It is only now that I have read The Cuckoo's Calling that I have found out that the legend J.K Rowling has written this novel using the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. I have found this story faultless from the very first sentence to the very last. I found all the characters that were realist with voices that are so well polished you can actually hear them and visualise them. J.K Rowling is a perfectionist for sharp detail. This refreshingly story centres around a rich and beautiful young model Lula Landry who committed suiced off her penthouse appartment balconie. On a bitterly cold snowy night with sub-zero temperature at two in the morning Lula Landry falls to her death from her penthouse balconie into the middle of the road. The police tape off the area treating it like a murder scene. John Bristow Lula's brother has his doubts that Lula just fell of from her balconie he believes it was murder and visits private detective Cormoran Strike to investigate.The story takes you deeper and deeper. The Cuckoo's Calling is a brilliant private detective story with beauty and horror. I recommend this compulsively novel to readers who like a whodunnit. I do hope that many readers will enjoy reading The Cuckoo's Calling as much as I have.

This book was amazing! From start to finish it gripped my attention in every chapter with its mystery making you wonder ‘who did it?’ and even getting you to then second guess your own deductions as the story goes on with its great twists and turns which to me is exactly what you’d want from a crime fiction story. The world this story creates is so realistic which is incredibly written in superb detail. The characters are well grounded making it seem like they could genuinely be someone you see/meet on the street, without going into spoiler territory I’d like to mention the main character of Strike, the private detective in this story, he is fantastically written and feels human in the sense that he is just like you and me, a person with flaws who is going about his day-to-day life just trying to make his way in life. Another character I’d like to mention is a supporting female character who is also amazingly written and comes into her stride in the story as a strong independent woman with great initiative and wit. A thing I really liked in this book was the victim of this story as they weren’t just written as the typical victim but actually a character in their own right which was well flushed out and told throughout the book. Admittedly I have only just got back into reading and this is the first book I chose to read after a friend suggested it and what a book this was! It honestly took me by surprise with how good this truly was, it was FANTASTIC especially after one particular twist and when all the pieces of the puzzle came together, I literally couldn’t stop reading till the end and look forward to reading the next instalment of this series! I highly recommend this book to anyone looking into getting back into or starting reading or if you’ve never really dabbled in the crime fiction genre, I could not recommend this enough as an introduction into the genre.

I absolutely loved this, I went in completely blind not having seen the BBC series and not even realising the Galbraith was Rowling! I literally could not put the book down read it in 2 sittings and was totally gripped at the ending, it has left me wanting more.

This is the first of the Cormoran Strike novels written by JK Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The story revolves around a beautiful troubled model Lula Landry who one cold snowy winters night falls from the balcony of her penthouse London flat. Was it suicide or was she pushed? Her brother John Bristow is convinced she was murdered and employs the services of Private Investigator Cormoran Strike to uncover the perpetrator.In Cormoran Strike we have a wonderful fictional detective, even his offices with a steel spiral staircase and unfashionable London location has a touch of Philip Marlowe, Chandler's finest creation. Strike is a man who is deeply scared both mentally and physically by his experiences in war torn Afghanistan. His right leg below the knee is missing the result of an improvised explosive device (IED) when he also saved the life of one of his comrades. The pain from his missing limb is a constant reminder of the hell of Helmand province. His childhood was no less traumatic, living in squats with his drug addicted mother Leda and rarely seeing his rock star father Jonny Rokeby Strike has acquired a new secretary Robin and it soon becomes clear that this highly intelligent woman is a golden asset in the disorganized lifestyle that our PI leads. Although Robin is engaged to the controlling Mathew there is certainly an attraction between this ambitious lady and her older damaged employer. Strike is aware of this danger but he cannot help himself admiring the beauty and intelligence displayed before him..."but having normal sight and an unimpaired libido, he was also reminded every day she bent over the computer monitor that she was a very sexy girl.".. A good crime author will always attempt to shield the identity of the killer until the final chapters and Robert Galbraith is a master of illusion and deception. The reader is taken on a descriptive journey through the beating heart of London where..."its colourful windows displayed a multitudinous mess of life's unnecessities"....and on that journey an eclectic mix of characters is on show including the extravagant camp designer Guy Some...."nearly a foot shorter than Strike and had perhaps a hundredth of his body hair. The front of the designers tight black T-shirt was decorated with hundreds of tiny silver studs which formed an apparently three-dimensional image of Elvis's face"...and Lula's birth mother Marlene Higson..."she was wearing a pink Lycra vest top under a zip-up grey hoodie, and leggings that ended inches above her grey-white ankles. There were grubby flip-flops on her feet and many gold rings on her fingers; her yellow hair, with its inches of greying brown root, was pulled back into a dirty towelling scrunchie"..... I must confess that I have managed to read the 3 books in the series out of order but that has certainly not ruined my enjoyment. The writing is of the highest quality and it has been a great adventure discovering the complicated background of Cormoran Strike and his beautiful assistant Robin. The dynamics of this relationship is something that Galbraith explores in more detail in the later books and it all adds to the excitement of this highly accomplished beautifully written novel.

I'll admit I came to this because of the author. I loved j k Rowling's Harry Potter books but had reservations about this series as I struggled with the casual vacancy. Thankfully I didn't need to worry. The writing is excellent as usual with Rowling and her grasp of character shines through. There will be no plot details given as I don't like to do that. What I will say is that this first book in the series is brilliant. It's all about character, something Rowling excels at. Strike and Robin are a great team and all of the characters around them are well drawn. It's a great story as well. There is a lot of swearing so if you have younger potter fans in the house you may want to make them wait awhile before letting them read this series. I'm not a big fan of most modern day crime/thrillers. I prefer older crime. From Christie, through George bellairs, colin dexter up to ann cleeves with many inbetween. The strike series reminds me of Agatha Christie in some ways. Character drives the stories and I rather like that. The "Robert Galbraith" books are great. I described them once to a friend as "Christie with swearing. " I can't think of higher praise for a crime writer than to be up there with Christie.