Fiction

JK Rowling Published a New Book in April…and Everybody Just Found Out About It

Jeff O'Neal

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Jeff O'Neal is the executive editor of Book Riot and Panels. He also co-hosts The Book Riot Podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @thejeffoneal.

Well, you don’t get breaking book news like this very often, but The Independent reported last night that J.K. Rowling revealed The Cuckoo’s Calling, a crime novel published this April, was written by her under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

cuckoo's callingRowling indicated that part of the reason for keeping her authorship a secret was freedom from the expectation of her name, The Independent reported: “It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.”

The Cuckoo’s Calling currently has a 4.01 star rating on Goodreads, with only 25 reviews. (I heard some estimates Saturday night that the book had only sold a few thousand copies to this point.) Generally, readers seem to find the book satisfying and entertaining, with special praise for the main character, Cormoran Strike (that name does seem like a Rowling character, doesn’t it?).

Strike is a down-on-his luck military veteran turned P.I. who is down to one client before the case of a supermodel’s suicide comes across his desk. This is a familiar crime novel set-up, but Rowling has impressed reviewers: Publishers Weekly gave The Cuckoo’s Calling a starred review, as did Library Journal, who also picked it as the Mystery Debut of the Month in April.

 

Crime fans had been speculating about the identity of Galbraith, and the break apparently came when someone noticed that Mr. Galbraith shared Rowling’s editor and publisher.

So…..you adding this to your summer reading list? Gotta admit: I’m interested.

 

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