MovieChat Forums > Strike (2018) Discussion > Disappointing mystery (mild SPOILERS)

Disappointing mystery (mild SPOILERS)

posted 8 years ago by filmklassik
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I read the novel, which had some good prose and dialogue, but did it really need to be 480 pages? It would've been much better as a 275 page mystery...

-- assuming the solution was better. As it is, the revelation about who killed the young model was terribly unsatisfying.

And why was the public and the entire London police force so quick to believe that the poor girl killed herself by jumping off a 3rd story balcony? Three stories?? What is that, like 30 friggin' feet?? Hardly high enough to guarantee death. More like a guarantee you'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life, and I'd venture very few "jumpers" have leapt from a height that low.

But no one but the detective seemed to find this remotely suspicious.

Weird. Not to mention silly.

[–] BrooklynBrimstone 8 years ago

Yeah I agree that "The Cuckoo's Calling" wasn't very memorable as far as murder mysteries go. I really didn't care about who killed Lula or anything about her past or the other characters involved, besides Cormoran and Robin (who are legitimately great characters).
In fact, as much as I enjoy J.K. Rowling as a writer (mostly for the Harry Potter series, if I'm being perfectly honest) and have read every book she's ever published, the only book I truly enjoyed from start to finish out of the Cormoran Strike series (so far) was the 3rd book, "Career of Evil".
It had all the elements I needed/wanted - Memorable villain (the killer was a legitimately scary predator and had a personal history w/ Cormoran and a vendetta against him), Character development (Robin and Cormoran's relationship was tested due to both their lives being at risk, mostly Robin's) and a twisty plot/central mystery (there was more than one potential suspect to narrow down - you don't get to be a top PI without making a few enemies along the way)!
Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are the only reason to read the first two books - both great characters that are worth tagging along behind even if the mysteries in the first two books were (in my opinion) severely lacking in originality. I'm eagerly anticipating the next (4th) book in the series, to see what happened after the wedding!

Light a fire, a fire, a spark
Light a fire, a flame in my heart

[–] ClementinaSpur (1201) a year ago

I've read The Cuckoo's Calling and am halfway through The Silkworm. I agree that the novels could be wrapped up with a much lower page count. I know the later novels approach 1,000 pages each which is daunting, and I can't possibly imagine why Galbraith/Rowling decided to extend the length.

This brings me to my point that the number of episodes the TV show devotes to each story is inadequate to help the viewer make sense of the mystery. I was genuinely surprised at some of the details that were left out of the TV show, such as Lula Landry's biological brother actually saw her fall to her death which explains his leaving the scene in a hurry as shown on the CCTV. There are other omissions and additions I won't detail here.

A lot of wiggle room has been given to portray the stories for TV, and yes, I understand that is necessary when adapting. I'm sure the number of episodes is determined by people other than the ones who write and produce the show, but it sure would be nice to see a pretty faithful adaptation.

I think a lot of the choices made for the TV show are meant to place Strike and Robin together a lot more than they are in the books, the first two stories at least. That makes sense because I think those two are the main reason people watch the show in the first place.