Tag Archives: Kate Atkinson

Big Sky – Kate Atkinson

Big Sky – Kate Atkinson

Sadly, I have now finished all of the Jackson Brodie books. Number six – Death at the Sign of the Rook, has just been released, so it will be a while before another one is published.

Here’s the blurb …

Jackson Brodie, ex-military police, ex-Cambridge Constabulary, currently working as a private investigator, makes a highly anticipated return, nine years after the last Brodie, Started Early, Took My Dog.

Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son and an aging Labrador, both at the discretion of his ex-partner Julia. It’s picturesque, but there’s something darker lurking behind the scenes.

Jackson’s current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for his suspicious wife, is fairly standard-issue, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him into a sinister network—and back across the path of his old friend Reggie. Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breathtaking novel by one of the most dazzling and surprising writers at work today.

This was excellent. Different strands coming together in a beautiful tapestry. All of the good literary Atkinson things – literary references, great sense of place, fabulous characters (I particularly liked Harry and Bunny). A return of old characters – Reggie and Julia. Julia seems to live in Brodie’s head – always making comments on his thoughts.

Guardian Review

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Started Early, Took my Dog – Kate Atkinson

Started Early, Took My Dog – Kate Atkinson

I am continuing on my Jackson Brodie audio marathon (this narrator pronounces Niamh wrong, which is grating).

Here’s the blurb …

Tracy Waterhouse leads a quiet, ordered life as a retired police detective – a life that takes a surprising turn when she encounters Kelly Cross, a habitual offender, dragging a young child through town. Both appear miserable and better off without each other – or so decides Tracy, in a snap decision that surprises herself as much as Kelly. Suddenly burdened with a small child, Tracy soon learns her parental inexperience is actually the least of her problems, as much larger ones loom for her and her young charge.

Meanwhile, Jackson Brodie, the beloved detective of novels such as Case Histories, is embarking on a different sort of rescue – that of an abused dog. Dog in tow, Jackson is about to learn, along with Tracy, that no good deed goes unpunished.

This was very good. The new characters Tracy, Barry, Tilly and Courtney are excellent. I enjoyed getting their perspective (not Courtney – she’s only four). Jackson’s new dog was an added bonus. There were crimes and they do get solved, but it’s more about the characters, their interactions and how they develop or not over the course of the story.

A review.

I have read this before, so here is my previous thoughts. (It was 14 years ago).

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When Will There Be Good News – Kate Atkinson

When Will There Be Good News – Kate Atkinson

I am making my way through Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels – this one is number 3 (and I have read number 6, so just two more).

Here’s the blurb …

Three lives come together in unexpected and thrilling ways in Kate Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News?

On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason’s family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna’s life is changed forever…

On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly hears a shocking sound…

At the end of a long day, 16-year-old Reggie is looking forward to watching a little TV. Then a terrifying noise shatters her peaceful evening. Luckily, Reggie makes it a point to be prepared for an emergency…

These three lives come together in unexpected and deeply thrilling ways in the latest novel from Kate Atkinson, the critically acclaimed author who Harlan Coben calls “an absolute must-read.”

Kate Atkinson writes what I am calling ‘literary fiction’. There are references and quotes to other novels – Austen and Henry James for example. The characters are great, funny, annoying, kind. We get inside the heads of various characters and I love their internal monologues. I found myself inventing tasks so I could listen to this story.

A review.

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One Good Turn – Kate Atkinson

One Good Turn – Kate Atkinson

I enjoyed reading Death at the Sign of the Rook and I thought I would read the Brodie novels that I had missed. I listened to the audio version (it was very good).

Here’s the blurb …

Kate Atkinson began her career with a winner: Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which captured the Whitbread First Novel Award. She followed that success with four other books, the last of which was Case Histories, her first foray into the mystery-suspense-detective genre. In that book she introduced detective Jackson Brodie, who reopened three cold cases and ended up a millionaire. A great deal happened in-between.

In One Good Turn Jackson returns, following his girlfriend, Julia the actress, to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh. He manages to fall into all kinds of trouble, starting with witnessing a brutal attack by “Honda Man” on another man stuck in a traffic jam. Is this road rage or something truly sinister? Another witness is Martin Canning, better known as Alex Blake, the writer. Martin is a shy, withdrawn, timid sort who, in a moment of unlikely action, flings a satchel at the attacker and spins him around, away from his victim. Gloria Hatter, wife of Graham, a millionaire property developer who is about to have all his secrets uncovered, is standing in a nearby queue with a friend when the attack takes place. There is nastiness afoot, and everyone is involved. Nothing is coincidental.

Through a labyrinthine plot which is hard to follow because the points of view are constantly changing, the real story is played out, complete with Russians, false and mistaken identities, dead bodies, betrayals, and all manner of violent encounters. Jackson gets pulled in to the investigation by Louise Monroe, a police detective and mother of an errant 14-year-old. There might be yet another novel to follow which will take up the connection those two forge in this book. Or, Jackson might just go back to France and feed apples to the local livestock.

I think these novels should be read in the published order. There were a couple of references in Death at the Sign of the Rook that passed my by when I was reading it, but I understand more now.

I enjoyed this. Atkinson is a fabulous writer who has a soft spot for her characters. It’s told from various perspectives, Jackson, Martin, Louise, Paul Bradley (although not much from him) and Gloria. Then there are the other characters, ‘Honda man’, Tatiana, Pam, Archie. It’s funny, but also moving, and it ends in a satisfying way.

I am definitely going to read the rest – in the right order!

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Death at the Sign of the Rook – Kate Atkinson

Death at the Sign of the Rook – Kate Atkinson

I do like Kate Atkinson novels and I managed to get this one as an ARC.

Here’s the blurb …

The stage is set. Marooned overnight by a snowstorm in a grand country house are a cast of characters and a setting that even Agatha Christie might recognize – a vicar, an Army major, a Dowager, a sleuth and his sidekick – except that the sleuth is Jackson Brodie, and the ‘sidekick’ is DC Reggie Chase.

The crumbling house – Burton Makepeace and its chatelaine the Dowager Lady Milton – suffered the loss of their last remaining painting of any value, a Turner, some years ago. The housekeeper, Sophie, who disappeared the same night, is suspected of stealing it.

Jackson, a reluctant hostage to the snowstorm, has been investigating the theft of another The Woman with a Weasel, a portrait, taken from the house of an elderly widow, on the morning she died. The suspect this time is the widow’s carer, Melanie. Is this a coincidence or is there a connection? And what secrets does The Woman with a Weasel hold? The puzzle is Jackson’s to solve.?And let’s not forget that a convicted murderer is on the run on the moors around Burton Makepeace.

All the while, in a bid to make money, Burton Makepeace is determined to keep hosting a shambolic Murder Mystery that acts as a backdrop while the real drama is being played out in the house.

A brilliantly plotted, supremely entertaining, and utterly compulsive tour de force from a great writer at the height of her powers.

This is told from various different view points – Jackson, Reggie, Ben, Lady Milton, the Vicar, an escaped psychopath, and they all converge at the big house. It’s by turns funny and moving.

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Shrines of Gaiety – Kate Atkinson

Shrines of Gaiety – Kate Atkinson

I like all of Kate Atkinson’s novels – here’s a previous review – and I found this one compelling.

Here’s the blurb …

London 1926. Roaring Twenties.
Corruption. Seduction. Debts due.

In a country still recovering from the Great War, London is the focus for a delirious nightlife. In Soho clubs, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time.

There, Nellie Coker is a ruthless ruler, ambitious for her six children. Niven is the eldest, his enigmatic character forged in the harsh Somme. But success breeds enemies. Nellie faces threats from without and within. Beneath the gaiety lies a dark underbelly, where one may be all too easily lost.

This novel was beautifully written (and researched). It’s all about London night life of the 1920s, everyone is trying to have a good time after the deprivations of the war. But it is also about the seedier elements of the nightlife; the crime, the drugs and the girls (who seem disposable).

This is definitely one of my favourite books for the year.

A review

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Started Early, Took My Dog – Kate Atkinson

I’ve always liked Kate Atkinson’s novels. Whenever I see a new one I have to grab it straight away. This one was no exception – I really enjoyed it.

Here’s the blurb …

A day like any other for security chief Tracy Waterhouse, until she makes a purchase she hadn’t bargained for. One moment of madness is all it takes for Tracy’s humdrum world to be turned upside down, the tedium of everyday life replaced by fear and danger at every turn.

Witnesses to Tracy’s Faustian exchange in the Merrion Centre in Leeds are Tilly, an elderly actress teetering on the brink of her own disaster, and Jackson Brodie, who has returned to his home county in search of someone else’s roots. All three learn that the past is never history and that no good deed goes unpunished.

The story is told from the view points of the three protagonists; Tilly, Jackson and Tracy. Each of them have a unique voice and are believable as characters – I particularly enjoyed Tilly’s descent into dementia.

Tracy, as a young police officer, attended the scene of a murder (the body was undiscovered for three weeks). The victim had a young child who managed to survive for the three weeks on the food he could scavenge or reach in the flat. This child enters the welfare system and effectively disappears. Jackson Brodie is trying to trace the origins of Hope McMaster who was adopted and now wants to know about her past. Tilly is an aging actress fending off senility.  Their paths cross in unusual and unexpected ways and the ending although appearing to head in a particular direction is surprising.

Alongside the three main people, there is a cast of well written characters – the dodgy (and incredibly sexist) police, Julia (Jackson’s ex-lover), the actress with whom Tilly shares a house, I could go on for ever.

Atkinson creates a real sense of place – a grim, dark and dirty place.

Although this is quite a dark novel, there are a few light-hearted moments that keep it from being too depressing.

Here are some other reviews …

http://www.readings.com.au/review/started-early-took-my-dog-kate-atkinson

http://afocusonfiction.blogspot.com/2010/09/started-early-took-my-dog-kate-atkinson.html

http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/started-early-took-my-dog-by-kate.html

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