The main reason I read this book is because I found out that
Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for JK Rowling and I was hoping for a better
reading experience than the one I had with “The Casual Vacancy” a few months
back. I thought perhaps the reason I did not like “The Casual Vacancy” was because
of the plotline because I honestly wouldn’t have even tried to read it had it
had another author name attached. But “The Cuckoo’s Calling” did sound fairly
interesting even before I knew it was a Rowling book.
But now I’m afraid I have to admit that, at least in regards
to her currently published books, I don’t like JK Rowling for anything but
Harry Potter. There, I said it. Now please don’t attack me. (And yes I am smart
enough not to have expected her adult books to be like Harry Potter so I’m not
judging it based just on that. I’m judging the book purely on its own merit and
not because I’m comparing it to one of my favorite series). Now that that’s out
of the way let’s get into the meat of my issues.
“The Cuckoo’s Calling” is the first book in a series about
the private investigator Cormoran Strike who is struggling to find and keep
cases. Then he is approached by John Bristow who wants Strike to investigate
the supposed suicide of his famous sister Lula Landry. (Side note: about two
thirds of the way into the book we find out Lula is called “Cuckoo” by the
clothing designer that made her famous therefore referencing the title.
Honestly if the title was going to be referenced at all I wish it would have
mentioned earlier on in the book but I digress).
So Strike, along with his temporary secretary Robin, start
an investigation to see if Lula really did kill herself or if there was foul
play involved. And the story and plotline was at least interesting enough that
I was curious to figure out the answer myself but getting there was kind of a
chore. There was too much description in some places, as in paragraph upon
paragraph of useless information just for a character to get from one scene to
another when it honestly didn’t matter. And then I felt like I was lacking some
descriptions in the scenes that really mattered. It was frustrating.
And then the book finally started to bring me in when I was
about seventy percent of the way through with it which is the only factor that
redeemed it for me. That was the point when I really started to care about the
mystery and the people involved because that’s when I felt like I knew them. I
understand that it takes time for a reader to become familiar with new
characters but damn, more than halfway through a book is not when you want your
reader to start feeling it.
At the end of it the book ended up being both very
predictable and not so much. The true story behind what happened to Lula Landry
was not what I had expected though several theories had run across my mind
during the telling of it (because Rowling set up several characters to be very
suspicious and at the top of any readers suspect list). And, something that I
don’t really feel is a spoiler because it was obvious and because the blurbs
about the second book in the series mention it, the temporary secretary of
course ends up sticking around to the end.
So all in all “The Cuckoo’s Calling” was not one of my
favorite books of the year, I didn’t find it very memorable, and I doubt I’ll
bother reading any of the other books in the Comoran Strike series though I may
surprise myself someday.
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