The Cuckoo's Calling

Cormoran Strike, Book 1

By: Robert Galbraith

Narrated by: Robert Glenister

Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Now a major BBC drama: The Strike series.

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.

Strike is a war veteran - wounded both physically and psychologically - and his 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 audiobook. Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

©2013 Robert Galbraith (P)2013 Hachette Digital

Critic reviews

" The Cuckoo's Calling reminds me why I fell in love with crime fiction in the first place." (Val McDermid)

"One of the most unique and compelling detectives I've come across in years" (Mark Billingham)

"One of the best crime novels I have ever read." (Alex Gray)

Excellent Performance..one of the best

A nice opening chapter in the Cormorant Strike series. Publishers: I hanker for the day you arrange an accompanying PDF with a list of characters, locations etc. When dipping in and out of long books with numerous characters it is difficult to track who is who. It is one disadvantage of this form of medium relative to hard copies.

Thoroughly enjoyable

Truly enjoyed the characters, brought stunningly to life by superlative narration. I'm off to start the next book in the series!

Great who dunnit

I enjoyed this book immensely, not least because of the outstanding narration that did it justice. More please!

Very Good Book But A Bit Drawn Out.

I must admit I bought this book when I learned that J.K. Rowlings wrote it. I wanted to see how she would write a mystery. I have to also admit that I have never listened any of her books and I was buying on her amazing reputation. With that said, I really liked the book, but did not love it.

What I loved about it.
* Fantastic job on character development (but would you think anything less?) I got to know and love Strike and Robin right from the beginning and warmed up to all the other cast very shortly.
* The story was a good mystery.
* I liked that the ending gave way to a sequel to this book as I am interested where Strike's business and personal life take him.
* I loved Strike's crazy ex girlfriend and hope to see/hear more of her in future books as she was just briefly mentioned in the beginning and snippets throughout the book.

What I didn't....
*The book was OVERLY long. At almost 16 hours it dragged at times. She is an amazing descriptive writer but at times it just went on and on and I just wanted her to get on with it.
* As in the above sentence, it took ages, sometimes chapters to wrap up a small part of the story line. Perhaps I like books that move faster.
Having said that I still could not put the book down despite some frustrations.

All in all a good solid listen and something you would expect from this caliber of writer. I looking forward to the next installment of the series.

Robert Glenister was fantastic with the delivery of the story.
Worth a credit, very much yes from me.

Just brilliant.

Gripping story with well developed characters presented in vivid colours.
Thoroughly enjoyable both in content as well as delivery of the reader. Strongly recommend

A wonderful experience from start to finish

If you could sum up The Cuckoo's Calling in three words, what would they be?

Entertaining, gripping, fun

Who was your favorite character and why?

I liked both leads.

Have you listened to any of Robert Glenister’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. His narration was perfect.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes! I kept finding all sorts of excuses to start listening (I have never cleaned and ironed so much!). Haven't had so much fun reading a book in a long time.

Any additional comments?

I'm so glad JK wrote this after her bad one, The Casual Vacancy (couldn't get past chapter 3). This is a modern mystery with characters I could totally believe are real. I hope there's another in the works.

Cuckoo's not calling Harry Potter

Where does The Cuckoo's Calling rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I would say somewhere in the middle. It is an excellent story skilfully told. The end fizzled out a bit and it was rather predictable two-thirds into the story.

What did you like best about this story?

It was a fresh story, new plot and some really interesting characters. It has left us with many questions about the characters and I see a next instalment.

Have you listened to any of Robert Glenister’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No but he is very good!!!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The biggest surprise was that it was written by J.K. Rowling. Totally different. I loved the main character. Her best book (including Harry Potter).

Any additional comments?

I am not a writer but I would advise J.K. to work on her endings (with respect).

Excellent

I really enjoyed this yarn - it hooked you in from the first page, continued to grip until the last page and was very well read by Robert Glenister who portrayed some excellent characters. It would be great to see more of Cormoran Strike and Robin but now the identity of Galbraith has been revealed maybe that will be the end - hope not.

Fabulous!

I simply loved this book! Can't wait for Cormoran Strike's new adeventures.
The narrator is brilliant, the characters very endearing. Really powerful story, j.K....sorry, Robert G. has done a great job.

A Bit Different

A bit slow to start but well worth the wait. Characters are well portrayed and story was interesting though a little predictable. Ended leaving me wanting a sequel. Well worth a credit