The Cuckoo's Calling : a review

After a three week long wait in the reservation queue at the National Library, Singapore, finally I got my hands on the famous "The Cuckoo's Calling" last month. 

For those not familiar with the book (a next to impossible feat that, given the amount of publicity it has garnered in the recent months), the book is a murder mystery, purportedly written by a unknown author, Robert Galbraith. What makes it (in)famous however, is that; after the book had been published and had barely sold 500 copies, it was revealed that the relatively unknown Robert Galbraith was none other than J. K. Rowling, the highly successful and much acclaimed author of the Harry Potter series. Once the identity of the author was known, the book immediately shot up to the top of all best seller lists, received rave reviews and became a world wide phenomenon. 

Rowling, in the Robert Galbraith website and in a tell-all interview with the Guardian, has spoken/ written at great length about why she chose to write under a pseudonym. If you are interested in reading more about it, you can follow the link here. However, this post is about the book and not about the author and her intentions, so we shall leave that issue behind and proceed ahead.

As I mentioned earlier, given all the publicity and the rave reviews this book was garnering, and given my addiction to crime fiction novels, I was extremely curious to find out for myself how The Cuckoo's Calling fared and whether it lived up to the expectations it had created. 

The story revolves around the death of a super model, Lula Landry, under suspicious circumstances. The police dismiss the case as that of a suicide but her brother, who remains convinced that it is a murder, calls in an ex-army policeman turned detective, Cormoran Strike, to investigate the case. What follows after, makes for the story of Rowling's first foray into crime fiction. 

Now, for starters, I must admit that inspite of all the media attention it has garnered, The Cuckoo's Calling is quite a good and interesting novel and keeps you engrossed throughout most of its 460 odd pages. 

What I loved about the book

One of the best things about the book was the characters Galbraith/Rowling introduces us to; especially that of her main protagonist, Cormoran Strike; a disabled ex-army cop with one leg. He is the illegitimate offspring of a famous rock star and a groupie-addict, and has seen more than his share of hard times, growing up. When we are introduced to him, he is trying to cope with being homeless and betrayed by the woman he loves and is struggling to keep his life and his business afloat. In every sense of the term, he is an underdog and he ends up making you root for him to succeed. 

I also enjoyed the character of Strike's smart, practical and enterprising temp, Robin, who complements Strike perfectly. While the pair may not be in the same league as Holmes and Watson or Poirot and Hastings, they make for a very formidable and enjoyable team nevertheless. The other characters, that of model Lula Landry who was adopted at birth and is looking for her roots, her designer friend, her boy-friend with the bad-boy image, the snooty high society neighbour and her lecherous husband are all sketched out beautifully. 

Now while there have been criticisms about the book being old fashioned, I think that is precisely what I loved about it. It was very refreshing to meet a detective who takes copious notes on a note pad with a pen and uses his grey cells instead of running around, brandishing hi-tech gadgets and weapons that have become the fashion statement for detectives these days. 

I also loved the way Galbraith has weaved in the celebrity-paparazzi equation and the telephone tapping scandal that rocked UK sometime back. 

What I didn't like so much

For me, the pace of the book was challenging at times. Galbraith tends to meander and also go on and on with long descriptions that are unnecessary and not to relevant to the situation at hand, leaving one wishing that the plot was more focussed and crisp.

Also none of the characters seemed sinister or driven enough to commit murder, especially if you compared them to any set of characters with motives in any Agatha Christie murder mystery. The story line therefore lacked enough "red herrings" with substantial motives that one comes to expect from a murder mystery.

However, my biggest crib with the book is that the character of the murderer is the one Galbraith/ Rowling chose to neglect the most. Even though I had managed to guess who the murderer was, well before we reached the end (an overdose of crime fiction will do that to you), I just wished there was more time spent in building the plot and the motive instead of suddenly foisting it on the reader. 

So on the whole, while I definitely do not agree with those who call Rowling to be the greatest thing to happen to detective fiction since Agatha Christie, The Cuckoo's Calling was definitely a surprisingly good and enjoyable read and fared better than my expectations. 

And yes, I cannot wait for its sequel to be out in the stores.