The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)

In The Cuckoo's Calling, Cormoran Strike is a private investigator. Things aren't going well for him at the moment. He's living in his office because of a recent breakup with his girlfriend, and creditors are chomping at the bit for payment. Then, John Bristow walks into his office. Bristow's sister, a famous supermodel, had reportedly committed suicide months before, but John refuses to believe it. He wants Strike to look into it and prove the police wrong.

I can't tell you how much I loved this book. It really was superb! While the story was pretty amazing, it was the characters in this one that kept me interested until the very end.

Rowling created two absolutely brilliant main characters: Cormoran and Robin. First of all, there was Cormoran Strike: great name, great character!! A wounded veteran of the war in Afghanistan, Strike was too proud to tell people he was living in his office, yet he wasn't in a position to change it. In many ways, I felt sorry for him. That's no way for anyone to live. At times it doesn't look like he's going to succeed, yet somehow he makes the best of his situation and does. He's definitely not like any other private detective I've read about.

Robin Ellacott was the other main character. She was supposed to be a temporary secretary, one that Strike couldn't afford, but she was brilliant, falling in step with Strike like they'd been working together for years. She was awesome!

As I said the story was wonderful, too. The mystery is intricate, but not so much that it's hard to follow along. Also, the reader also gets to see a different side of the rich and famous, not just the glitz and glamour.

I have mixed feelings about knowing beforehand this was written by J.K. Rowling. On one hand, I read and adored her other adult book The Casual Vacancy, so I was betting that I was going to love this one, too. However, that may have left me biased. On the other hand, if I hadn't known that the writer was Rowling, I probably wouldn't have picked it up and would have missed an outstanding book.

Highly recommended. I hope she writes many more books.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit Hachette's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at Hachette Book Group Canada for this review copy.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling), Mulholland Books (Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group) ©2013. ISBN 9780316206846(Hardcover), 455p.