Book Review – The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

Trigger Warning: The book (and therefore this post) includes references to suicide and death.

Review Summary for busy people

Not for me – I felt the story lacked suspense and characters I could connect with, and was too clichéd to stand out.

there wasn’t enough happening in the story to keep me interested, leaving it lacking in suspense“

Intro

Hello there! Thank you for joining me here for a new book review – I confess it has been a while since I last posted. In fact, it has been a while since I last wrote something that wasn’t for work and, to change that, I have been planning new routines to get back into writing. So you may be hearing a lot more from me over the coming months (whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you!).

Today’s post is a review of The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith, which was chosen by my workplace’s book club. It isn’t often that I read a crime novel, though I used to binge-read them as a teenager, so I was actually quite looking forward to getting back into the genre and seeing what I had been missing out on – So, let’s get into the review!

Story Summary

Most of us can only ever imagine what life as a rich celebrity in London is like. We might imagine the extravagances they spend their money on without a second of thought, the kind of wild parties they might attend, or questionable actions that the less privileged would never get away with. Luna Landry, however, didn’t have to imagine. Luna, born to a neglectful mother and the product of a one-night stand, got her first insight into the life of the wealthy when she was adopted by Sir and Lady Bristow, and more so when she became one of London’s most loved models. Unfortunately, she could not handle the pressure, her fame sending her further into despair until she couldn’t take it anymore, and jumped from her balcony into the snow below… Or did she?

The world has accepted Lula’s death as suicide, but John Bristow, her older adoptive brother, has not. He thinks someone is hiding a secret and hires Strike, a private detective whose life and business has hit rock bottom, to investigate the alleged murder of Lula Landry. This could be Strike’s last chance to save his business, and John Bristow’s last chance at finding the truth behind his sister’s death.

For once, Strike is not having to go through this alone. Robin, the new temp worker is keen, bright, and hard-working, and has secret always dreamed of being an investigator. Now that her dream has come true, she will defy her boyfriend, her own expectations, and even her own boss to hunt down the killer (if there even is one).

What I thought

I had read/heard good things about the Robert Galbraith books and, as I hadn’t read any crime novels for a while, I was looking forward to reading The Cuckoo’s Calling and really wanted to like the book… Unfortunately, it wasn’t for me, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I felt that there wasn’t enough happening in the story to keep me interested, leaving it lacking in suspense. There was a lot of interviewing, gathering evidence, and reflecting on past events, but very few twists and turns and barely any action. When I have read crime novels previously, my favourite part of the stories is the tension it creates, building up gradually until I am desperate to find out who the killer is and what will happen. Whereas, if it wasn’t for my work’s book club, I would probably have DNF’d this book about halfway through.

Secondly, there was a lot that I felt was quite clichéd – Things that I have seen/read far too often in other crime/detective novels and programmes for this one to stand out. For example, the detective who was once in the army, but has suffered his fair share of trauma and now has no home to go to, and drinks his problems away at the local tavern. Or the side-kick who has sat in other people’s shadows for too long, never being allowed to make the most of her talents but is now keen to show what she can do. I even found the ending clichéd (though I won’t say anything more for fear of spoilers!). As such, I felt the story felt like something I had already read and lacked excitement as a result.

Thirdly, no matter how hard I tried, I could not connect or sympathise with Strike. I think this was because we don’t get to know much about Strike as a person. We do hear about the traumatic events in his past, though these are repeated far too often to the point of becoming quite stale. The traumatic events could have been a good way of explaining Strike’s personality, if only we got to see what his personality actually was. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that we got to see enough of his character to properly empathise with him.

Conclusion / Next time

I hope you enjoyed reading this review (even if it was of a book which wasn’t for me) – If you have any questions or suggestions, or wish to share your views, then please feel free to do so either on the social media pages or in the comments below.

In the meantime, I look forward to bringing you my next book review – The Sanctuary by Andrew Hunter Murray, in a couple weeks’ time – A book which I am excited to give my review on (I also reviewed Andrew Hunter Murray’s previous book which you can find here: https://tbt.art.blog/2022/04/11/the-last-day-by-andrew-hunter-murray-book-review/).

For now, enjoy your hot drinks and books, and I will be back with more soon 🙂

TBT