The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike #1) by Robert Galbraith

A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.


After losing his leg to a landmine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.


You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The motivation behind reading this book is, yeah you guessed it. J.K Rowling, I'm a fan of hers and therefore must devour all of her books and when presented with the opportunity to read "The Cuckoo's Calling" one does not simply refuse.

I like a good crime novel just like any other reader and I've read my fair number. There's a bunch of them out there with good plots, some might even argue that those are better than this one. But even though there's a vast number out there we can't possibly read them all.

The Cuckoo's Calling is that old school kind of detective novel. At least that's the kind of feeling it evokes from me. The writing is brilliant. I love it, it's soothing if that makes any sense. It's nice to delve into the story, by the way, it's written.

The start of the story is done very well also. It starts off with Robin, the soon to be secretary of our main character. We start off from her POV then she, as it were, takes us to our main man, Cormoran Strike. The only thing I'm going to say about their first meeting is...well, it was very grabbing.

Cormoran Strike is a great character. He's a former soldier with a prosthetic leg. He's a bit depressing at times, but also very human...(I'm going with that). He's also not created as some extremely sexy male lead as I'm used to in most books these days.

The other favourable mentions when it comes to characters: Robin becomes Strike's secretary. She's a very good one and has some kind of fascination with the job. She and Cormoran become friends in the end (kind of). The person I really want to highlight here is Cormorans ex-girlfriend. I'm not sure why, but she really makes me curious..or maybe I've made her out to be some kind of crazy person.

The story unfolds very slowly in my opinion, but the good writing makes it worth the wait. Everything fits together nicely in the end. It's a great book in itself, but so are many others and I don't know what makes this one exceptional. It would be your choice in the end. I, however, will be reading the sequel if there is one.

Grade:

Waiting for Dead Men's Shoes by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Underachiever Minette "Mini" Monroe has long dreamt of how much better life would be if only she were in charge of the world, said world being the independent bookstore in Westport, CT, where she's worked for the past half dozen years. After her beloved boss Colin Quimby is murdered, Mini gets her wish and also gets a chance to solve the case, aided by hot young Officer Michael "Mickey" Maus. Despite his unfortunate nickname - would any woman really voluntarily become part of Mini and Mickey Maus? - Mini takes a shine to him, but there's no real time for romance, not when Mini has her hands full dealing with Colin's viper's nest full of ex-wives, offspring, former business partners and current business rivals, all of whom had good reason to want to see Colin dead. Who will turn out to be the guilty party? The only way to find out is to read WAITING FOR DEAD MEN'S SHOES, a madcap comedic novel that proves that the Shakespeare Unabridged Globe and the Oxford English Dictionary are still a girl's best weapons.
Show More Show Less. GOODREADS

Roses Are Red (Alex Cross #6 ) by James Pateterson

The Mastermind orchestrates a series of bank robberies that are notable for their precise demands-and their explosive violence when demands are not met exactly. Detective Alex Cross takes on the case and recognizes that a particular kind of criminal mind is at work. Cross's investigation gets under the Mastermind's skin, and he makes it his personal goal to take revenge on Cross and his entire team.

Amidst all this, Cross's relationship with his girlfriend Christine is falling apart, and his beloved daughter Jannie is hospitalized with unexplained seizures. The pressure rises on every front, culminating in a shocking and explosive climax.GOODREADS

---------------------------------------------------------------------

This is my first James Patterson book and I have to admit it's pretty amazing. I've come across this guy's name on goodreads and I've skimmed through one or two of his books in the library( I'm ashamed to admit). I always assumed he was just another thriller writer. I was sourly mistaken, he is indeed a thriller writer but he's done something to make this genre  his own. Paterson has created one of the most compassionate, sympathetic, upstanding, humane , accomplished and  kindest male leads I've ever met in fiction.

Roses Are Red  is a thrilling emotional roller coaster ride. A moving book filled with action, crime, drama and some romancing ( I guess). Alex gets drawn into a case by his friend/colleague , Kyle Graig. The case involves bank robberies and murders. The person behind this calls himself the Mastermind. The very first chapter starts off with the first robbery. They get the money but kill the managers family (who they were holding as hostages) , at the second robbery they kill the people in the bank, then there's the third attack , this time a kidnapping of a bus load of people, who they let  go alive. There's no pattern, and this confuses Cross and the other cops on the case. Eventually they get a lead and catch Fredrick Szabo. Catching Szabo and the evidence that proofs he's the Mastermind is only the beginning of the game: "are you the mastermind". When Cross catches Szabo, his words to Cross  are "you've got he wrong guy" .They later follow another lead  (inspired by the inconsistencies of the Masterminds description). This leads them to Dr Francis, Szabo's psychologist. They go to take him in but he runs and then kills himself. What are his last words to Cross? you guessed it : "you got the wrong guy". So then who the hell IS the Mastermind?!

Other then catching the bad guy the book also focuses on Cross's family life , his daughter ends up in the hospital after having seizures and his relationship with this woman Christine is on the rocks. At first I thought the whole thing was unnecessary information but after a while , it turns out Cross's family life and other relationships with people is important to understanding Cross himself and what motivates him to work. Cross wants to make his side of Washington (his neighborhood) a safe place again. He does his best because he doesn't want to disappoint his family. In a way this is a moving book. Cross is a moving character.

There's this scene where Cross finally accepts Besty's (fellow FBI agent) offer to "get a drink" they end up in her hotel room and Cross breaks down. All the stress , his daughter , Christine and the Mastermind. He breaks down and cries.

"Let's just hug "she said. "I think we both need hugs. Hugs are good."

I'm not a hugging person, but at this point even I needed a hug.

It's a wild and interesting ride to catch the Mastermind, there are some running after the bad guys scenes, a scene where the FBI and local authorities take down the  bad cops, and the part where the kidnappers lead Cross and his team on a train to drop off the ransom money, all the while wearing them out. It's written really well and the situations are described well . The chapters are all relatively short and the book is divided into 6 parts. The first part (prologue) is called ashes to ashes  and part five is called all fall down. I mention this because it's eerie and because it correlates with the title. Roses Are Red. If you remember the nursery rime:

Ring-a-round a rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down.¹

Then we have the other titles in the Alex Cross series: like the earlier books all seem to have names from nursery rhymes or fairy tales.  The nursery rhyme "Roses Are Red" is also one of Cross's daughters  favorites in this book, she often sings it while dancing/twirling with the cat ( or so it's described in the book, I hate cats).

So how does it end? after all that, is the reader then left with no resolution? because that's how I felt. It didn't add up. I just couldn't believe any of those guys were the Mastermind. Throughout the book we get glimpses into the guys head. but do not fear, there was an epilogue fittingly titled The Right Guy. I can't say I was surprised or shocked, because I'd expected it to be a cop ,somebody on the inside. but I was pissed. the Mastermind is none other then........... Kyle Graig, Cross's friend! this is where you punch the book ( literally). I've gotten so attached to Cross that finding out that Graig, his friend, could hurt him is just infuriating!! It's unjust, mean, evil. goddamn! But all that being said this was a wonderful ride and introduction into the Alex Cross series (although this was book 6 ).

*no books were hurt during the writing of this review

Grade:

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Author Conan Doyle

"A Study in Scarlet" is the first published story of one of the most famous literary detectives of all time, Sherlock Holmes. Here Dr. Watson, who has just returned from a war in Afghanistan, meets Sherlock Holmes for the first time when they become flat-mates at the famous 221 B Baker Street. In "A Study in Scarlet" Sherlock Holmes investigates a murder at Lauriston Gardens as Dr. Watson tags along with Holmes while narratively detailing his amazing deductive abilities.GOODREADS

Dear reader,
let me introduce you to the greatest fictional (consulting) detective of all time. You might have heard of him ,Mr Sherlock Holmes and never forget his partner and friend Dr John Watson. Who together solve the most curious of cases. I only vaguely remember reading the Hound of the  Baskervilles a long time ago and all I remember is some eerie howling and moores. My new found interest in the Sherlock Holmes stories hails from the BBC series which in my opinion  is a great adaptation of the stories (although set in modern times). So I went out and bought Bantam's volume 1 of novels and short stories. The very first story is a Study in Scarlett, which introduces us to Holmes and Watson and a case that even Scotland Yard can't solve.

An interesting and delightful (yet unrelated) fact is that this volume of short stories was published by Bantam Classics which is a book series from Bantam Books which publishes George R. R Martin's A song of Ice and Fire Saga!!

Watson arrives from Afghanistan and is looking for a more comfortable and affordable place to live when he comes upon an old friend who happens to know another man , who's also looking for a place to stay and a flat mate to share the financial bits of an apartment in London. Thus Watson is introduced to Sherlock Holmes and they move into 221B Baker Street. Very soon Watson notices his flat mates odd habits of running out and being visited by detectives and becomes curious as to what Sherlock's occupation is and tries to deduce this himself by making a list , here's some of the list:

Sherlock Holmes-His limits
1. knowledge of philosophy- nil
2....................... literature- nil
3......................astronomy- nil
4....................... politics-feeble
8......................anatomy- accurate, but unsystematic
10. plays violin well
11.is an expert single stick player,boxer, and swordsman
12. has a good practical knowledge of British law

I should add that apparently Sherlock only keeps information that he deems useful. He doesn't know much about the solar system because he doesn't think he'll ever need it. Which if you think about it is true. And I'm not  using this to justify my not knowing if the Earth revolves around the sun or the moon? ..............or does it go around itself.......oh boy

The story is really well written ,it flows just like the tv series (which stayed true to the source material). Sherlock and Watson are great together. I love the characters and Sherlock's eccentricities. From beating a dead body with a horse wip to see how it bruises to keeping all kind of things in his apartment, like human eyes and fingers.

It's called a Study in Scarlet because Sherlock invents a way of distinguishing normal mud stains from blood stains which in itself is of great use in homicide cases.

In the end Sherlock catches the bad guy (no surprise there) . the murderer was out for revenge. There was something familiar about Jefferson Hope's story. I don't remember ever reading this story before but it sounded so familiar. Of course Lestrade and Gregson end up getting all the credit but Watson assures Sherlock (who doesn't really care) that he has documented everything in his journal and the public shall know about it.

And so the very first Sherlock Holmes story ends with

 populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo 

 Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplar in arca

Which means:

"The public hisses at me, but I applaude myself in my own house, and simultaneously contemplate the money in my chest."

P.s the earth revolves around it's axis. and the sun. .........I think

The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen

Every crime scene tells a story. Some keep you awake at night. Others haunt your dreams. The grisly display homicide cop Jane Rizzoli finds in Boston’s Chinatown will do both.

In the murky shadows of an alley lies a female’s severed hand. On the tenement rooftop above is the corpse belonging to that hand, a red-haired woman dressed all in black, her head nearly severed. Two strands of silver hair—not human—cling to her body. They are Rizzoli’s only clues, but they’re enough for her and medical examiner Maura Isles to make the startling discovery: that this violent death had a chilling prequel.Nineteen years earlier, a horrifying murder-suicide in a Chinatown restaurant left five people dead. But one woman connected to that massacre is still alive: a mysterious martial arts master who knows a secret she dares not tell, a secret that lives and breathes in the shadows of Chinatown. A secret that may not even be human. Now she’s the target of someone, or something, deeply and relentlessly evil.Cracking a crime resonating with bone-chilling echoes of an ancient Chinese legend, Rizzoli and Isles must outwit an unseen enemy with centuries of cunning—and a swift, avenging blade.GOODREADS

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Series: Rizzoli & Isles #9

In comparison to the last Rizzoli and Isles novel, Ice Cold, this one wasn't as chilling or frightening. However in it's own right it's as mysterious and interesting and surprising as any of the books in this series.

It starts with Maura on the witness stand against a cop. This raises an interesting topic about  cop killings. The cop on the stand is on trial because he beat up and killed a cop killer. So here we have Maura testifying against the cop (explaining her findings in the autopsy) this doesn't sit well with the Boston PD , who have never really liked her. They now see her as a traitor and treat her coldly. This is interesting because it reflects on Jane and Maura's differences. I won't try and explain Jane because she's just too much work , Maura on the other hand is all about the facts. She even says in the book that she's there to speak for the dead. This is also why the book is called The Silent Girl:
-  There was an incident where a man( the cook) allegedly  went postal and killed several people in  the restaurant he was working in then killed himself. This incident happened in Chinatown and is called the Red Phoenix case. Maura follows up on some leads and finds some new evidence that shows that there was another person in the kitchen. A little girl, the cook's daughter, who heard everything and knew what really happened, The Silent Girl.

Another reason  I enjoyed this book was getting to reacquaint myself with my favorite characters again. Gabriel (Rizzoli's husband) shows up after Jane gets shot and he's worried about her and wants her off the case. Although this is a thriller there's always an underlying romantic feel to these books (my opinion) which I like.

Rat , the boy who had saved Maura in Ice Cold, also returns in this book . He's visiting Maura from school. He points out the inconsistencies in the Red Phoenix case which lead to finding the Silent Girl.

Then there's Barry Frost, Rizzoli's partner. He's wife has recently left him and he's like a lost puppy.He's a good guy, charming and gentlemen like. He has a charming way with old ladies aswell (especially in this book). This character will charm you as a reader aswell. Although I did find it annoying because .I kept thinking Bary was Mrs Fang's reincarnated husband.(or maybe I was wishing it).

I loved how the story of the Monkey King was incorporated into this book and used as an instrument for justice. It was also surprising to find out who the actual Monkey King was, it was not a person but 3 people in turns. Mrs fang , Bella. and they aren't the ones that caught me of guard. Johnny Tam is the third person. In the beginning it's said that Wu Weimin (the cook) had a son by another woman. I completely forgot this and was so surprised that agent Tam was in on it. Tam is also a detective and had joined Jane's team from the beginning and new what was happening every step. Tam's character is new and will be joining Jane's team . Tam is dark and mysterious and has awesome eyes (although this is a book and I have never seen his eyes).

 I kept picturing Tam as agent Cho from The Mentalist for some reason( no, it's probably because of that episode where he went undercover as a casanova).












With that being said I'm really looking forward to reading more about Tam in future books.

Grade: