Refreshingly pithy…a review of The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith.

As more regular readers will know, I reviewed The Cuckoo’s Calling (the first in Galbraith’s Cormoron Strike novels) back in April last year and thoroughly enjoyed it; so, when I heard that a second book was coming out I knew that it had to go on my ‘to read’ list. Sometimes when you read a good book and then hear about a sequel you can feel a little apprehensive – unsure whether the author will be able to work the same magic a second time, or wondering if the premise of the story will stretch to a second novel – not so with Galbraith (or should I say J. K. Rowling as she was unmasked as its author shortly after the publication of the first book).

I never had concerns about The Silkworm, feeling that with Rowling I was undoubtedly in safe hands. I wasn’t disappointed. Just like A Cuckoo’s Calling, I was totally gripped by The Silkworm and tore through its pages at an alarming rate. Rowling’s writing, whatever her subject, has the smoothest flow to it, it’s never clunky or overly wordy. Rather like the smooth pints of ale her hero likes to consume, her prose streams cooly from the page to your brain with very little effort on your part and leaves you feeling refreshed. I think, for me, ‘refreshing’ very much hits the nail on the head for how I would describe Rowling’s writing. It is such an uninterrupted easy read; and I have found this to be true with every book of hers I’ve ever read – from Harry Potter to The Casual Vacancy, each book is imbued with her beautifully flowing, concise style. 

A web well woven…a review of The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith.

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.