The Cuckoo's Calling, book review. (Robert Galbraith) J.K. Rowling.

I don't read much in the way of crime novels, but, like a million others I suspect, I was gifted this on

the strength of the author's previous books.

Good characters, good story, good setting, (Although a friend of mine tells me there are some accuracy errors here, but as a writer myself, I tell him 'poetic licence'.) and there's a good twist at the end.

So all good than! Here endeth the review!
Well, not quite.

If I could, I would have knocked half a star off of this and gone for three and a half. Why? Stupid names!

I know our influences come from a hundred, a thousand different places, my characters haven't always got standard or English names, I have a Dumonbreville in my latest book and a Mai-Ling in my first, but these are names I have come across, people I have met, and in the case of Dumonbreville, I use it very little in the book because I feel it might interrupt flow.

And that is my main issue, flow.

When I read I want the book to flow, I don't read fast, so it isn't a speed thing, but when the book is encumbered with names like Cormoran Strike and Lula Landry, things start slow down a bit. Throw in a Bryony, Tansy, Deeby, Cyprian and a Ciara and I start thinking about putting the book down.

I'm glad I didn't because the story was good, but next time I'll think twice before reading a Robert Galbraith novel. Maybe the next one could be about the Bristow family. They all had nice, normal names.