Cuckoo's Calling? (NS)

SusieBW · May 2014

Is it really any good? I like crime novels, but I tend to lean toward sort of gritty crime novels - Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane, Ken Bruen - how does this measure up? The reviews I saw on GR seem pretty mixed and some of them make it sound sort of flowery - the opposite of the sort of crime stories I'm drawn to.

I picked it up from the library on title alone, because I know I've seen the title kicked around on NBC. It wasn't until I got home that I realized that 1) it's a crime story, and 2) it's by JK Rowling. I'm not a Harry Potter fan, but I fully acknowledge the quality of those books and Rowling's ridiculous talent as a writer. They're just not my style.

RevJen · May 2014

It's a completely different feel from HP and from The Casual Vacancy. It's not flowery at all. It's a nice whodunit. Just bear in mind that this is the introduction of the main characters so there's a lot of world building in it.

cnthrdlywt2bwZ · May 2014

I liked it more than I expected. I wouldnt say flowery but I wouldn't call it gritty either.

booneybear · May 2014

I was not a fan. I thought it was weak and the 'mystery' was unsuspenseful.

ILoveNG · May 2014

It was good, not great, in my opinion. The 'mystery' was pretty weak, but I liked the characters.

packfan20 · May 2014

I'm with @booneybear‌. I thought the characters were boring and it was not entertaining at all.

Jen748 · May 2014

I liked it a lot. The first chunk was slow for me, but after that it picked up and I was enthralled.

j*&p* · May 2014

I was mildly entertained by the beginning even though it was sort of slow, but my library loan expired and I haven't felt any great need to pick it back up.

jackiback · May 2014

I really liked it and thought that the MC was kind of wonderful. I thought the mystery itself wasn't super thrilling and maybe a little predictable, but I loved it nonetheless.

msmerymac · May 2014

Eh. I found it to be run-of-the-mill. But I had just finished reading Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series, which I found to be much better (from a human emotion/psychological perspective, not really grittier - I thought the Cuckoo's Calling wasn't gritty enough, nor were the characters developed enough).

mrsvedo · May 2014

Like @jackiback, I was invested in the characters but not the plot so much. The mystery picked up towards the end for me. I did enjoy the book overall.

jlq2005 · May 2014

I started it, got like 100 pages in, decided it sucked and stopped reading.

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