**spoiler alert** So can we actually talk about the book? Specifically, the ending.

[David]

Taylor wrote: "I was convinced that Tony had killed Charlie. I thought Tony was the murderer all the way up until the end. Then I realized what was happening and it made sense. The ending didn't bother me at all...." I thought it was Tony as well.

[Sami777]

It is a book that became a pleasant and unexpected surprise, since I'm not very detective novel, and the ending is quite a surprise, but if you came to get a little out of place, just want to see what will come after.

[Aleydis]

The ending left me wondering about one thing: why did Evan Duffield have black Guy Somé gloves in his apartment? I mean, he seemed to hate the guy. Were those supposed to be the ones that John wore during and after the murder of Lula?? Did John plant them there to drag him into suspicion? (that wouldn't make any sense since he wanted Jonah convicted). Ideas, anyone?

Also I'm pretty sure that John knew the name of Jonah, Lula's natural brother, because he checked the newspaper on news of Afghanistan to see if he had (conveniently) died.

I thought the murderer was Tony for a long time! And I guessed that the security guard had something to do with it.. so the ending took me by total surprise!

[Ashley]

I honestly had huge suspicions about John right off and they never went away. There was always something about his character that just bugged me and I never really got that from any other character. Yes others were a tad suspicious but I don't know... He was just always my #1 despite trying to find the fault and reason to murder in the other characters.

[David]

Ashley wrote: "I honestly had huge suspicions about John right off and they never went away. There was always something about his character that just bugged me and I never really got that from any other character..."
Interesting comment-I was trying to find fault with the others as well. Lord knows that bunch was screwed up enough to kill someone.

[Pat]

Wait until you read "The Silkworm" if you want a bunch of sicko characters!

[David]

I'm getting ready to buy it. :)

[Ashley]

David wrote: "Ashley wrote: "I honestly had huge suspicions about John right off and they never went away. There was always something about his character that just bugged me and I never really got that from any ..."

Haha yes, yes they all were. I was kind of hesitant to read that book in the first place but once I started it I couldn't stop.

[Dee]

what Pat said...I kept thinking I had silkworm figured out, but yeah, nope

[Lynn]

This is just the kind of mystery I love. Densely plotted, massively detailed, vivid settings and characters I care more about than the mystery itself. I thought the first book wasn't quite as tightly plotted as it could have been, but that's often the case with the first book in a series. The second one was pretty flawless, I thought. I really loved how well she understood and honored the traditions of mysteries. Many people didn't like these things and I can only assume they're not mystery readers.

[Gisela]

Carla wrote: "Can we discuss those words/poem that strike remembers at the end??? I did not understood that.

Also a thing that confused me, Wilson the security guy was he connected in some way to Lula's biologi..."

I wondered about that, but I don't think he has anything to do with the brother. I loved the book and found it a really good read, especially the characterisation, but I found this long-lost brother thing a bit odd. My money were on the chauffeur, not sure if the adopted brother made much sense. Surely you would just keep quiet in a situation like that?

[Gisela]

The description of Tansy Bestigui and her sister and their relationship to their husbands or shall we call the money providers was very well drawn. Also the depiction around fame and celebrity and how people cope or not was brilliant. Vintage Rowling.

[Jude]

Rajesh wrote: "To all those people who are planning to read this book( the Cuckoo's Calling), a word of caution : DON'T waste your time reading this novel. Please don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of Harry Potte..."

A lot of people really enjoyed this novel. I think people should be allowed to make up their own minds about whether or not they want to read it to be fair...

[Cheng]

i just had to finish the last 3 chapters though it was late at night and i had work the next day. The ending was surprising, but i don't understand how Strike could even think of the passcode to the safe, which was Charlie's death anniversary. i believe the murder happened when they were quite young? didn't occur to me that john planned charlie's murder carefully, but more of an opportunistic taunt

[Janet]

Quite frankly, I read this for the writing, not the plot. Does that sound strange? Sometimes one just needs intelligently written pap to soothe the mind. While Rowling is a good writer, I wouldn't call her a good plotter. I wound up reading The Silkworm for the same reason.

[Julia]

Yuvaltheval wrote: "It's funny, because all the comments here helped me understand the ending better, but they also missed the thing that I actually *understood* about the ending that you guys didn't. (BTW, English is..."

That's an interesting point, but I don't think so. Tony had reason to think Jon killed Charlie. He had no reason to suspect Jon in Lula's death. He had lots of reasons to believe Lula killed herself. All he had on Jon is that he lied about where he was. Tony also lied about where he was, so he may have thought Jon had similarly minor reasons for the lie.

[Susan]

I think the point about Strike is that yes - he's a big, hairy (incidentally - some of us like hairy) smoking, beer swilling bloke but he clearly has something that appeals to women. He doesn't understand it himself - he repeatedly talks about his wonder at the dreaded Charlotte being in his life - but I think JKR intended to portray a bloke who despite all his physical shortcomings has a certain level of charisma. She certainly portrayed that to me. I found his night with Ciara totally believable - and frankly, as literary hero's go, I fancy the pants off him - along with Mr Rochester. And yes, Miaria, you're absolutely right - Strike is concerned that HE might cross the line NOT Robin.

[Lynn]

Some of us like big, too. But,I think Strikes real appeal is that he makes you feel safe. You can trust him to do what he thinks is right. Although, it might not be what you want! And he's a fierce protector. I'm not seeing that in Matthew.

[Kirk]

I read the Silkworm before Cuckoo, and think Cuckoo is a superior book, mainly because Silkworm is too long.

I still don't know why Rochelle's phone was in the safe/

[Annie]

I cannot spend time discussing this book. I thought it was horrible. Undeveloped characters. Story superficial. Ending weird.

[Pat]

Susan wrote: "I think the point about Strike is that yes - he's a big, hairy (incidentally - some of us like hairy) smoking, beer swilling bloke but he clearly has something that appeals to women. He doesn't un..."

You know what? I think a big part of his appeal to readers is that he seems like a real person. Personally, I've always had a thing for smart men. There's a review of either "Cuckoo's Calling" or the "The Silkworm" that expresses annoyance at Strike's perfection. I almost fell out of my chair when I read that.

[Pat]

Ashley wrote: "I honestly had huge suspicions about John right off and they never went away. There was always something about his character that just bugged me and I never really got that from any other character..."

I think it was the teeth :-)

[Lynn]

I wonder if some of the people who disliked the series don't usually read mysteries. She sticks pretty close to traditional mystery form. I loved that. They are pretty dark, though.

[Lauren]

Yes, the book is definitely a traditional “who-dun-it” in the vein of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. As such, readers expecting a fast paced, edge-of-your seat thriller are bound to be disappointed.

[Janet]

Lauren wrote: "Yes, the book is definitely a traditional “who-dun-it” in the vein of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. As such, readers expecting a fast paced, edge-of-your seat thriller are bound to be..."
I think you are insulting Doyle and Christie. This book was terribly plotted. It was an okay read, at best. The plot was just ho-hum, which is why it escaped public notice until the author's identity was " leaked".

[Lynn]

I never heard the "seedy underbelly" percentage, but I don't like hard boiled school. I agree that Calling was not as well plotted as Christie, not much is. But have you read Christie lately? The characters are so flat, you don't really care who did it. The setting and character development are huge for me, and, for me, they were very interesting in this book. I used to say science fiction is about setting, mystery is about plot and romance is about character. This has been breaking down in recent years, and I love that.

[Surreal]

For this genre, the better the writing, which keeps you attached and deprived of sleeping, the more disappointing it is when the end reveals a weak plot. It is not that it would not work, especially after so many of us helped to explain, it is that the way the plot is built and presented. Author tried to connect Strike's mother with now a day super models/acters to make some point (that unconventional life style is under cherished by conventional people), tried to introduce her detective with more ink so that a serie would start, and so on, but these not really relevant stuff ended in hurting the story. For example, there is not much help in all those soldier thing, and I hope the author really did understand a bit of the rich (so as to make the plot more convincing). But it seems that J.K. does have the limitation of a middle class afterall (so that the depicting of the twisted rich family falls really flat).

I am hesitating as for what the Silkworm would be worth reading or not. Don't want to suffer another "heartbreaking" by the huge disappointment of the ending. At least for people like me, who love tight logic without obvious loophole, this detective serie started with discourangement from more. (The Casual Vacancy was much better in the sense of proper reality).

[Epetrodesign]

Two things didn't get wrapped up at the end of the book that I wish did.

We never found out what Robin was supposed to see in the two different photographs of building 18 that was going to prepare her for detective school. Was there an image of John looking out of the window of the 2nd floor apartment he was hiding in all day?

Cormoran went to the police and told them Rochelle was blackmailing Lula's killer. Strike had her phone number, and Lula's family were still paying for the account. Couldn't the police have found out who she has been speaking to simply by getting that information through her cellphone provider? You don't actually need a physical phone to find that kind information out. Cormoran could have pressed the police to look into that but didn't, and the police were supposed to known for being so thorough. I guess if the police did find John's phone number in Rochelle's phone records the story would have ended a lot sooner, or it would have made the readers more suspicious of John.

All in all, I loved the book and I couldn't put it down. I am so pleased I get to continue to enjoy JK Rowling's incredible writing.

[Hope]

Epetrodesign wrote: "Two things didn't get wrapped up at the end of the book that I wish did.

We never found out what Robin was supposed to see in the two different photographs of building 18 that was going to prepar..."

I wondered about that too! What was in those photographs!

I also wondered why Strike was so relieved Bristow showed up to his office first out of all the possible people who might have come. Because getting the confession would have been easier without Landry or Allison making it dramatic?

My final confusion from reading most of the discussion on here about John knowing about the half-brother but not being able to find him is related to his reaction to the newspaper picture of the black solider. I thought he reacted poorly to the picture not because he thought it was Wilson's son, but because he was hoping it was Jonah Ageyman and he had been killed in action thus, making the second will a moot point. So he must have known who and where he was, thus not really needing Strike to locate him so John could knock him off something high too, but rather so he could make the connection and get the wrong man convicted for murder. Right?

[Lynn]

Strike wanted Robin to notice that the plants on the neighbor's balcony had been rearranged. Before there was a place for the neighbor to hide, afterward, there wasn't. The police did not investigate the cell phone records because they didn't think there had been a murder. Remember, there were not unidentified fingerprints in the apartment and John had an alibi. What I can't remember (I think it was explained) was why John kept Rochelle's phone. Why not destroy it? I found that a lot of the "holes" in the plot, were perfectly well explained on the second reading.

[Melissa]

I don't understand why Lula wrote a will in the first place. Did she think she was going to die soon? She's 23, in great health, and has amazing things going for her with her modeling career.

[Denicemarcell]

Melissa wrote: "I don't understand why Lula wrote a will in the first place. Did she think she was going to die soon? She's 23, in great health, and has amazing things going for her with her modeling career."

probably her agent urged her to write a will for a just in situation.

[Pat]

Melissa wrote: "I don't understand why Lula wrote a will in the first place. Did she think she was going to die soon? She's 23, in great health, and has amazing things going for her with her modeling career."
Good point to make - that very thought crossed my mind too but then it flitted off again ;-)

[Robin P]

I really enjoyed this book,which I listened to on audio. I found the discussions above interesting, because, although I love mysteries, I never care much about who did it and why! It's usually money, jealousy, or insanity (in this case maybe some of all 3). So I never thought of most of those questions. What I like is an interesting detective and sidekick or other side characters, a real sense of a place and time, and a story that keeps my interest. This had all those things.

On the subject of how Strike could be attractive to women, we mostly have his view of how ugly and fat he is. Maybe a bit from Robin, but what she admires about him is his brain (and his profession). One thing that could have been attractive to the supermodel is that Strike didn't care a bit about celebrity. Most people who met the model would fall all over themselves telling her how great she is or trying to show how great they are. Strike didn't care a bit, he's totally cool, which may have been a nice switch. With his family past, it's understandable that he is unimpressed by celebrities.

[Luiza]

Patricia wrote: "What I didn't like about this book was that the author didn't take us along on the journey of working out who did it. It was all just a endless list of questions - and then suddenly all is revealed. (...)
That whole being naked on the balcony thing literally came out of thin air and I started to think I'd skipped some pages, then there's the part where Strike admits there wasn't a photo, he just made that up to fit in with his theory. It would have been better if the reader was taken along on how he came to this theory."

I agree with this. I had the same feelings about the almost naked Tansy on the balcony and I thought I just missed some pages. That part of plot appeared out of sudden but... This part let us think that the murder wasn't Freddie because he was into his other business and his behavior neither showed he could have hidden something due to Lula's death. At least I think so...

By the way, on the 30-something page, when John Bristow was talking about Lula and the crime, he revealed sort of strange behavior and I thought "well, great, you can be this murderer as well" because of his innocent behaviour and then an attack of anger. But then I thought he is too lame to do it, but then again, his effort to stop Strike from talking to Rochelle, his silence while Strike found out somebody deleted the photos...

And, did you notice how John tried to wake Strike's sympathy for him by telling him constantly about his ill mother? Like "you know, my mother is so weak, she feels very bad today blablabla...." or "Don't go to my mother without me" and Strike didn't feel sorry, that lighed up a red light in my head, seriously.

Strike neither felt sympathy for Lady Bristow, he seemed to be repulsed by her, can someone please tell me, why? It was not her fault she raised up a psycho and she didn't lie to Strike, or maybe I missunderstood something there?

The book was great. I couldn't stop reading and I loved the idea of Robin's happiness because of the engaging but then she pushed her private life in the background due to help Strike and care for him. So awesome, eventually they'll end up together, it's very possible.

[Aritra]

I remember reading the novel way back when, and there were a couple of things that I didn't understand. How did Strike find out about
1. Ursula May's affair with Tony
2. Bryonny (mis)reading Lula's will
3. Tansy being half-naked on the balcony when Lula fell (at best he could have guessed she was there, when Freddie had placed potted shrubs on the balcony to hide the truth)

[Zanariah]

I really love this book. It's completely different from JK Rowling's book. It's more mature and sophisticated plot. It rises lots of question and answer it all in the end. The style is pretty decent but yet it suffice. The writing is clear, describing everything. It's like a perfect description that I can see clearly what was in her head. I hope she will write more books like this.

[Erika]

Just a thought...my biggest clue was that cuckoos are brood parasites, and the chicks tend to eject the eggs of the host family...exactly what John does

[Mario]

Rajesh wrote: "To all those people who are planning to read this book( the Cuckoo's Calling), a word of caution : DON'T waste your time reading this novel. Please don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of Harry Potte..."

Don't listen to this guy he is totally wrong, by the way, I have never read any of the Potter books. This is a fine novel nd am now reading Silkworm.

[Marc]

Rajesh wrote: "To all those people who are planning to read this book( the Cuckoo's Calling), a word of caution : DON'T waste your time reading this novel. Please don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of Harry Potte..."

Stop wasting our time and take your trash elsewhere. This is for people wanting to discuss the book.

[Kressel]

Mario wrote: "Rajesh wrote: "To all those people who are planning to read this book( the Cuckoo's Calling), a word of caution : DON'T waste your time reading this novel. Please don't get me wrong. I am a big fan..."

Career of Evil is the best of all!

[Lucia]

I enjoyed the book but the thing I'm still stuck on, and maybe I just missed an obvious part of the book, is why no one during the police investigation connected the missing clothes for Deeby Mac given by Guy Some? Guy knew he sent them, Deeby knew exactly what was sent to him, yet no clothes remain at the apartment when searched. Did I miss something? Can someone shed light for me?

[Marlene]

Nitpicking.

It's the little things that sometimes bother me in mystery novels, even though I love the Strike series and have read all three multiple times.

In Cuckoo's Calling, Rowling/Galbraith makes a point of how freezing cold it was on the date of Lula’s death, and John certainly doesn't give the impression of someone who would ignore the elements with a macho mindset.

He set out that morning to talk to Lula, probably getting there by taxi. Don't you think he would have had an overcoat on? Then he left the building in the top-clothes (a hoody or light jacket that wouldn’t have hidden a coat) he lifted from the second floor apartment where he'd been hiding. So where did he stash the overcoat? That certainly would have been found.

[Nadiya]

Can I ask question. I didn't finish reading this book so who do you think is being honest in the story so far?

[Ola]

I know I'm late to the discussion and I've read many of the comments on this thread but it still does not make sense to me why John would want the investigation to be reopened.

John knew about Johan or else he wouldn't be looking through the news for a black soldier's death. So the remaining theory is that he wanted to frame him for Lula's murder but that does not make any sense either.

John would be the prime suspect in any investigation because he's the one who benefits most from his sister's death. There are multiple witnesses for them arguing and him asking her for money. It is easy for any detective to find out about his monetary status. He doesn't have a tight alibi (shouldn't the police have checked for CCTV footage of him going to his office or his mother's house to check his alibi?) and he actually appears in the CCTV footage he directed strike to investigate.

The only thing that would strongly incriminate Johan is the will, and the only one who knew about it, to John's knowledge, was Rochelle. So the logical thing for him, if he wanted to frame Johan, was to not respond to Rochelle's blackmailing but to tell her he only wants to find his sister's killer and connect her with a detective to tell her story about Johan. She is also the only witness that Lula was meeting Johan the same time she was killed.

Wanting to frame Johan and at the same time keeping the will hidden by shushing Rochelle is ridiculous.