I had to ponder on this one to determine the star level. I settled on 3.

I think it was well written and it kept my interest. There were a lot of F words, but it didn't detract from the story for me. I do wish the clues would have been laid out in a fashion wherein I could have understood the crime as in depth as Strike did prior to him revealing it at the end.

Character development was not the highlight. I was surprised Strike chose a particular activity later in the book, but wondered in retrospect why it surprised me. There was nothing about his character development throughout the book that would give me insight into that choice point.

Overall enjoyable. Don't need to keep it, won't necessarily recommend, but I'd not tell people to avoid it, either. ( )

A good read. ( )

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I know a lot of people are not huge fans of the author but I prefer to separate books from their authors. A story can be good even if I don't agree with an author's views.

On to the review.

This first installment in the Cormoran Strike series starts with an underworked detective getting a new temporary employee and a new case. John Bristow, the brother of Strike's old friend comes to see him. John's brother died many years ago, afterwards, his parents adopted a daughter named Lula. She become a famous model and committed suicide a few months back. Only John is 100% convinced that Lula was murdered and he wants Strike to prove it.

Strike reluctantly takes the case because he is in massive debt and has so few cases to work on at the moment. Soon, he and his new assistant Robin, are exploring London and tracking clues that will lead to what happened the day Lula died.

I quite enjoyed this book. I had my suspicions on what had happened and how and I was totally wrong. I am usually right when I read these kind of books so that was refreshing. I am now picking up the second from my local library.

Things I liked: interesting characters, really exciting last 100 pages, how the characters all had stuff going on, Robin and Strike's working relationship, the kitten envelopes

Things I didn't like: not a great discussion of mental health, it dragged a bit at times ( )

I read a lot of bad reviews about this book but is very good. It's not a classic and is certainly not an award wining book. The story is well thought out and the clues are drip fed well. Where it falls down is the relationship between strike and his receptionist. It feels forced and hollow. ( )

Op Shop owned 1st of 7 Cormorant Strike series