Cormoran Strike has just broken up with his girlfriend, and he's living in his office. The latest in his long list of temporary secretaries (that he can barely afford) has just arrived so when a possible windfall of an investigation lands on his lap he doesn't hesitate. A troubled model fell from a balcony and her brother isn't sure that it was an accident. It drags him into a world where his father is better known than he is, his groupie mother died of a drugs overdose and his famous rock-star father won't be forgotten, even if Cormoran is an injured war veteran.

The building relationship between Cormoran and his secretary is interesting and the two of them work together as a team, but Cormoran needs to work on better team building. He often holds his cards very close to his chest. Not the best mystery series I've read but I will read more in this series.

This is the first of the Cormoran Strike  novels written by JK Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The story revolves around a beautiful troubled model Lula Landry who one cold snowy winters night falls from the balcony of her penthouse London flat. Was it suicide or was she pushed? Her brother John Bristow is convinced she was murdered and employs the services of Private Investigator Cormoran Strike to uncover the perpetrator.In Cormoran Strike we have a wonderful fictional detective, even his offices with a steel spiral staircase and unfashionable London location has a touch of Philip Marlowe, Chandler's finest creation. Strike is a man who is deeply scared both mentally and physically by his experiences in war torn Afghanistan. His right leg below the knee is missing the result of an improvised explosive device (IED) when he also saved the life of one of his comrades. The pain from his missing limb is a constant reminder of the hell of Helmand province. His childhood was no less traumatic, living in squats with his drug addicted mother Leda and rarely seeing his rock star father Jonny Rokeby

Strike has acquired a new secretary Robin and it soon becomes clear that this highly intelligent woman is a golden asset in the disorganized lifestyle that our PI leads. Although Robin is engaged to the controlling Mathew there is certainly an attraction between this ambitious lady and her older damaged employer. Strike is aware of this danger but he cannot help himself admiring the beauty and intelligence displayed before him..."but having normal sight and an unimpaired libido, he was also reminded every day she bent over the computer monitor that she was a very sexy girl."..

A good crime author will always attempt to shield the identity of the killer until the final chapters and Robert Galbraith is a master of illusion and deception. The reader is taken on a descriptive journey through the beating heart of London where..."its colourful windows displayed a multitudinous mess of life's unnecessities"....and on that journey an eclectic  mix of characters is on show including the extravagant camp designer Guy Some...."nearly a foot shorter than Strike and had perhaps a hundredth of his body hair. The front of the designers tight black T-shirt was decorated with hundreds of tiny silver studs which formed an apparently three-dimensional image of Elvis's face"...and Lula's birth mother Marlene Higson..."she was wearing a pink Lycra vest top under a zip-up grey hoodie, and leggings that ended inches above her grey-white ankles. There were grubby flip-flops on her feet and many gold rings on her fingers; her yellow hair, with its inches of greying brown  root, was pulled back into a dirty towelling scrunchie".....

I must confess that I have managed to read the 3 books in the series out of order but that has certainly not ruined my enjoyment. The writing is of the highest quality and it has been a great adventure discovering the complicated background of Cormoran Strike and his beautiful assistant Robin. The dynamics of this relationship is something that Galbraith explores in more detail in the later books and it all adds to the excitement of this highly accomplished beautifully written novel.

... and really, is there anything she can't write?

This may not be the most ingenious of plots (supermodel with "issues" falls to her death from the balcony of her high rise apartment; after the police have declared her death a probable suicide and closed the case, her brother shows up at the office of a down-and-out P.I. with a somewhat checkered past and pleads with him to reinvestigate; P.I. has a new temp secretary who gradually and reluctantly becomes his sidekick), but as always, it's all in the execution, and here, Rowling delivers on all fronts; from tone of voice to attitudes to every other aspect that's indispensable to creating well-rounded characters ... and what a cast of characters she's come up with, too.  She has an impeccable ear for dialogue, for the snazzy, street-wise language that few mysteries can do without, especially those published today -- all the more those set, like this one, in the demi-monde of fashion, film, rock (music, meth / cocaine, and whisky-on-the), modeling, moguls, and money both old and new -- and for endowing her characters with entirely credible human emotions.  All of her characters, that is, regardless how important they are to the story.  Even today, there are few mystery writers who manage that sort of feat.

And honestly, can you possibly think of a greater name for a protagonist, a run-down P.I. at that, than Cormoran Strike?

Count me in for book 2 of the series soon -- I wonder what took me so long to get to it in the first place.

Oh, and never mind that she published this under a male pen name (nice try, Joanne) ... the cat was out of the bag within weeks, if not days IIRC, and I am SO counting this book towards the "R" square of the Women Writers Bingo / Challenge.

My latest load of books. 

In the attempt to get a VIP card from a local bookstore, a brand from Taiwan, I have to buy a lot. 

So I tried and tried to find enough books for me to buy in order to become member. This is in the pile. 

The surprise is how readable this is. I read the latest one Career of Evil when it went on sale. This one didn't got my interest so much as I have already watched the TV series it based on.

The story has a bit of problem, the detective Strike seems sad, yet didn't really have a temper. Man who had a father who hardly knows his existence, and a career cut short because of injury. One must get frustrated in life and probably has a bit of temper. He is just not a cheerful guy but didn't really take it out on anyone really. 

As for his detective skill, it is a bit procedural. Who was there and why? Interviewing witnesses and tried to confirm the police didn't missed anything. 

The problem of watching the TV series first is the spoiler. I tried to forget the end bits to enjoy the progression of the book more. 

The story itself didn't have enough interactive actions that I like in detective story. But this is just preference. The story itself is doing fine. I would have to find out if this is a suicide or if someone has harmed this young woman. 

The middle bit is a bit of running around with glues. If only Strike revealed some of the clues to Robin, then it would get even better. 

The ending is fine. 

4.5 stars read. 

I don’t always feel the need to write detailed reviews of books that have already been reviewed up the wazoo. This is one of those times, so I’m just going to jot down some impressions I want to remember.

If Galbraith had never been outed as JK Rowling, I totally would have believed this book was written by a man based on nothing more than how at least 90% of the female characters were written as manipulative, conniving, spoiled bitches, including the dead woman. The male characters fall victim to the same traits, but if I wasn’t aware of the name behind the pen name, I’d probably put this down to trying to make Strike look even better by comparison. Also, accidentally grabbing a woman’s breast (hard enough to leave bruises) to save her from falling down a flight of stairs seems like something a guy would come up with (or an animé cliché). Also, Strike’s love life sometimes smacks of wish fulfillment. I didn’t make a note of every time it was mentioned how people marveled that Strike could attract such gorgeous women, but it seemed like a lot.

Randomness: Both Strike and the victim had a million nicknames. What’s up with that?

The mystery is decent, the prose is good, the dialogue is snappy. The characters are a mix of stereotyped cardboard cutouts and interesting fleshed-out individuals. The denouement felt like it dragged on for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages. I enjoyed it a lot more than Casual Vacancy (which I thought was well-written but meh) and I’ll continue with the series.