As with every other J. K. Rowling book I’ve read, I couldn’t put The Cuckoo’s Calling down. I suppose I should clarify, for anyone who doesn’t know, that Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym of Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling. Rowling definitely has a way of writing that seems to increase my reading speed. Her writing flows incredibly well, there are no hard to fathom sentences, no unnecessary additions. It is written economically and simply – and it works.
Illustration: Matt Blease
I’ve never really read a crime novel before, assuming, perhaps wrongly, that they weren’t really my cup of tea. I think the closest I’ve ever come to the crime genre is Daphne du Maurier or, perhaps, An Inspector Calls or To Kill A Mockingbird both of which I studied for my GCSEs aged just sixteen. I really enjoyed The Cuckoo’s Calling, it is written with a very matter-of-fact tone, there’s no sensationalism and the characters seem very ordinary. I think what I’d always been nervous about where crime fiction is concerned is that it wouldn’t seem real. You watch crime dramas on television and the people in them often seem very two-dimensional. Much as I enjoy and am entertained by dramas such as Midsomer Murders and Jonathan Creek they have never seemed particularly credible to me. Thankfully, I did not find this with The Cuckoo’s Calling. Continue reading
In my good books... 