The Cuckoo's Calling

Title: The Cuckoo’s Calling

Author: Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling)

Publisher: Mulholland Books

Publication Date: April 30^th, 2013

Length: 455 pages (in Hardcover)

Genre: Adult Crime Fiction

Format and Source: Hardcover, from the library.

Summary from Goodreads: [This will be spoiler free, but the actual review below will not]. After losing his leg to a land mine 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.

Review: [Reminder: Spoilers]. This book reminded me why I fell in love with JK Rowling’s writing. It shouldn’t be a surprise that she’s a fantastic crime fiction author, the clues she dropped throughout the Harry Potter books should’ve been sign enough that she’s very good at mystery. The Cuckoo’s Calling was one of the best books I’ve read so far in 2014 because the characters were brilliant and the plot was tastefully mysterious.

Cormoran Strike is one of the most well-developed characters I’ve ever read about, and this definitely works in the story’s favour. He’s a very clever person and the scenes in which he interrogates a character are so exciting to see unfold. He’s a closed off character but the glimpses you get of his past are so deeply saddening – you would feel pity for him if you didn’t think he would kill you for it.

Robin was my second favourite character, and anyone who has read the book will know why she is so great. She’s well-organised, has a clear idea of what she wants and is a brilliant person to top it all off. Despite playing the role of a simple secretary, she ends up being much more and is extremely helpful in moving the case along.

The final thing I have to say about this book is how tastefully suspenseful it was. There is a very fine line in crime fiction between too little suspense and too much, and JK Rowling manages to sit herself right on that line. She gives you enough suspense that you’re flipping the pages eagerly, but not too much that it becomes more like a soap opera than a novel.

The Cuckoo’s Calling is a novel JK Rowling should be proud of. She broadcasts her talent as an author of many genres and this book definitely shows off that talent. The Silkworm is out now and I’ll be reading that as soon as I get my hands on it. It’s safe to assume that JK Rowling will dominate the crime fiction stands for some time yet.

Final Rating: A+. An extremely high rating for an extremely good book. Not only is it good through its interesting plot, but the writing itself is wonderful, and it would be a crime (pause for laughter) to rate it any lower. This book will keep you guessing throughout it, and I’m willing to bet that you won’t be able to guess the ending despite the subtle hints. It’s a fabulous display of Rowling’s writing and I highly recommend it.

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Kim Kardashian: Hollywood!?

Seriously though, why is everyone and their mother playing this game?

After seeing thousands upon thousands of screencaps of this game on tumblr, instagram and basically every other social media site, I figured I would see what made this game so popular anyway. Since its release, it has already climbed up charts to become the 2nd most downloaded free game in the US app store, and the reason is obvious.
Frankly, the game is addictive. The premise is simple enough - Kim Kardashian is guiding you on your journey to stardom, from an E-lister to an A-lister, and that's where the appeal is. Who doesn't want to be popular, right? She gives you advice on how to achieve your desired popularity (being an A-lister), and you follow this advice to do well in the game.
You can go through with in-app purchases if you want to gain cash quicker, but I'm honestly not that into the game. I can definitely see why people are into this game, and I doubt I'll delete the app any time soon but it's extremely similar to every other "lifestyle" game out there and for that reason alone I don't think it stands out too much.

Final Verdict: I rated this game 5 stars in the appstore simply because it was mindless fun, and I didn't expect any more than that. Some people may be extreme enough to put a lot of money into it but I don't think the game is that good. Personally, I find that it's a fun way to spend free time so for that reason alone I rated it high.

We Were Liars

Title: We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publication Date: May 13^th, 2014

Length: 227 pages (in Hardcover)

Genre: YA Contemporary/Mystery

Format and Source: eBook, from the iBook store.

Summary from Goodreads: [This will be spoiler free, but the actual review below will not]. A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.A revolution. An accident. A secret.Lies upon lies.True love.The truth. We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. Read it.And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Okay so basically this “summary” is more of a blurb so I’ll try explain it in a few sentences without giving too much away. Cadence Sinclair Eastman is Harris Sinclair’s eldest granddaughter. Harris Sinclair is the owner of an island that the all-American Sinclair family (plus Gat) visit every summer. Johnny, Mirren, Gat and Cadence make up the Liars, a group of four friends who stay at the island together. In Summer 15, something went dreadfully wrong, disturbing their peace, and now their picture perfect lives have fallen apart.

This is really all I’m willing to say, trust me, this book is best read when you know absolutely nothing about it.

Review: [Reminder: Spoilers]. For all you nosy people still reading this spoiler infested review without having read the book, begone! I’m serious! The book is so much more enjoyable when you don’t know what’s going on. I’m gonna say the spoiler now, scroll up and leave while you can!

I was honestly so shocked about the plot twist. Generally I’m onto these things but this really blew me out of the water. There were plenty of clues if I had paid more attention, but they keep coming back to me now. Taft believing Cuddledown was haunted, her emails never getting a reply, the Barbie doll never received – once you look back it all makes sense. I was honest to God so surprised when she realised they were all dead, and while I didn’t cry, it was definitely a shocking revelation. There’s so much I want to talk about when it comes to this book, so I’ll start with what I found interesting before moving on.

This book had an untrustworthy narrator, and I love that in books. Right from the start when she says, “then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest,” I just knew I was in for a sweet ride. In this sense the book reminded me of Mara Dyer, and I feel like to a certain extent Cadence had PTSD too but that’s about where the similarities stop. While Mara had special powers and saw hallucinations (oh, if you haven’t read Mara Dyer, you really should), I feel like Gat, Johnny and Mirren weren’t hallucinations, rather that they were ghosts. This is totally up to interpretation and I know many people will disagree with me but in my mind it just fits that they were ghosts, and I’m happy to keep thinking of it like that (another area this book wins brownie points – it actually made me think really hard and look back on it at the end etc). One of the many reasons Mystery is such an amazing genre is because they make you look back on the whole book once the revelation is made, and I love that.

For me, the style of narration was confusing but I’ve read a few books that jump time periods etc and it really added to the effect of the book in this case so it turned out fine. It’s a very jumpy way of writing, but at the same time, the book felt so much longer than it actually was, and that’s an admirable skill to possess. You felt like you lived in their world for much longer than you actually did, and I enjoyed that. The ending of this book definitely put me in a bit of a reading slump, and I’ll probably have to read something light hearted to make up for it.

There were only really two negatives I saw in this book. The first was just how stupid the characters were back in Summer 15, and the second being how depressing the overall mood of the book was. Summer 15 made me so angry. These kids no nothing when it comes to arson, and while I guess that’s a good thing, you’d assume that if they were actually planning on setting a house alight they’d look into the logistics. Their plan was to put a person on every floor. Not only did they have no signal whatsoever about when to light the fire, but they didn’t know the first thing when it came to setting the house on fire in the first place. Setting the basement on fire would effectively burn the house down, and while they were drunk, you’d think it was common sense not to have people on floors with no exits. Basically, this part made me so angry and I was already emotional enough after the dogs’ deaths that I was on the verge of putting the book down and never coming back.

The only other negative for me was that the book was way more depressing than I thought it would be. Like I’ve said above, the book was similar to Mara Dyer, but it was more sombre than Mara Dyer was. Obviously it adds to the mood of the book, but it means that regardless of how much I liked it, I’m unwilling to pick it up again just because I don’t want to put myself through that pain.

Final Rating: A-. This book was just a massive mind-fuck and no matter how long I contemplate it, it will always be. And I don’t think I mind that. It’s definitely one of the best books I’ve read so far this year, and while it isn’t quite conventional, it was amazing none-the-less. You’ve heard people say this time and time again, but you really don’t want to know anything going into this book, it’ll spoil the whole effect. 

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