Book Review of " The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith " and A Book Giveaway

Title: The Cuckoo's Calling

Author: J.K Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith

About the story: When the gorgeous and successful super-model, Lula Landry, falls to her death on a cold wintry morning from her flat in Mayfair, London, everyone thinks that it’s a suicide. Everyone except for her brother, John Bristow. Even though Lula was mentally disturbed and had issues with her foster family, John steadfastly refuses to believe that Lula killed herself.

He employs the services of a war-veteran-turned-private-detective, Cormoran Strike, to investigate the case. Strike, even though initially skeptical about the case, agrees to look into it because it would help him to sustain financially. As Strike interrogates people who were close to Lula, including her maternal uncle, her neighbors, the security man at her home and her friends, he realizes that there is more to the case than what meets the eye, or what was published inordinately by the press.

What baffles Strike is the statement of Tansy Bestigui, Lula’s neighbor who lived in the flat below her, who claims that she heard Lula arguing with a man just seconds before she fell from her balcony. But police dismisses Tansy’s statement as hogwash, based on the evidence that she was under the influence of cocaine when Lula died.

What follows during the course of investigation is a series of statements from Lula’s friends and family, exposing a complex web of deceit, greed and betrayal disguised in a glamorous world of the super-model Lula Landry.

My Review: I believe that it’s not easy to spin a crime thriller that spans 400+ pages and yet makes it’s readers hang on to every word of it’s page.  But J.K. Rowling has done it with élan and aplomb. 

So we have a one-legged war veteran, unfit, grappling with his financial problem, just-out-of a stormy affair with his girlfriend, Cormoran Strike, solving the mystery around the death of the super-model, along with his competent and resourceful secretary, Robin. They make a distinct team and their interactions often put a smile on the lips of the reader.

The strength of the book rests in its plot that swings the needle of suspicion between the various members of Lula’s family and her friends in every chapter. 

The revelation that Robert Galbraith was a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling has definitely helped the sales of the book, but even otherwise, this book is one of the finest and intriguing crime novel that I have read. I am waiting for the sequel of this book, which is likely to be published early next year.

Verdict: A definite must-read, unputdownable book right from it’s first page.

Rating: 4.5/5

But wait there’s more, after reading the fantabulous book from J.K Rowling I have been in such a deliriously happy mood that I decided to host the first book giveaway at my blog.

Yay!

So I have one copy of ‘Never Mind Yaar’ by K. Mathur up for the giveaway. I received my copy from Blogadda’s Book Review Program and you can read my review of the book here.

So what are you waiting for? To participate in the giveaway you just have to leave a comment on this post and the winner will be selected by a draw and announced on 20^th October. 

*The Giveaway is available only for residents of India*