dirge, Christina Rossetti

I absolutely loved this. I almost c

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.
-- A Dirge, Christina Rossetti

I absolutely loved this. I almost cried when it was over because I felt bereft at having nomorebook. I think listening to an audiobook can lead to a more intimate or interactive experience, since it's almost as if someone is talking to you, and that might be why I became so completely wrapped up in this. I don't know.

THIS BOOK GETS ALL THE STARS!!

Fantastic job by Robert Glenister on the audiobook, too. I think everyone knows by now that "Robert Galbraith" is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, so I'm just going to refer to the author as Ms Rowling.

Things I loved:
* Cormoran Strike. He IS the book, the murder mystery is secondary, merely an excuse to spend time w Strike. We get to know a lot about him, and yet he remains a mystery to both the reader and his assistant, Robin. He is often under estimated because he is ugly, with the face and build of a boxer, but he is a genius at interpreting people's unspoken thoughts. He is sensitive but not insecure, and he is impossible to intimidate. He is, at heart, a GOOD person, and can see the goodness in others, when it is there, but he's never surprised when people are assholes. And did I mention he was once a boxer? ;-)
* I really appreciated a story about a man and a woman working closely together, who really like and appreciate each other a lot, and do NOT develop a romantic entanglement.
* All of the characters, really. Ms Rowling is masterful at creating a diverse cast of interesting characters; it was the strength of HP, and it is also much in evidence here. Several of the characters (Lula the murder victim, Charlotte who is Strike's ex fiancée, Robin's fiancé Matt, and Deeby Mack the rapper who was interviewed by police but never by Strike) play a major role in the plot but are never actually heard from and it's kind of amazing to me in retrospect how this was pulled off. And although there are A LOT of players in this mystery, I never had trouble keeping them straight. A few times I forgot who someone was, but the text reminded me in a way that NEVER felt obvious.
* The dialogue felt real and gritty and also had plenty of humor.
* The pacing worked for me, going from a broad sprawl of a story, slowly spiraling tighter and tighter as details are discovered, until the last part when I could not stand to stop listening.
* I do believe it would be possible for the reader to solve the mystery, all the clues are presented to us, the trick is sifting through the chaff to find the dots that need connecting. And yet, I never felt that we were intentionally deluged with extraneous information just to maintain the mystery - it all felt like a very natural unfolding of the story. I did not solve the mystery myself - several times I considered that person as the murderer, but each time my mind danced away from the idea again. Strike does make quite a few logical leaps to solve the case that we don't find out about until the end, but that's the fun of these books: reveling in the big reveal made by someone more clever than I am. Strike is more familiar with the raw underbelly of human nature than I am, and he was able to make the connections that I missed.
* Robert Glenister was fantastic reading the audiobook version. I highly recommend this in audiobook form.

Things I didn't love:
* The title. Only one person calls Lula "Cuckoo," and only briefly - the title made no sense. I wonder if Ms Rowling just really really wanted to quote Rossetti.
* I didn't understand why the book was divided into "Parts" - usually there is some large span of time or other tectonic shift between Parts. There wasn't here.
...more

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May 03, 2019 Colleen Chi-Girl rated it liked it

Shelves: england, 2019, thrillers, crime-mysteries

Rating 🌟🌟🌟. This is my first novel by Robert Galbraith, pseudonym of J.K. Rowling. I originally decided not to read anything by her that was under a male pseudonym. As a feminist, it just didn't make sense for her to choose a male name, IMO, when women authors historically haven't been taken seriously or allowed to publish. This isn't that time period in our history, so why?? Well, I changed my mind apparently. As far as the novel, I read it on Audible, and the narrator was really great. The sto ...more

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Apr 04, 2014 alana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, reread, crime

While I first saw The Cuckoo’s Calling as a Kindle deal awhile back, I didn’t consider reading it until I found out the author was actually J. K. Rowling. Having read the Harry Potter novels several times each, I was disappointed by A Casual Vacancy in that the characters were all so unlikeable. Rowling crafts excellent characters that seem to point out the ever present yick in society regardless of gender, class, profession, or area of residence. If Casual Vacancy was a peek at Rowling’s view o ...more

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Jul 20, 2013 Agatha Donkar Lund rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, mystery, 2013

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 04, 2013 Sarah rated it liked it

Shelves: book-club, whodunnit, hot-lit, kindle

It's a bit too long, but then, Rowling is not one for brevity. I wish I didn't know she was the author. Every time Strike's prosthetic leg was mentioned, I pictured Mad-Eye Moody. And the death threats he receives are written on pink, bekittened paper - Umbridge. All in all, I enjoyed it well enough. I would probably read another Cormoran Strike book. ...more

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Sep 15, 2013 Madeleine rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller, books-for-hipsters, smart-nonannoying-entertaining, series

So...if I didn't know who *really* wrote this, I'd be giving it either 2 stars or 4 stars. And I can't figure out which. 3 it is.

A fairly long and intricate mystery. Grittier than I usually like, but it kept me reading. ...more

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