review written by Babs Simpson & read live on the bookshow 12th March 2015.
In case you didn't know, Robert Galbraith is actually J K Rowling who wanted to write something completely different after the end of Harry Potter. Her first attempt 'The Casual Vacancy' received mixed reviews (tv version was ghastly) so she turned to crime fiction under this pseudonym, with the Cuckoos Calling. This is her second book to feature the PI Cormoran Strike and it is excellent.
It is set in London in the world of publishing and authors and starts when Strike, a former soldier who lost a leg in Afghanistan, is hire by Leonora, wife of novelist Owen Quine, to find him. He has been missing for a few days and Leonora needs him home. They have a grown up daughter with special needs requiring a lot of time and attention.
Cormoran soon discovers that Owen Quine had just completed a new novel - an allegory full of thinly disguised characters from the world of publishing that, if released to the public domain, would be a huge embarassment to many people.
Then Strike finds Quines body. He has been murdered and mutiliated in a most horrible, sickening and sadistic way that he later finds out is copied from Quines own book.
The police are convinced that Quine's wife is the killer but Strike is not and eventually, with the help of his keen assistant Robin, and others, the real killer is uncovered.
JK Rowling is brilliant. She writes with complete authority. Her characters live and almost leap off the page, the story is exciting, the description of London in a cold snowy winter stirred so many memories for me and CS is somone I can't wait to meet again.
This is a terrific, exciting, involving and brilliant read.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment