The Cuckoo's Calling

Great read

Its the latest book by JKR
i have really enjoyed these books, as the relationship develops between the two main characters. Im enjoying how Robin is explaining why she wants to work in the private eye industry.
the book is fiction. i have enjoyed the development of the two main characters as well as the crime plot.
I would recommend this and the other three books to anyone who enjoys crime stories as well as a human interest within the stories.

Most people at the meeting had finished this month’s book and everyone had enjoyed it. However, two people had not finished it and therefore we tried to keep the discussion spoiler-free. This was a difficult task but we managed it!

Everyone was aware that Robert Galbraith was a pen name for JK Rowling, which we found more off-putting than encouraging, as we weren’t sure how a children’s writer would tackle an adult book. But we needn’t have worried. Many of the group had read the Harry Potter books and felt that, although there are similarities in the writing, (for example the strong character description) this book was quite different in style and content.

We thought that the characters were very well drawn and really liked the relationship between Strike and Robin. Matthew was seen as a bit of a wimp, a boring person who was very different to Strike, with his military background. We thought that Matthew was jealous of Strike and felt threatened by him, although he would never admit it. Robin was originally very happy to be newly engaged and the centre of attention, but that slips away later in the book. Matthew has very definite ideas of what a relationship should be, and Robin is originally happy to fit into this. But working for Strike, and enjoying doing something that she has always been interested in, she begins to fell constrained by Matthew’s rather old-fashioned views. We liked Robin and thought that she should definitely go for what would make her happy, but we did also discuss how she would feel if things were the other way round and Matthew had suddenly started a job he loved with a woman boss that he greatly admired – that helped us to better appreciate his point of view!

We thought the plot was intricate, but that the clues were there to be found amongst the red herrings, so the finale made sense. The facts and motivations behind the murder are summarised towards the end of the book and some people found this useful (as an aide-memoire) while others thought it a little contrived, a bit like the TV programme “Death in Paradise”.

We discussed what impact the fact that Strike is an amputee had on our feeling towards the character, and we decided that it leant him an air of vulnerability but that although we did feel sorry for him we also respected him more for his determination not to let his injury define him.

Fame is a recurrent theme in the novel. Strike is the son of a famous rock star but chooses not to capitalise on his father’s name. However, it is clear that fame opens doors and other characters are much more susceptible to its allure. We wondered if the characters are based on real people – for example, we felt that Evan Duffield was like Pete Doherty, and his need for the attention that fame brings was very obvious. There are references to social injustice in the book and we thought that reflected the two halves of JK Rowling’s own life – the difficult years when she was trying to make it as a writer, and the sudden change to being in a position where everybody knows who she is and wants to be her friend.

Some of the group had lived in London and said that the descriptions of the city were very accurate. Also, the cover was very atmospheric and gave a sense of place. The things that we didn’t like were minor. We wondered why the book was called the Cuckoo’s Calling, when the only person that called Lula Cuckoo was Guy. This felt forced, as if it had only been written that way to justify the book title. Also the use of the Latin aphorisms at the beginning of the chapters was felt by some to be rather pretentious.

Overall we thought this was a well-written book, with well-described characters who drove the plot, and written in an “old-school” detective style. We gave the book 8.5 out of 10, with 8 being the lowest score.

I have really enjoyed reading the Robert Galbraith books and I read the first one before I realised that Robert Galbraith is JK Rowling.

Looking forward to them being televised or made into films

This was my first dip into Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling). I enjoyed the book on the whole, though think the storyline was stretched out a bit. Loved watching the developing relationship between Strike and Robin, as the case progressed.

A swift and pacey new det fic from our beloved Rowling - Cormoran Strike certainly 'strikes' a pose as the latest British hard boiled hero. Rowling creates a character who is set, poised and ready for the small screen, and already has the web buzzing with 'who will play who?' Chatter. This reviewer wants Luke Evans in the lead, but what does this reviewer really know eh?

Well what I do know is that I went straight out and bought the next in the series, because really, as with all good crime stories, we are tied to the lives and loves of our best detectives, and Strike, with his disastrous love life, slowly unfolding heroic back story and a slovenly ways is no different.

I hope she can write these as quick as they can print them because they are burning their way up the charts, and into our hearts.

Really good lots as twist and turns as you expect by a book by J K Rowling (this book was published under a psyudenom) loved that it was set in London as well.

I don't think they should read this book - it's for adults. :)

I don't normally read crime novels, but being written by j.k Rowling I had to try it! And I wast disappointed! A great murder mystery