The Cuckoo's Calling

Many of the relationships in the novel, across personal and professional contexts, are portrayed as being built on trust and then shattered by intentional choices, which establishes a pattern of betrayal.

Lula is the clearest example of broken trust in the novel, as her lack of trust for the people around her contributes to her death. Several people in her life describe how the paparazzi bugged her phone, listening to her conversations for news stories. Rochelle shares a time that Lula tested the people around her by giving them different lies and seeing which ones made it to the press to discover who was talking about her to reporters. This all contributes to a deep sense of unease that Lula navigated while interacting with her loved ones. Her inability to trust the people around her made her increasingly paranoid, and she kept information to herself out of a desire for privacy. Because she could not trust the people around her, she arranged to meet her biological brother alone, opening herself up to John’s insidious plot.

Lula was also subjected to a loss of familial trust. Her mother, while under the effects of drugs, admits that Tony believed John killed Charlie decades before. This revelation, paired with John’s obsession with getting money from Lula, exposes who John really is. Lula is noted to have called her uncle and brother repeatedly throughout the day, presumably to get answers about Charlie’s death, but her trust was betrayed once again as neither of them answered her calls or provided her with the answers she needed. Because her access to information was restricted, her distrust grew, leaving her alone in her adoptive family with no one to turn to. It is this isolation that led her to leave Jonah her possessions in her will, escalating an already tense situation in an action directly driven by distrust.

Lula’s isolation is juxtaposed by Strike’s increasing access to people who care about him and express interest in his well-being. The novel begins with a betrayal as he and Charlotte break up because of her lies, putting him in a position of isolation that is not unlike Lula’s. However, Strike increasingly discovers people he can rely on, despite his grudgingness to accept their help. As he reveals more about his situation to Robin, Lucy, and others who care about him, he is increasingly surrounded by those who seek to help him find his place in the world. This is seen most clearly through his relationship with Robin, as the novel ends with the continuation of their business arrangement because of her quick thinking and dedication to their work. While Strike is still far from sharing his traumas, the people around him earn his trust, opening the door to future connectivity. He is thus better prepared to start his journey to emotional and physical healing, represented by his final visit to the doctor’s office at the book’s conclusion. 

Questions about family fill the novel’s plot as Lula searches for a connection with her biological family. As Strike relives her quest and interviews those close to her, he is often introspective about his own family and connections.

Strike’s background is fraught with difficulties and confusions. His mother was a “supergroupie” and his father is a rockstar, leaving Strike without stability or clear parental figures. He relays a nomadic childhood filled with instances of abuse and neglect, as his mother had a substance use disorder, and her transience meant there was little structure to his homelife. As a result, Strike is distant from his father’s side of the family and only maintains a relationship with his half-sister Lucy. Strike and Lucy’s responses to their childhood trauma vary. Strike shirked traditional family structures, deciding against children and partnering with a woman who shared his view. Lucy, however, stepped into a traditional nuclear family, resisting Strike’s viewpoint and “always miffed when he stated life aims that differed from hers, as though he were attacking her decisions and choices” (172). Lucy’s response to a tumultuous childhood is to internalize her experiences, focusing on traditional family formats as the ideal. Strike’s response is to understand that family only involves the people you want involved, a view that is broader and more generally accepting.

Lula’s internal conflict with family and belonging similarly builds on her uncertain familial structure. She lived with her biological mother until she was adopted by the Bristow family, who adopted her while they were grieving the death of their son, Charlie. Many interpreted Lula’s adoption as an intended distraction from Charlie’s loss, and as a child introduced into a grieving family, Lula struggled to know where she belonged. Because she was uncomfortable with her adoptive family, she sought out her biological family, wanting insight into her heritage and people she could trust. While searching for her biological family, Lula also created what is known as a “found family,” or a group of people whom she loved very much. For example, many people note that “Lula loved [G]uy like a brother” (113), and she participated in a promise ceremony with her partner Evan that was reminiscent of a marriage ceremony. These relationships reinforce Lula’s desire to find belonging in the world but are also contradicted by the experiences she had with these people that caused her to lose trust in them.

Lula’s search for family is complicated by her heritage. Lula is of both Black and white ancestry. Because she was raised by a white family in a predominantly white culture, Lula sought out her father’s side of the family in hopes to learn about her Black ancestry. It is through this pursuit that she successfully found her half-brother, establishing the connection she was so desperate to make. Her desire for family and identity, as well as her betrayal from her adoptive family members, culminates in her designing a will to support her half-brother. This symbol of familial love and intimacy drives John to kill his sister out of rage and greed. John’s actions demonstrate that growing up with a person and adhering to legal familial titles does not always equate to family. An individual can decide who is family and who is not in an instinctive manner, tied to emotion and a desire for connection.