Review: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

Title: The Silkworm
Author: Robert Galbraith
Series: Cormoran Strike #2
Publication: June 19th 2014 by Sphere
Genre: Adult ~ Mystery ~ Crime
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kobo
Rating: 5/5

  

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days - as he has done before - and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.

And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before...

A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, The Silkworm is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant Robin Ellacott.

Just like The Cuckoo's Calling I completely enjoyed The Silkworm. This time I went into it with high expectations and I'm glad to say they were all met perfectly. Mystery and detective books are one genre I almost never read but these books are seriously good.

The Silkworm is very different from the first book. A novelist, Owen Quine goes missing and his wife hires Cormoran Strike to find him, who apparently wrote a book that puts a lot of people in a bad light. The case changes to a murder investigation when Quine turns up dead in a gruesome way. 

One thing I love about this book is how the mystery surrounding Quine's death and his book. I also like how Cormoran slowly but surely fits all the pieces together and solves the case in the end. I, for one, couldn't guess who the killer was until he actually revealed it. It was driving me nuts.

As for the characters, I absolutely love Cormoran Strike. He's a brilliant detective and one of my favorite characters ever. I also love Robin. I like how genuinely nice she is and how Coromoran really needs her for the job they're doing. I like their dynamic together. 

The writing in this book (as well as The Cuckoo's Calling) was excellent. It has a good pace and I could never get tired of reading it. And I must admit, as much as I love the Harry Potters books, I actually like this series better. (don't kill me, Potterheads!). I can't wait for the third book to come out!

 About the Author:

 Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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.

Review: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Title: The Cuckoo's Calling
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.

The Cuckoo's Calling has got to be one of the most surprising books I've read. I usually never read books in this genre. I never thought it was my thing but I got the book as a christmas present from my mom and, well, it is J.K. Rowling so I wanted to try a few chapters and see what it was like. I never expected to get hooked like I was. It simply was a very good book. I loved it.

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:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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.