So many of you probably have already heard, but Saturday, it came to light that an up and coming mystery author, Robert Galbraith, is actually Harry Potter author, J.K Rowling, in disguise. Mr. Galbraith was supposedly an ex-military man and his debut novel had gained many favorable reviews, being held as an “up and coming author to watch”.
The debut novel is entitled, The Cuckoo’s Calling, and is an adult mystery novel, and was released in April.
It was revealed and confirmed by JKR on Saturday that it was indeed her. She had hoped to keep the secret for awhile longer, because, “being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience.”
I can see where she’s coming with that. The Harry Potter series is the best selling book series of all time, and the movie adaptation series is the highest grossing franchise of all time. JKR is under the microscope at all times, and is under the inevitable criticism as well. When her book, The Casual Vacancy was recently released, it was received with mixed reviews. Writing under a pseudonym was probably very liberating at her, to not have to write and publish with such incredible pressure and also to have a more open mind with critics.
Like I said, The Cuckoo’s Calling has been receiving great reviews since its April release and since Saturday, its now the number one book on Kindle and stores and websites have been selling out of them.
The book follows Cormoran Strike, an ex-military man who is now a private detective. Fresh off a break-up with his fiance, Charlotte, and in debt to his ears, Cormoran takes on a case mostly for the money. John Bristow is the older brother of Lula Landry, a famous model, who died three months ago, in a supposed suicide, when she leapt off her third story flat balcony. John, however, doesn’t believe this and is convinced it is a murder and hires Cormoran, a school friend of his brother’s, to solve the case.
I’m about half way through it so far, and I am seriously loving it so far. I am not a huge mystery novel reader; I tend to red Sue Grafton’s alphabet mysteries but that’s about it. The book has the signature J.K. Rowling voice, but is so absolutely unique in the story and the story-telling.
I know that some people didn’t like The Casual Vacancy. It was, I must admit, very hard to get captured by it and most people would probably give up. In fact, according to GoodReads, The Casual Vacancy is one of the TOP books that are abandoned.
However, I really liked The Casual Vacancy and I am notorious for abandoning books. I was determined to give it my 110% because she is easily my favorite author and I’m glad I did because the book picked up and was really, really good. Not exactly my cup of tea but I loved it. Now that I am reading The Cuckoo’s Calling, I am even more in love with this book. The mystery has been building, densely and slowly, but I’m waiting to see what sort of things come to life in this book.
I hope to finish this by Thursday so I can do it as the Book of the Week, and do a spoiler free review for all of you.
What do you think of JK Rowling writing under a pen name? Do you think the reviews of The Casual Vacancy and the reviews of The Cuckoo’s Calling were so different because of the author names? Do you plan on reading it? As always, share in the comments!
Reblogged this on That One Geek Girl Reviews and commented:
I can’t wait to read The Cuckoo’s Calling. I’ll probably get around to it next month.
I don’t think many people liked The Casual Vacancy because it wasn’t J.K Rowling as we knew her… I personally liked it though! Others just seemed shocked at how different it was, despite her even saying that!
I’ll definitely read The Cuckoo’s Calling, and I feel better knowing that I’m actually interested in those sorts of books and am not just reading it because it’s hers! I hadn’t actually heard of it… I feel sort of bad knowing that she’s been outed – she wanted reviews based on the book and not because of who she is. That changes a lot of people’s views! But at least she had a few months in secret!
I’m not sure why she felt she had to be the ghost writer for another book except that she wants to be recognized for her writing and not her name. She probably needs some genuine confirmation for her talent. I’m wondering what the guy who she used feels about it all.
There was no other guy. Robert Galbraith is a completely made up person, a person that JKR and her publisher/editors made up to conceal that the book was actually written by her. I know that she had a lot of pressure. She has written seven of the best books and certainly the most popular and highest selling books. It’s a lot of pressure and when she wrote The Casual Vacancy, it was received with such mix results. I believe that because it was what people expected. I think that, no matter what people said, they expected something that made them remember Harry Potter. And it was something on its own. I think writing as a made up person was probably very liberating, to write with absolutely no expectations and no pressure
Oh, I was entirely confused. Sorry. I thought someone was making appearances on her behalf. Is the new book ya?
No problem :) It’s an adult mystery/crime novel. I finished it yesterday and it’s very very good