The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

Rating: 4/5

Once I found out that J.K. Rowling had released a new book, I had to get my hands on it immediately. Unfortunately for me, all of my local bookstores were sold out following the big announcement. Though I wanted a hardcover copy to add to my growing Rowling collection, I was far too excited to wait for a shipment to arrive. After downloading the book to my Kindle I immediately dug in.

More sure-footed in  post-Potter writing, The Cuckoo’s Calling is head and shoulders above The Casual Vacancy. Where Vacancy suffered from a lack of movement, Cuckoo moves swiftly from the discovery of a body to the case being solved. 

For fans who grew up with Potter, Rowling’s writing still cuts like a knife. I remember the day when the first sentence of Half -Blood Prince was released:

“He looked rather like an old lion. There were streaks of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp.”

Her Cuckoo character descriptions are so reminiscent of Potter’s that I couldn’t help but wish that she’d written another novel based in the Wizarding World instead.

Aside from the wishful thinking of a Potterhead, this novel is a wonderful expression of Rowling’s talent. Though the mystery isn’t anything too unique, it’s the perfect way to spend an afternoon