Read on October 4, 2016
The Cuckoo’s Calling (Cormoran Strike #1) ~ Robert Galbraith (pseudonym J.K. Rowling)
I took forever with this book and I enjoyed the lazy pace – except finally at the last 20%, there was this urge to finish and to find out the details. I enjoyed the narration and the style – it reminded me of classic mysteries with the well thought-out plot gradually unfolding.
The most enjoyable part for me was how I stopped at various parts in the book to figure out the clues, to think of the personalities (they weren’t THAT complex after all) and to keep putting things together in
mind. The author’s choice of vocabulary, too, impressed me quite a bit and I was glad to have read this off my Kindle, so I have highlighted some 60 new & fancy words (30 of whose meanings I already must have forgotten.. but never mind that)..
It was funny how I kept thinking of the author – kept thinking of Rowling and the Potter association and could see that in the beginning, there was a gentler approach to being an ‘adult’ writer – for eg, it took awhile for both the author & the reader to come of age & allow a curse word to figure. The first F word sounded like a belligerent teen testing the feel of the word on his/her tongue, and gradually, the intensity (and frequency of the cuss-words and choice of them) also increased. However, it didn’t quite deter from the plot and I must say, it might have been entirely through my own filter of seeing Rowling as a Potter author instead of Galbraith.
Either way, I have enjoyed this book very much – the characters were well thought out and the complexity of the plot was overly absurd (to me, at least)!
Amazon:
When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case.
A war veteran, wounded both physically and psychologically, Strike’s life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model’s complex world, the darker things get – and the closer he gets to terrible danger . . .
A gripping, elegant mystery steeped in the atmosphere of London – from the hushed streets of Mayfair, to the backstreet pubs of the East End, to the bustle of Soho – The Cuckoo’s Calling is a remarkable debut. Introducing Cormoran Strike, it is a classic crime novel unlike any other book you will read this year.
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