The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike)
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.
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Community Reviews
At first I wasn't sure the plot because the last book I read had a similar starlet dies but turns out to be murder. As I went on and got more invested in Striker and Rachel the better the story came and the conclusion was very satisfying as well.
The story was great with lots of twists and turns. I like a mystery that I haven't figured out by half way through the book. However, it was a little tedious in spots and sometimes the phrasing was a little predictable.
1/4/19: I'm changing my review to 3.5 stars rounded down to 3 on reread. I reread this because I need to read the 3rd and 4th in the series, but I've forgotten the first two in the series. Although I still enjoyed the book and all the clues and twists and turns a lot, it's not as good as some other mysteries that I've read before, especially in the first half like I mentioned in my review last time. And again, I wanted more Robin. I mean I guess the series is called the Cormoran Strike series, but I did want more balance with the Holmes to Strike's Sherlock.
3/10/16: Although the beginning of this book was a bit slow to start with and had some unnecessary scenes (as most people have mentioned), by the halfway point, it was much better and actually starting hitting its stride. It would have been better if the line of tension could have been kept the whole way through from start to finish, but I enjoyed this a lot and I actually ended up changing my original rating estimate from a 3.5 to a 4 by the end. It was your typical murder mystery without anything particularly setting it apart from any other murder mystery by any other author, but it was an enjoyable read and I liked following all the clues. I wish that Robin could have featured more prominently because she seems so awesome and smart and determined. I want her to be a proper partner with Strike and not just a secretary, though maybe that's what the books will work towards later on. Regardless, I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.
3/10/16: Although the beginning of this book was a bit slow to start with and had some unnecessary scenes (as most people have mentioned), by the halfway point, it was much better and actually starting hitting its stride. It would have been better if the line of tension could have been kept the whole way through from start to finish, but I enjoyed this a lot and I actually ended up changing my original rating estimate from a 3.5 to a 4 by the end. It was your typical murder mystery without anything particularly setting it apart from any other murder mystery by any other author, but it was an enjoyable read and I liked following all the clues. I wish that Robin could have featured more prominently because she seems so awesome and smart and determined. I want her to be a proper partner with Strike and not just a secretary, though maybe that's what the books will work towards later on. Regardless, I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.
It's a good book. It doesn't drag on forever, the conclusion comes almost too quickly. I feel like I knew who is the killer was, but the detective really has it more detailed. Psychopath of course.
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