The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1) in 欧宝娱乐 All Sorts

Jul 20, 2013 Connie Rea rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle-purchased, muse-reviews, 2013-read, 1001musings, reviewed

Did you love watching Mike Hammer back in the day? Did Colombo melt your heart? Do you still dream of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe? I have to admit, I absolutely loved watching those types of shows. I loved the language. I loved the smokey rooms. I'm not quite sure how Galbraith has created that magic in a modern-day novel set in a modern-day London, but he has! I swear I heard those old voices in my head all throughout this novel as I read! It was surreal! I really seemed to be reading every li Did you love watching Mike Hammer back in the day? Did Colombo melt your heart? Do you still dream of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe? I have to admit, I absolutely loved watching those types of shows. I loved the language. I loved the smokey rooms. I'm not quite sure how Galbraith has created that magic in a modern-day novel set in a modern-day London, but he has! I swear I heard those old voices in my head all throughout this novel as I read! It was surreal! I really seemed to be reading every line though a smokey haze in a room with jazz music playing in the background.

This is the first novel about Cormoran Strike. A modern-day detective that fought in Afghanistan and lost a leg. He is now barely making ends meet. He has a famous father that he does not talk to. His mother is no longer living. He has recently left his long time on/off again fianc茅e. He sleeps on a camp bed in his office. His hired help is temp agent that he isn't sure how long he can afford. He sometimes drinks too much.

yea...yea...yea....sounds boring right? WRONG! There is so much more to Strike than meets the eye. There is a deep longing to know more about him. He keeps to himself. You can't help but be intrigued by him. You want to know what makes him tick. There is no doubt that you feel a deep-seated morality to Strike. He seems to take the high road. Yet you get the feeling that he has had to fight for that part of him for most of his life. That he has been tempted and he has resisted....but at a personal cost....you want to understand why this is. What has drove him to become the person he is...the man, that for all outward looking appearances appears to be a failure, but one that once you meet him, you know this couldn't be further from the truth....

Yes, I want to see more of this flawed mess of a man!

Okay, so you want to hear about the controversy over the whole J.K. Rowling thing? Well just forget about it! You won't find any of that here....I will say, that it gave me pause. If I hadn't known J.K. wrote it, I would have totally believed that this was written by a man. The wording just fit. She did a brilliant job with this. It just *seems* to be written in a man's style. Now having said that, and *felt* that as I was reading the novel, it gave me pause...Do men and women write differently? Do we perceive their writing styles differently? Of course I am generalising here...but on the whole, do they? Before reading this novel, I would have automatically said no....but now I am not so sure...and since this was, in fact, written by a woman, isn't that just silly?

I hope Galbraith sticks around. I hope he writes a few more in this series. I *really* want to get to the "inner tickings" of Strike and I want to see where the relationship between him and his secretary goes.... ...more

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Aug 30, 2013 Katie rated it really liked it

Shelves: library, length-novel, kindle, 2013-a-z-challenge, mystery-crime-procedural-court

Honestly, I don't get why I liked this books so much. It did two things that I normally hate when authors do (huge dialog chunks and a lot of description), but in this book it really worked! It was an engaging mystery with strong characters. I liked it and hope there is another one in the series. I highlighted so many quotes in this book! ...more

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Jul 17, 2013 Simonne Lambert rated it it was amazing

I downloaded this book because it sounded interesting. I didn't know it was written under a pseudonym. I loved the main character Cormoran Strike. Found the storyline and the characters well developed and his interaction with his temp endearing. Hope she writes more novels featuring this detective. ...more

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Jul 19, 2013 Michael rated it liked it

Shelves: this-years-books, novels, contemporary

I liked this book more so then the 3 star that 欧宝娱乐 limits me to.
I would say 3.5.

First I may have read 2 other mystery in my reading life so I went into this as I do every book which is tell me a story and make it good. That is all I ask for my time. So I was never thinking well who did it.

I felt the writing was enjoyable and familiar, but that maybe just that we now know the writer. The book was predictable in the here the story, here are the players, here is what we know, and now here t ...more

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Dec 10, 2013 Allison Mccandless rated it really liked it

Ok, so Rowling is a mad genius with words. She is one brilliant lady. But this book of hers for some reason didn't hit the same mark as her others. It is still a fun read, very well written characters, etc. that mark a Rowling book, but it is missing something. Maybe this genre is more difficult for her than her previous books. ...more

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