The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

[Autumn]

I see these books are being adapted into a BBC adaptation, so I will need to get a wriggle on and find the time to read them.  I've put it off so far because although I adore the Harry Potter series I really struggled with The Casual Vacancy and didn't get past the first chapter.  Hopefully that won't be the case with these books.

[Madeleine]

I've read the first one and enjoyed it, I agree the best things in it are Strike and Robin, it will be interesting to see how their relationship develops.

[MattG]

Hi everyone,

 

Well I picked up The Silkworm (the second book in the Cormoran Strike series) a few weeks ago in the second hands book case at my local supermarket. I didn't even realise then that the "author" Robert Galbraith is JK Rowling under a pseudonym!

 

I finished this last night and all I can say is it's fantastic! The storyline, is awesome, it centres on Cormoran's (a fast and loose ex-soldier with a prosthesis turned private detective) latest case: an author's disappearance as reported by his wife. It appears that the author's latest book, is a very surreal plot in which his family, friends and associates are portrayed as ghastly (often sexually deviant) characters whose real-life hangups are graphically revealed to the readers.....creating a number of enemies...that it comes as no surprise that his brutally murdered body is subsequently discovered.

 

All the characters are great especially Cormoran and Robin.

 

Only sad that I wasn't able to tackle the series in order, and needless to say the first and third books are now on my TBR!

[Kafka On The Shore]

I read this a couple of years ago and I really enjoyed it.

[MattG]

I read this a couple of years ago and I really enjoyed it.

Yes, how the plot towards the end is progressed kept my heart racing. And even the subsidary characters that JKR develops, the ones in the publishing firm, the policeman's family, the other PI contacts, are fascinating. It's my fave fiction book for this year.

[Louise56]

It was okay, but rather too easy to guess whodunnit and why. The solution bore a rather strong resemblance to an older murder mystery i had read, and i saw it coming,

[Nigel]

I was given this book and have about 100 pages left to read. I must say, I originally found it to be a real page turner, but now almost a page skipper. I find the prolific swearing off-putting and to read 3 or 4 'F' words in one sentence too much! I find the characters (Guy Sommé, in particular) to be so over the top to be believable. Strike and particularly Robin I have warmed to, but really can't wait to finish it! I won't be reading any more of Rowlings 'adult' books, and feel that she is trying to look like a grown-up author who can write more than books aimed at children. Hence the vast amount of swearing!

 

I have just found this forum (after Googling some Dicken's) and look forward to having a good look around.

[Madeleine]

I agree with you about the swearing in this book, it was a bit much!  However I've just read the second book (The Silkworm) and although a bit gruesome there's much less swearing (still a bit, but nothing like the first book -  I wonder if she got told to tone it down a bit) and Robin and Cormoran both develop much more as characters.  Might be worth a try?

[Nigel]

Thanks, Madeleine. I finished it yesterday and it (the story) did get better towards the end - it even had me eager to turn the pages again! I don't rate it as highly as most, I find Peter James to be a far superior writer. I love the Roy Grace crime novels. I probably need to read an Agatha Christie now!

[Virginia]

If you thought the first two books where full of cursing and disturbing images, the last book A Career In Evil is indescribable (for me anyway). So much so that I find myself following a pattern when reading this work. When I first picked it up, I could only do a couple of chapters before returning it to the library. The second time I managed to get half way through it but had to return it at a crucial point. I also needed to put time and space between me and the book. I'll go renew it next month some time to finish it. If I didn't it would be an evil on overload.

 

[itsmeagain]

On 3/16/2017 at 5:50 AM, Louise56 said:

It was okay, but rather too easy to guess whodunnit and why. The solution bore a rather strong resemblance to an older murder mystery i had read, and i saw it coming,

It is a very poor plot, main plus for me was I was in hysterics when the author's publisher, the tobacco fumed old bat, nearly expired during the course of a coughing fit , talking to Strike.

Edited July 1, 2023 by itsmeagain