THE CUCKOO'S CALLING - a short review

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I can't even remember the last time I stayed up all night reading a book, but I did tonight, with JK Rowling's "The Cuckoo's Calling." I had forgotten the feeling of simply being unable to put down a book. JKR has that capacity: her story draws you along with deceptive ease, and you find you are not even hooked, but simply there, living with her characters, moving along. The setting is superb - to those of us who live in London, everything is both recognizable and atmospheric - the characters, most of whom carry some wound, are fascinating and often lovable, the prose is perfect - not a word too much, and all of them working to create a world. The only slight problem is that the ending, although perfectly adequate, is the sort of thing that needed an Agatha Christie to have its full impact. JKR does it well, but not to the same level of crushing discovery. But of course, this is not a top genre writer working in the area she knows best, but a truly great novelist trying a genre new to her, and making, on the whole, a complete success of it.