The Cuckoo's Calling

By: Robert Galbraith

Narrated by: Robert Glenister

Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Published under a pseudonym, J. K. Rowling’s brilliant debut mystery introduces Detective Cormoran Strike as he investigates a supermodel's suicide in “one of the best books of the year” (USA Today).

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, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary 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.

Fast-paced and sharply drawn, this dazzling detective novel inspired Strike, the BBC crime drama series that has captivated millions of viewers worldwide.

©2013 Robert Galbraith (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Harry Potter It's Not

The two reasons I like the Harry Potter series are the character development and the topic is so different. I expected the same from The Cuckoo's Calling, however, "Robert Galbraith" has written just another detective story. Nothing in the story really makes it stand out from all the other detective stories. The detective is a flawed character just like in every other detective story. He is nearly destitute, just like in nearly every other detective story. One thing I like in other detective stories is that you think the story is almost done but there is still a couple of hours left on the counter. You can't figure out how they are going to stretch the story, then there is an unexpected turn of events. The Cuckoo's Calling lacks this stylistic feature. The reveal doesn't happen until the very end of the book. I'm not saying that is good or bad, just different. As the story goes along, you can tell "he" is setting this up to be a series.

The main character, Strike, is developed well but that's really the only character that is developed as well as the Harry Potter cast. Robin is similar to the Hermione character in Harry Potter. A strong, young women with her act together. Strike is similar to Harry in that he is "hero" for lack of a better term. He is going to solve the case but could never do so without the help of his assistant Robin just as Harry could never solve the mysteries without Ron and Hermione.

If you want to see what else J.K. Rowling can write, it's worth a read but I think it falls short of the Harry Potter series.

Easy, fun, and well written!

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

One of my favs.

Which scene was your favorite?

The lead character trying to maintain a professional posture while living in his office.

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

Love to embraceable characters.

Any additional comments?

A great listen! Nice pace, great story.

Cuckoo for Cormoran

I have seen some heavily mixed reviews on this rather controversial author and series (Hello secret J.K. series!) Indeed, if you've been living under a rock, you would not know that Robert Galbraith is a pen-name for the illustrious and worshiped YA author JK Rowling who wanted to take a stab at writing an adult mystery series.

I have seen people complain about how poor her writing is compared to Harry Potter, how they think it's dull or too slow or just not very good writing.

I have to disagree.

This might be do to the fact that I listened via an audiobook and an amazing narrator, Robert Glenister, who did a FABULOUS job at bringing every voice to life. (Seriously, the narration is amazing and really brings a lot to the story in terms of his casting of voices and different accents he used.)

I was hooked from the first minute. I don't think I've ever sped through an audiobook so fast. The last hour of it, I was in the midst of cleaning out my closet while I listened to the book and I don't think I've ever been so distracted in my life. My husband walked into the bedroom and found me sitting on the floor with a pair of boots in my hand, just sitting quietly as Strike revealed detail after detail in how he had solved the case. He was quite confused (the husband, not Strike.)

The Cuckoo's Calling is the story of the suicide of an incredibly famous model, Lula, who jumped to her death on a snowy night in London. Cormoran Strike is a rather unusual detective whose business is about to go under from lack of cases as well as loan sharks coming to collect their overdue money. Cue Lula's brother coming in and asking Cormoran to investigate Lula's suicide, convinced that she was murdered and that her killer was still on the loose.

We are introduced to a wide variety of characters and settings as well as the unusual detective, Cormoran Strike, an Army veteran who is making a stab at putting his own name out there and trying to get out from the (very) oppressive shadow of a famous rock'n'roll father that he himself doesn't even know, and yet, everyone else seems to.

Robin, his temporary office assistant/secretary, is one of the best characters that we meet. She's just temping and her attitude reminds me of Mrs Hudson from Sherlock. "Not your housekeeper", "Not your secretary, just a temp", but she still takes good pride in her hard work in assisting Cormoran in the case. As more and more is revealed and details come to light, she proves to be a rather handy assistant and co-sleuth, a partner in solving crime.

Every detail in the story is so important. There were little things that were revealed at the end that I just went, "No. Way." cause it was just mind-boggling that something that SMALL was a clue or a hint or just important! This is a book that I will have to go back and reread and just find those little details that I just did not consider to be important. I also have to mention that this is a love-story of sorts to London. Rowling really lets loose all the different voices and people that make up London, a melting pot of immigrants and accents that blend together to create the unique voice that is the story; SO many voices are used by the narrator and its just amazing and wonderful to listen to what London is through his voice. Just as "nordic-noir" is a genre and are salutes to the beautiful and grim countries of the frigid Artic norths, "British-mysteries" is firmly a genre in my mind and The Cuckoo's Calling lies within it.

One of my best and most favorite reads of 2016, I do believe this will be a re-read for me and on a constant loop in my TBR to just enjoy over and over again. Highly recommend for a slow-burning and intricately detailed murder mystery!

A real page turner

Enjoyed this book very much. Read it on a recommendation and I'm glad I did. Not the usual type book I read but this was well written and fast paced. The main character is an acquired taste but by the end I knew I would be reading the other two books in the series. It's that good. Enjoyed the narrator too. Give this one a chance. It'll be worth your time.

Totally addictive

I wish I didn't know who really wrote this book, but I can't unring that bell. I'm such a big JKR fan, but I'd like to think I can separate that and assess this book in a reasonably objective manner. Once I started, I couldn't stop listening to this book. It hooked me from the get go and never got boring. There's a lot of depth to the characters and the back story gets filled in gradually so they evolve as the book progresses. JK's descriptive abilities continue to shine and make every scene a rich experience beyond the progression of the story. Besides all that, it's a rip roaring good mystery, with twists and false turns aplenty. I look forward to the future adventures of Cormoran Strike and Robin.

The only thing better than the book itself may be the reading of it. This was a wonderful performance by a gifted actor/reader. I had a copy of the book and in many parts read along with the narration. I found his reading and interpretation so much more vivid and interesting than I would have done in my head if I read it. Each character's voice was so well done and unique, I could tell who was speaking before the text told me.

You know it's a good one when you're sad when you get to the end because there is no more.

love these books

great character development. really well told and wonderfully read. will read again. aces 10!!! great work

entertaining

i felt like it started slow but i did enjoy the ending. i dont think i was in the mood for it for the longest time but all of a sudden i couldnt stop myself from listening

I really liked it

I was on the edge of my seat. didn't see the ending coming at all!

read it

read it you will like it more then you think i did thanks to my book club sugesting it

Great twisted detecting!

Loved the story! Thought I had it figured out only to be totally surprised as Strike faced the actual killer and laid it all out! Robert Glenister does a great job with all the different voices and emotions. Highly recommended in spite of the somewhat coarse language throughout.