Author: Robert Galbraith
Series: Cormoran Strike #1
Publication: April 18th 2013 by Sphere
Genre: Adult ~ Mystery
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kobo
Rating: 5/5
A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide. After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.
Starting the book I had no idea what to expect but the story was really great, in my opinion. I liked the mystery of Lula's death and It's always fun to read a good whodunit story, trying to find out who the killer is. It really could've been anyone and in the end I hadn't expected the killer to be who it was. I was very surprised and that's a good thing with mystery books.
Disabled, just broken up with his girlfriend and sleeping in his office, Cormoran Strike is struggling to pay his debts due to lack of clients. When John Bristow hires Cormoran to investigate the suspicious suicide of his adoptive sister, model Lula Landry, Cormoran, in need of money, takes on the case. Add in his new secretary, Robin, who's ecstatic to work with a private investigator, dubious suspects and you get one hell of a book!
The characters were so interesting! Cormoran Strike, being the lead character, was of course my favorite. I simply love him. I liked his personality a lot and his past was intriguing to me, too. His relationship with his new secretary, Robin, was pretty awkward but I actually loved that. They make a very good team. I really liked Robin also. I loved her enthousiasm to be working for Cormoran. The other characters were also captivating to read about. I suspected a lot of people of killing Lula but they were all pretty wrapped in mystery.
Let's talk about the writing next. Oh my god. That was the thing that I noticed first, the writing. It was stunning, simply stunning. I swear I could just keep reading this book for ages and not get tired of it because of the way it was written. I also loved the setting of London. Now, I've never been there but wow, I felt as if I could see it all. Consider me impressed!
Overall, The Cuckoo's Calling was a damn good read. All of it; the intriguing mystery, the compelling character of Cormoran Strike, the brilliant writing, the gritty setting... everything! It was a brilliant book!
Quotes:
Who was more conscious than the soldier of capricious fortune, of the random roll of the dice?
Robin was disposed to feel desperately sorry for anyone with a less fortunate love life than her own – if desperate pity could describe the exquisite pleasure she actually felt at the thought of her own comparative paradise.
But they had already tried, again and again and again, and always, when the first crashing wave of mutual longing subsided, the ugly wreck of the past lay revealed again, its shadow lying darkly over everything they tried to rebuild.
About the Author:
Pen name used by J K Rowling, the British novelist best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series and The Casual Vacancy.
Glad you liked it so much! I loved it as well (: Can't wait to read the sequel.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I've been meaning to read The Silkworm but other books keep getting in the way.
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