This is the first book about private detective Cormoran Strike, an ex-soldier who is in a difficult private situation. His secretary/assistant Robin starts working for him and they solve their first case together.
A supermodel falls from her balcony in an apparent suicide, but a few months later her brother approaches Strike because he is convinced that his sister was murdered.

I must say that the action moved far too slow for me and I never really warmed to Strike and Robin. I enjoyed the case and the London setting, and towards the end, when the plot finally picked up, I was excited, but all in all I found it a bit boring. To me, it is an odd crossover between cosy crime and a city setting with grim aspects, and the narrative perspective is not what I like in a crime novel - it is too detached, which creates an imbalance between the plot and contents and the style. ( )

I'm sorry, but I didn't enjoy this book. I didn't like neither the characters nor the plot. Normally I would give it two stars, but I added one for the author. I'm sorry, because I really wanted to enjoy it. I'm not going to read the rest of the series. ( )

I don’t know if so would have enjoyed it as much if I hadn’t already watched the adaption. Picturing the actor who portrayed Strike in the adaption made some of the questionable and sketchy decisions bearable. ( )

Fun mystery novel with lead characters Cormoran and Robin that I will be happy to see again in another book.

JKR knows how to tell a story and this is no exception. Her characters and descriptions are all great. Truly my biggest beef with the whole book is her excessive use of "the C word". I word I hate so much I won't even type it here. Is this an actual common word in England? I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've heard it spoken aloud here in the US and seeing it in print is far more jarring to me than other curse words. But still, that's a minor complaint.

( )

This book was written by Robert Galbraith though I’m pretty sure that most people know it’s simply a pseudonym used by J.K. Rowling. If you have this knowledge and approach this book with the mindset of Harry Potter, you’re going to be disappointed. This isn’t Harry Potter at all. If you’re looking for Harry Potter, go read Harry Potter. I mean, who wouldn’t want to return home to Hogwarts and visit the characters all over again? This book is something completely different from Harry Potter.

I loved it.

The characters were interesting, the backstory was interesting, and the twist and turns were fantastic. I truly enjoyed this book. There were terms in the book that I didn’t understand but I acknowledge that’s because I’m American and I’m not acquainted with the British terminology used within the book. That did not, however, take away from the flow of the story or my understanding of the story. It’s just something that I adjusted to as I read on, which I think can be done rather easily. Google is your friend if you truly can’t figure out what the term means.

Strike was, in my honest opinion, a likable and interesting character. I haven’t often read books with a disabled character in it, let alone that character being the main character. So, seeing that change of pace was quite nice. Robin was amusing with her eagerness for the job position but not in a manner that she got onto your nerves. Halfway through, I was hoping that she would be staying on with Strike in a permanent sense. Even some of the minor characters, I guess you would call them, were enjoyable. I hope to see Guy and Porter again, though I don’t know if we will.

I loved the ending. Wasn’t not expecting it but was quite interested in it. It was brilliantly done and I look forward to returning to Strike’s world in the next book as well. This novel just proves that J.K. Rowling can write things other than Harry Potter, though she never needed to prove that. I would recommend this to those who enjoy crime novels, most certainly. ( )