The Cuckoo’s Calling

by Robert Galbraith

To purchase this novel or to find more information, you can visit Amazon.

Amazon Prices:

Paperback: $18.00

Hardcover: $28.00

Kindle: $10.99 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited)

Audible: $20.67 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited)

Before Reading Facts:

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith was published in 2013 by Mulholland Books.

Page Count: 480 pages (paperback) 464 (hardcover) 561 (kindle)

Audiobook length: 15 hrs 54 mins

Chapters: N/A – Separated into 5 parts (Chapters per part numbered)

Language: English (also available in the following translation: Bulgarian, Catalan, Dutch, French, Italian, German, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish)

Summary of Book:

“When a troubled supermodel falls to her death from the balcony of her London home, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts and calls in private detective Cormoran Strike to investigate.

Strike is a war veteran–wounded both physically and psychologically–and his private life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model’s world, the darker things get and the closer he comes to terrible danger.” -Mulholland Books

Author Biography:

“Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike series is classic contemporary crime fiction from a master story-teller, rich in plot, characterisation and detail. Galbraith’s debut into crime fiction garnered acclaim amongst critics and crime fans alike. The first three novels The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014) and Career of Evil (2015) all topped the national and international bestseller lists and have been adapted for television, produced by Brontë Film and Television. The fourth in the series, Lethal White (2018), is out now.

Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym of J.K. Rowling, bestselling author of the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults. After Harry Potter, the author chose crime fiction for her next books, a genre she has always loved as a reader. She wanted to write a contemporary whodunit, with a credible back story. J.K. Rowling’s original intention for writing as Robert Galbraith was for the books to be judged on their own merit, and to establish Galbraith as a well-regarded name in crime in its own right.

Now Robert Galbraith’s true identity is widely known, J.K. Rowling continues to write the crime series under the Galbraith pseudonym to keep the distinction from her other writing and so people will know what to expect from a Cormoran Strike novel.” -Amazon

Book Review:

Overall Book Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

This book has been on my shelf for years now. I never really had much interest in picking it up since I had other books that I really wanted to read. After getting through a good chunk of the books on my TBR list and on my bookshelves, I finally decided to give this book a chance and give it a go.

This story starts out really slow to me. I found myself wondering when we would get to the good part. The characters themselves didn’t draw me in. They were developed very well; I just simply did not latch on to any of them. That made my reading experience fairly dreadful. I usually don’t read detective stories/mysteries/thrillers for that very reason. I don’t know why but usually the characters don’t draw me in. This was one of those.

This book is not in a genre that I tend to read, but I did recently read another thriller just before reading this one. I read Watching You by Lisa Jewell. Compared to the way Jewell tells her story versus Galbraith, I very much enjoyed Jewell’s writing over Galbraith. I think that maybe after reading Jewell, I may have expected a similar set of characters in this book. I quickly had to remind myself that Watching You was not from the detective’s perspective like how The Cuckoo’s Calling was.

I would have to read more mysteries, thrillers, and suspense to give the genre a chance. I don’t know if I will pick up the next books in this series. I may start with more writing from Jewell and then after having read some more from that author, jump back to this series. I very much enjoyed the interactions between the characters and the interviews Strikes conducted. They were written phenomenally. Those conversations and scenes kept me invested enough to get through the story. The actual mystery itself did not. I was very must disinterested in the plot.

Audible Review:

Narration Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

Narration by Robert Glenister

Glenister’s narration at 1.0 speed was too slow for me. At 1.25 speed, I enjoyed his narration more but was still fairly slow for me. I had to listen to his narration at least at a 1.50 speed. For those of us who like to multitask and listen on the go, I recommend listening at at either a 1.50 or 1.75 speed so one does not miss anything. For those who are listening while reading the book, I found 2.0 and 2.5 speed to be the best speeds. 3.0 and 3.5 speed was too fast for me, and I was missing a lot of what the narrator was saying and had to eventually slow down the narrator’s reading speed.

Other works by this Author:

Cormoran Strike Series