Okay - so I read The Cuckoo's Calling AFTER the unmasking of J.K. Rowling as the author (writing under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith). It was OK. I like a good murder mystery as much as the next reader. And this was exactly that. A good murder mystery. It wasn't groundbreaking and if J.K. Rowling hadn't written it (and garnered so much media attention with her accidental unmasking), I may not have picked it up at all. It keep me engaged until the end. The detective and his sidekick presented a new twist on the genre - I haven't seen a pair quite like this one before. There was nothing outstanding about them as characters, but they were engaging enough to keep me reading. The world of celebrity and the paparazzi was a nice choice for setting and made for an intriguing mystery. Some of the vernacular speech patterns, particularly of the lower class characters, became a little annoying at times, but they weren't terrible. I think the writing style here, for me at least, fell somewhere between Agatha Christie and Elizabeth George. The writing here is "almost literary" like George, but also has those tongue-in-cheek hints of the author taunting the reader about "whodunnit" (like Christie). And when the detective toward the end starts hinting strongly that he knows who the killer is, but the reader doesn't at this point, it's almost like a TV show "whodunnit" where the writer is goading us to try to best the detective, although he seems to have a LOT more clues than we do. Or maybe that's just sour grapes because I didn't guess the murderer.
My only real problem with the book was that it took quite a while to get going. The first third or so really repeated the same information over and over without getting into anything new, so by the time new characters and clues were flying the book felt kind of over-balanced. That said, this book does show Rowling's impressive versatility as a writer. I don't know how many writers who create wonderful children's fantasy can also turn their hand to good old fashioned murder mystery plotting. And my hat is definitely off to Rowling for keeping on writing and trying her hand at new things. It's a shame when terrific writers hit the jackpot with a series and then sit back on their laurels and don't do anything else. I'm so glad Rowling is still writing and is challenging herself with new projects. I hope she tries many more new things.
My only real problem with the book was that it took quite a while to get going. The first third or so really repeated the same information over and over without getting into anything new, so by the time new characters and clues were flying the book felt kind of over-balanced. That said, this book does show Rowling's impressive versatility as a writer. I don't know how many writers who create wonderful children's fantasy can also turn their hand to good old fashioned murder mystery plotting. And my hat is definitely off to Rowling for keeping on writing and trying her hand at new things. It's a shame when terrific writers hit the jackpot with a series and then sit back on their laurels and don't do anything else. I'm so glad Rowling is still writing and is challenging herself with new projects. I hope she tries many more new things.
RSS Feed