Review: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

the lowdown

Cormoran Strike is a private detective...not that he does much detecting these days. Massively in debt, missing half a leg thanks to an injury during a tour in Afghanistan, and recently broken up with his beautiful but toxic fiancée, Cormoran isn't having a great go of things when John Bristow walks into his office. Wanting Cormoran to investigate the high profile suicide of his supermodel sister months prior, John seeks out Cormoran via a connection from their past, John's younger brother, Charlie, who was best friends with Cormoran until he tragically died as a child. As Cormoran delves deeper into investigating the case, and Lula Landry's death, he realizes that Bristow may not just be in denial, and that there may in fact, be a killer on the loose.

This novel was written by JK Rowling (of Harry Potter fame, I'm sure you've heard of her once or twice in passing) under the pen name Robert Galbraith. It was an interesting read, albeit extremely slow-moving. There were significant pacing issues, which I'll get into below. I think that the only reason that I finished this book is because the storyline itself was so interesting.


the good

• Galbraith told a really fascinating story. It wasn't terribly complex, but there were just enough unexplained facts about the case that it kept me hanging in there to see who did it. Like I said before, the mystery wasn't terribly complex, Galbraith just took his time laying everything out for the reader. I kept reading on because there were so many unanswered questions (seriously who were those runners caught on camera?).
• Cormoran was a much more tolerable narrator than I was expecting. I thought that I would have a hard time connecting with him because of his background, being so far removed from anything I could know, but he was surprisingly enjoyable and relatable. Occasionally I found myself annoyed with Cormoran or couldn't follow his thinking, but overall he was a really good narrator. Robin also really shined as an unexpectedly enjoyable character. 

the bad

• There were tons of pacing issues and not enough content to drive the book and the plot forward. This book was incredibly slow moving for me. I don't think anyone would be placing this one into the 'thriller' category.
• The literary style just didn't suit the style of book. The descriptive style that can transport you to a castle with boggarts, talking paintings, and giants and make it all seem entirely real is a bore when it's describing a random alleyway in London. I think that the pacing issues and the literary style go hand in hand, because so much of each scene was focused on descriptive 

the quote

“Seven and a half million hearts were bating in close proximity in this heavy old city, and many, after all, would be aching far worse than his.”

skip it/borrow it/buy it

This one is definitely a borrow it book, especially if you're a Rowling fan. It was enjoyable although occasionally tedious, but I don't foresee myself regretting not having purchased it. I will say that if you need a lot of action in your mystery novels, you might want to skip this.



overall score:6/10

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