The Cukoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
Even I can't resist a good headline. When I heard that The Cukoo's Calling had been written by J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym, I had to read it. I am not usually drawn to what is on the top of the New York Times Bestseller list, instead choosing to indulge my own eclectic tastes, but I adore Harry Potter. I figured I might as well get in on the action to see what all the fuss is about.
Supermodel, Lula Landry falls out the window of her London flat into the snow. Comoran Strike, a down and out private detective is hired by Lula's brother to prove she did not commit suicide as the police have ruled. Strike, anxious to have a paying customer, jumps into the investigation.
Mysteries are not usually my thing. The death happens on page one and I had to swim upstream through 400 pages to find out who did it. I tired of Strike interviewing one person and each subsequent chapter detailing the same question and answer with the next character. And so on and so on. To me as a reader I didn't feel the questioning moved the story forward. By the time I got to the end I really wasn't surprised, but I failed to understand how Strike came to his conclusion. Maybe because I was bored, I skipped over the parts I should have paid attention to.
J.K. Rowling is a masterful writer. Her descriptions and scenes come to life through her prose. The Cukoo's Calling is filled with vibrant and colorful characters. The story they were a part of, unfortunately, plodded along because of the large portions of dialogue necessary for a crime investigation.
I wasted my vacation on this novel. From now on, I'm going to select my reading material based on what appeals to me, and not rely on the newspaper's headlines. Come to think of it, I was disappointed on how Harry Potter ended too.
Even I can't resist a good headline. When I heard that The Cukoo's Calling had been written by J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym, I had to read it. I am not usually drawn to what is on the top of the New York Times Bestseller list, instead choosing to indulge my own eclectic tastes, but I adore Harry Potter. I figured I might as well get in on the action to see what all the fuss is about.
Supermodel, Lula Landry falls out the window of her London flat into the snow. Comoran Strike, a down and out private detective is hired by Lula's brother to prove she did not commit suicide as the police have ruled. Strike, anxious to have a paying customer, jumps into the investigation.
Mysteries are not usually my thing. The death happens on page one and I had to swim upstream through 400 pages to find out who did it. I tired of Strike interviewing one person and each subsequent chapter detailing the same question and answer with the next character. And so on and so on. To me as a reader I didn't feel the questioning moved the story forward. By the time I got to the end I really wasn't surprised, but I failed to understand how Strike came to his conclusion. Maybe because I was bored, I skipped over the parts I should have paid attention to.
J.K. Rowling is a masterful writer. Her descriptions and scenes come to life through her prose. The Cukoo's Calling is filled with vibrant and colorful characters. The story they were a part of, unfortunately, plodded along because of the large portions of dialogue necessary for a crime investigation.
I wasted my vacation on this novel. From now on, I'm going to select my reading material based on what appeals to me, and not rely on the newspaper's headlines. Come to think of it, I was disappointed on how Harry Potter ended too.
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