But let's be real as to why I made up this feature: I just want the opportunity to post something about Harry Potter.
So by now you've probably heard: J.K. Rowling secretly published another novel called The Cuckoo's Calling under the pseudonym "Robert Galbraith". Back in April! And prior to the announcement, it had only sold 1,500 copies (but also garnered many positive reviews).
Published: April 30, 2013
Pages: 455
Series: Cormoran Strike
A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide. 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.
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.
What's further, they even made up a fake "About Me" section for Robert Galbraith:
After several years with the Royal Military Police, Robert Galbraith was attached to the SIB (Special Investigative Branch), the plain-clothes branch of the RMP. He left the military in 2003 and has been working since then in the civilian security industry. The idea for Cormoran Strike grew directly out of his own experiences and those of his military friends who returned to the civilian world.
So basically, Jo is as sneaky as a Slytherin! I can't believe she got away with this for three whole months. But I can definitely understand her desire to publish something anonymously, without all the hoopla that her name brings to her other published works.
But now that the secret is out, there will be thousands more readers for this book than there was previously. I myself have already checked the bookstore and they had only one copy and it had been sold just prior to me arriving! And supposedly only 3 copies were left available in my entire city!
I have already requested an egalley from NetGalley and I suggest others try that or buying the ebook if you're interested in reading it. Otherwise I imagine you won't have to wait too long until Hachette will do another printing, maybe with a new cover with Jo's name on it. It is supposedly only the first book in the Cormoran Strike Series, after all.
Is anyone interested in reading The Cuckoo's Calling? So far, the reviews for it seem to be better than for The Casual Vacancy, which wasn't very well received by HP fans (although you may recall I LOVED it, personally). As for me, I'm just pleased as can be that we get a new book from Jo out of nowhere! What a fantastic surprise.
I LOVED the surprise and I'm so freaking glad that JK wrote a mystery novel! Chamber of Secrets was a mystery of sorts which I loved so I'm pretty sure I'll love this, too.
ReplyDeleteP.S. So glad you liked The Casual Vacancy! I haven't read it yet but I'm tired of all the bad reviews out there.
I think it sounds great! I'm excited about it.
ReplyDeleteMy sister told me about this just hours before! Ha, I love that comment you made about Jo being as sneaky as Slytherin, and even though adult mysteries aren't something I'd usually read, it's JO, so what can I say, right? I didn't know it was up on NG, but I'll go check it out and request it!
ReplyDeleteUmmm I'm pretty much sold on anything that has to do with JK, but you know this already ;) Thanks for the head's up, Aylee. You'd better believe this is on my list now!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how I feel about this being leaked. I mean, I get why authors use pseudonyms, but I hate it when it's revealed because then those books are always compared to their best books. I think of Sophie Kinsella who writes under the pseudonym Sophie Kinsella when her real name is Madeleine Wickam. Really, her books as MW just aren't as good as her ones as SK. AND NOW it says both names on all of her books. I don't know why, but it just kind of ticks me off.
ReplyDeleteANYWAY, I hope you like this one! I know you're such a huge J. K. Rowling fan. :)
Hahaha! Sneaky as a Slytherin! Just like you, now that the news is out, I am going to read this one too, and come to think of it- it does sound pretty good to me! Besides, for us die hard JKR fans, we'll practically read anything the author writes, eh? Thanks for the lovely post, Aylee! :*
ReplyDeleteSarika @ The Readdicts
I think it would be cool if they kept the pseudonym on the covers...even if it's been leaked.
ReplyDeleteI'm obviously pumped though, as you know! I really want to read this one now. I like mystery novels in general so that's awesome.
What's funny though is that my library (the one I work at) apparently already had the book because yesterday, I went through and grabbed everything people had put on hold and this book was on it! I wouldn't have thought to check to my library, to be honest. Ah well, I need to own it anyway!
-Lauren
This is so exciting!! I think JK Rowling was seriously quite sneaky about her fake name-- but it's really understandable why she did it. She just wanted to write & sell without pressure! I'm so excited to pick this one up, awesome post, Aylee!
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see why she would want to publish under a different name - that way the focus would be on her writing and her story rather than her name, and I'm so glad the book got positive reviews prior to people learning she wrote it. Need to give this a try Aylee!!!
ReplyDeleteA casual vacancy and this synopsis just doesn't call to me, but I am sure that I will read one of these days.
ReplyDeleteMy husband told me about this yesterday. I can't tell you how excited Mr. Whimsy was to give me some books news I hadn't heard yet.
ReplyDeleteSo I have to admit, prior to the news I wasn't really interested in this one. I looked it up and thought, "Meh." But now I'm totally thinking of trying the audio.
It's a pretty wild story, but I can see why she did it. It would be hard to ever write anything again once you're written a series beloved by so many.
ReplyDeleteKate @ Ex Libris
I understand WHY she wrote under a differend name, and I certainly get the fake bio and stuff, but why uncover it now? Did the book do so badly in sales?
ReplyDeleteJust this mornong, The Book Depository sent out an email about it, with her name all over it, so you can bet it'll do much better now.
I'll probably go with the audio too. I have a credit I don't know what to do with.
Cormoran Strike, though? Weird.
Well, I don't think it was her or the publisher who leaked the news, but a third party. Then Jo confirmed it. But who knows, maybe the plan was always to let the public in on it eventually.
DeleteI just heard about this, too. I checked to see if it was in my library system and there are already 242 people waiting on 19 copies...so it'll be awhile before I have it in my hands, but I'm definitely excited.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the process of reading it now and I'm actually quite impressed. I'm a sucker for private detective stories though... It's still on Netgalley if you're interested! Also, I heard from one site that it was discovered by linguistics experts and that it wasn't the choice of J.K.'s to release it now, which I thought very interesting but couldn't find much info about those details. :)
ReplyDeleteLol, as soon as I saw the news on Twitter, I knew you were going to be thrilled and would post about it :) I haven't read the reviews for this one but the synopsis makes it sound more interesting than The Casual Vacancy.
ReplyDeleteYES! She's so sneaky, haha. :)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to get my hands on a copy!
ReplyDeleteI saw this hubaloo yesterday, AM and immediately thought of you, totally curious if you'd post something on your blog about this - and here it is! I cannot believe she did this, especially since her pseudonym was a male! Then she frickin' created an "About the author" section at the end of the book, how wild is that? I sure hope this one is a good read, did you get it from NG or buy it?
ReplyDeleteI have yet to get a response from NG so I'm buying it! On ebook so I can read it now and hard copy which will take a few weeks to ship.
DeleteThe reviews for this DO seem to be a lot better than the reviews for The Casual Vacancy. I couldn't get through the latter, but I'm still excited about giving this one a try. I downloaded a kindle copy as soon as I heard. And I didn't even know what it was about, ha! :D
ReplyDeleteAlso, how cool is J.K. Rowling? And why isn't she the Queen of England yet?
This is an excellent question, Sam. I just don't know.
DeleteGood luck getting it from NG!
ReplyDeleteI hope you like it, I know you liked Casual Vacancy and I hope this one is good too. I totally get why she did it though :)
I was so freaking excited when I found out about this this weekend! Not excited enough to go out and purchase the book right away, but still pretty stoked. After the many mixed reviews surrounding The Casual Vacancy, I think it makes a lot of sense that Rowling wanted to try publishing something that could be based solely on its own merits (which apparently are pretty strong, given the initial feedback so yay). Although this isn't the type of book I'd normally read, I'm so going to give it a try. :)
ReplyDeleteGood for JK Rowling. I think that's the only way her books won't be related to HP, to write under a pseudonym. It usually bugs me when publishers make up a fake bio for a pseudonym, but in this case I can see the necessity. I just feel bad her cover was blown, because I'm sure she was enjoying the anonymity!
ReplyDeleteI can definitely understand JK's desire to publish anonymously...especially after so many HP fans seemed so heard on Casual Vacancy, simply because it didn't meet their Potter-expectations. I still need to read Casual Vacancy but it's on my wishlist and now Cuckoo's Calling is on there too. I will always want to read anything and everything JKR writes, regardless :D It's exciting news anyways!!
ReplyDeleteLOL she is acting totally Slytherin! It's funny though, she kept saying after book 7 that she wanted to do a mystery and then she came out with an adult literary fiction instead. I love the fake biography :) I'm going to give this one a try. I don't read many mysteries, but it's closer to my tastes than adult literary fiction. I haven't liked any books in that genre. I'm excited to read it!
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe JK managed to keep this a secret for that long! I'll probably wait a bit and buy a copy in a month or so...especially since this book is impossible to find in my local bookstores right now!
ReplyDeleteI'm so curious to read this! Most people seem to love it. I love that she did this, I can't believe she got away with it for so long! :-) Can't wait to hear what you think of it when you do read it!
ReplyDelete