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

loved the reader!

this book was such a pleasant surprise. The reader is versatile and his delivery it's perfect. The story hasn't been done a million times and it wasn't pretentious or predictable

Great !

Bought the book because JK wrote it, and I really enjoyed it. Good suspense and character development.

Fun Read

What made the experience of listening to The Cuckoo's Calling the most enjoyable?

This book was a fun murder mystery. The characters were enjoyable and I really liked this book. Good Book! Worth buying!

Give it a try!

This book drew me in from the first & kept me captivated. The performance was good and did nor detract from the story. The writing was also fine & I know I would have finished it if I had to read (instead of listen to) it.

Excellent!

First time with audible and I get addicted! Fully recommended! I loved every second with it!

Great mystery writing

Dropped my jaw more than once during this well crafted story. well done JK Rowling

No words

I have already read it long ago but listening to it was a totally different experience. Loved it

Entertaining with unexpected ending.

Excellent narration of various characters. Very believable portrayals. Author Galbraith is talented. More from him please.

Great performance, story was pretty good

This review is just to go over what I liked and didn't like about the book. Briefly, this book is a mystery, so don't expect a fast paced thriller. It's a standard detective story with the main character talking to a series of characters to gather clues about the case in order to ultimately solve the murder.
Pros
-Well written and likeable protagonist.
Mostly interesting cast of characters that are well described. The narrator did a good job distinguishing their personalities.
-Satisfying conclusion
-Robert Glenister, the narrator, does an outstanding job with the performance. I don't think there was a single weak character performance.
-Enjoyed the London setting.

Cons
- Some of the chapters were a bit dull. Not all of the character interviews were that interesting. While the author varied the scenarios up a bit, it still felt repetitive at times. You have to really be into character portraits and investigative dialogue in order to maintain interest.
-While we learn a lot about the victim, I didn't feel invested in solving her death. While you do feel some sympathy toward her, the characters surrounding her were mostly unlikable. This in turn made the stakes feel low as you felt like you were invested in the case to satisfy Comoran Strike rather than help somebody get justice against a killer.
-Some of the character dynamics and conflicts were uninspired, particularly the husband/wife and boyfriend/girlfriend relationships. Just in general how people treated the other gender in the book was full of cliches The minor conflict between Robin and her fiance was particularly eyeroll worthy.
-Robin the assistant was underutilized as a character. She's one of the few likable characters. While she helps solve the case in places, I wish she was utilized in the plot more.
-I don't mind swearing and foul language. I think it was improperly used for some characters, but I also didn't think it was excessive. It seemed realistic to me when it was used rather than gratuitous in most cases. However, if you don't like to hear foul language, you might not like this book. There's definitely a lot of it in the dialogue sections.

Overall I enjoyed the story. I think some of the details of how the main character figured out who did it was well done. On the other hand, I was not impressed by the creativity of the plot and the plot structure was a dull at times. The mystery was adeptly written, but not terribly original. I'd recommend to anyone that likes mysteries and detective stories, especially as an audiobook since the performance is fantastic.

Ending

I totally loved the book until the end. The end doesn’t add up. Too many speculation and too little facts to proof the case.