But it’s not Harry Potter.
The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith is a fun crime/mystery novel. It kept me engaged, turning the page, and wondering what’s next. Strike and his smart secretary are a great detective team. Obviously JK Rowling knows how to write, but it’s not Harry Potter.
CAUTION. SPOILERS, MY ISSUES & QUESTIONS BELOW.
What I don’t understand, my big question, is that if Charlie Bristow is the one who killed Lula Landry all along, then why did he even bother with an investigation, which is the entire plot of the novel?! If he didn’t beg a private detective to investigate his adopted sister’s death, then he would have completely gotten away with it. After I finished the last page this is the what I could not comprehend. I kept trying to come up with some psychological issue that makes sense, why the character would want to have his crimes known, but I have nothing. Nothing.
My other issue involves the mechanics of mystery novels. Once Strike starts figuring out the case, you know that he is getting closer, but you don’t know how. Certain statements make you feel as if you missed something in the reading. When you go back and re-read to see what you just missed, it seems as if you were supposed to connect the dots somewhere and know what Strike was thinking, but the clues weren’t strong enough for the reader. He has observations and gains small pieces of information here and there, but you don’t see how they all fit together until the very end. (Is that how mystery novels work?) Strike has to do a lot of creative thinking and make a lot of assumptions. If these excessive amounts of assumptions are correct, combined with the few pieces of evidence he finds at the end, then it all makes sense. He is either one lucky or talented detective.
Rating: 3 Teeth
Because it was an engaging read, I did start reading The Silkworm, book 2 in the Cormoran Strike series. I read the first 50% in a few days, the next 25% over the past few months, and the last 25% remains unread. I got bored. I will finish reading the book eventually. Don’t expect a post. This is it.