Sunday, November 17, 2019

Book Review: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo's Calling
Author: Robert Galbraith
Series: Cormoran Strike (Book 1)
Publication: Mulholland Books; First Edition edition (April 30, 2013)

Description: A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

My Thoughts: This book introduces detective Cormoran Strike. When the story begins, he has just broken up with his long-time girlfriend and is living in his office. He has only one client and is deeply in debt. He is also dealing with the loss of his lower leg in Afghanistan and the loss of his military career. He's hiding from creditors and wondering about his future.

When John Bristow walks in the door and wants to hire him to investigate the death of his sister supermodel Lula Landry, Strike wants to refuse. After all, the police believe it was a suicide. But a connection to a brother of Bristow's who died as a child and who was a schoolmate of Strike's makes him take the case.

The more he investigates, the more he gets involved in the drug-fueled world that Lula inhabited and those who want a part of it. The story was filled with twists and turns. I especially liked Strike's perseverance as he tries to untangle all the twisted threads that led to Lula's death. I liked Robin who comes in as a temporary secretary and finds that she really likes working for a detective.

This was an engaging and entertaining story and I look forward to reading more in the series. It is long but didn't read long. I was intrigued by the characters and the situations and the pages flew by.

Favorite Quote:
The dead could only speak through the mouths of those left behind, and through the signs they left scattered behind them. 
I bought this one on July 17, 2013. You can buy your copy here.

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