I like the way this book was written. I enjoyed the banter between the main character, Cormoran Strike, and his temporary secretary, Robin. I had a hard time figuring this one out. Just when I thought I had it narrowed down to the prime suspect, I'd discover something in the next chapter that would lead me in another direction. I did not anticipate the ending. While I was glad the brother was right about his sister's death, I did not suspect the outcome. This may sound strange, but I've never read the Harry Potter series. That is going to change. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
After not finishing the disappointing A Casual Vacancy, I had low hopes for Rowling's (aka Galbraith) next foray into modern adult fiction, and was much delighted to become totally absorbed with this first of a new series. It features Cormoran Strike, a perceptive and persistent detective in London. His forte is finding clues the police and others have missed. His assistant, Robin, a temp secretary keeps his office going while Cormoran ferrets out the baddies. Definite "cant put down" material. Mystery fans will enjoy it, and look forward to the 2nd book as much as I do.
This isn't the most suspenseful or the best mystery I've ever read but I do like the main characters. I pretty much figured out the bad guy about half way through but after seeing reviews about the twist at the end, I thought I had it wrong. Her writing is good IMO, but there isn't a whole lot different about the plot.... I'm giving it 3.5 stars.
The solution to the mystery of how supermodel Lula Landry died was readable enough.
Rowling is no stylist. And she is a self indulgent writer. (I've felt that very strongly from my attempts to read the you-know-who books ...) At 500+ pages, this feels, ohh, about 200 pages too long, to me.
Thanks to her tendency to describe everything at least twice. I almost didn't make it past the prologue, where she takes three wordy passes at the scene -- a snowy street with police and paparazzi poised around a broken body under a crime scene tent ... I seem to recall that there is good advice out there to "hit it, and get out" ...
And thanks to lines like this: "He feared advice to rest the leg, to desist from normal ambulation ..." I believe the phrase she's looking for is "to avoid walking on it ..." (If you're going to argue that she's channelling Strike's awkwardness and formality with a line like that, I don't buy it -- Strike, at least, seems like a guy who wouldn't use one word where no words would do ...)
I wish someone had had the courage to tell her that she can't do accented dialogue: Afro-Caribbean, Polish, East End London ... all toe-curlingly embarrassing. For some reason, she gets a scene with a couple of Sloane-y posh girls just right -- just replacing the odd word with a tweaked pronunciation ("rarely" instead of "really") to give the flavour of their speech. For everyone else, she throws mis-spellings and apostrophes at the page, like her printer has gone mental. No. Just no.
Some aspects of the plot seem like a covert effort to engage us in the plight of one multi-millionairess Joanne Rowling: pursued by the paps! Most intimate secrets revealed!! Can't trust anyone!! Misunderstood by everyone!!! Rowling may believe she is writing a roman-Ã -clef, with its looong Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous digressions, and its slightly clunky hints about who Cormoran's father might be. (If you're unsure, repeated mentions of model Bebe Buell, and a description of a photo of said absentee father, toward the end of the book, cinched it for me.) But the secret of a roman-Ã -clef is that you have to care who the clefs are and, to be honest, I just didn't ...
But it was probably brave, in 2013, to include a character who is so obviously Harvey Weinstein, whose gross behaviour had been rumoured for years, but not confronted until 2017. Reading it today may feel a bit obvious -- what else would a predatory film producer look and sound and act like? -- but in 2013 it must have seemed like exposing an uncomfortable secret.
I'm not rushing out to read more Cormoran Strike books (and I gather that -- again, like you-know-who -- they just grow and grow and grow in length). But if at any time I find myself presented with one, I wouldn't necessarily say no.
