The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike Series #1) by Robert Galbraith
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), the first novel in the brilliant series that inspired the acclaimed HBO Max series C. B. Strike. 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.
- Suggested age range- Adult
- Format- Paperback
- Product dimensions- 5.5" W x 8.2" H x 1.3" D
- Genre- Mystery & thriller
- Publisher- Little, Brown and Company, Publication date- 04-29-2014
- Page count- 480
- ISBN- 9780316206853
Web ID: 4136338
The First Novel in the Cormoran Strike Novels
I have long looked forward to reading "The Cuckoo's Calling," an adult book written by JK Rowling (under her Robert Galbraith pseudonym) of "Harry Potter" fame. I was pretty disheartened by the grim lives depicted in her book "The Casual Vacancy," and feel the same way about "Cuckoo" -- Rowling seems to delight in depicting the seamier sides of people's lives in her adult novels. In this one, Cormoran Strike is a down-on-his-luck ex-army boxer, now turned private eye after having part of his leg blown off in Afghanistan. The novel begins w/ his girlfriend storming out of his office, nearly bowling over Robin, an assistant sent to Strike's office from a temp agency. Robin is newly engaged and quite pretty. Strike doesn't particularly notice, b/c he can't afford an assistant at all, especially since he is months behind on paying off a loan (from his rock-star father. Interesting family history for sure!), and has been reduced to sleeping in his office, since the girlfriend broke up with him. A wealthy lawyer, adopted son of an aristocrat, comes into the office wanting Strike to investigate his sister's "suicide" from a few months earlier. His sister is Lula Landry, a world-famous supermodel. He is convinced that his sister did not jump off her balcony, but was pushed instead. Strike takes the case, and he and Robin begin trying to unravel the mystery behind Lula's death. Of course, all Lula's friends are unreliable witnesses, either involved in the fashion industry themselves or hangers-on, fascinated by celebrity. So, solving murder-vs-suicide is like peeling the layers of an onion. As readers, we get to see the drug-addled seamy side of the fashion industry, and personally, I felt sorrier and sorrier for Lula. Will Robin leave the temp agency to work for Strike? Was Lula murdered after all? How does Strike figure it all out? Read the first novel in the Cormoran Strike series to find out. I'll definitely be reading the next one, even though I prefer the more idyllic environment of Hogwarts to modern-day London in Rowling's books.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Great storytelling and plot twists
Great story, great character development. And of course unexpected plot twists!!!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com