He’s been turning in many excellent acting performances over the years, but it’s his portrayal of Kate Atkinson’s private investigator Jackson Brodie that has got pulses racing.

You can’t fault his acting as Lucius Malfoy, but I can’t fancy him in, what he calls, his “Paris Hilton wig”. As Jackson in Case Histories (reviewed by Inkface) there is much to enjoy.

There’s the purely physical of course – a brawny, chiselled sexiness reminiscent of Daniel Craig, combined with tear-filled eyes and a gravelly voice that would produce goosebumps if you heard it your kitchen (or any other room in the house…).

It’s easy to see why women like Jackson – he’s damaged goods but not in a bad way, despite an imposing physical presence he’s clearly vulnerable, he’s a good man trying to do the right thing – and projecting that on to the aforementioned brawny canvas produces an irresistible object of desire. And getting him to take his shirt off a lot helps too.

As do the interviews Mr Isaacs gives which dismiss being a sex symbol as nonsense and show him to be a big softy as far as his kids are concerned.

I can only hope we get more Case Histories before too long. (Although after the BBC declined to give us more of the fabulous Zen, I’m not holding my breath).

Posted by Jo the Hat

All manner of Jason Isaacs goodness at LoveFilm and Amazon

So could I bear a TV adaptation? Would it mess with the Brodie in my head? Well yes it does, kind of. But that’s ok. I rate Jason Isaacs, AKA Lucius Malfoy, as being up there with Alan Rickman in terms of someone who makes pure evil appear entirely appealing.

In the books, Kate Atkinson superbly carves out a very clever, choppy set of narratives, which is why the novels bear repeat reading, and this complexity is hard to replicate on-screen. But they’ve done a decent job of it nonetheless. I’m not going into plot detail, except to say Brodie is a soft-hearted private detective who finds it hard to say no to damsels in distress, even vitriolic, racist old biddies who have lost their cats. He is haunted by a childhood tragedy involving his sister, and gets drawn to a number of cases involving women, including one where two sisters ask him to look into the mysterious disappearance of their younger sibling decades before.

What’s to enjoy:

• They’ve chosen to give it a backdrop of Edinburgh, and this is shot beautifully
• Brodie has superb taste in music, encompassing the likes of Alison Krauss and Nanci Griffith, tracks from whom are played throughout
• Phil Davis is in it. Genius
• Natasha Little is very good too
• Once you get past the spectre of Jason Isaacs as the splendidly evil Lucius Malfoy, you can enjoy him being a good guy. He does a lot of running around attractive Edinburgh locations (see first point) and gets all sweaty. Nuff said.
• There are more superb novels for the creators of this to draw on when they’ve finished making Case Histories. Rivalling Jackson Brodie as a top character is the truly delightful messed-up detective, Louise Munroe, who we meet in the next novel.
• Overall, it’s top telly

The nudge that I needed to post this was watching the first episode in the BBC adaptation of the novels last night. During the episode Jackson did indeed have some tea in a plant filled tea room with columns that looked like somewhere I need to go. If I remember rightly, the novel is set in Cambridge and the BBC drama last night was in Edinburgh, so no chance in finding the location in the book. Did anyone recognise it?

The second episode is on tonight, so I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any future tea venues.

With Started Early, Took My Dog, Atkinson has two main characters:  Jackson Brodie, a sort-of retired PI whom we have seen and enjoyed in previous books, and Tracy Waterhouse, a plumpish, tough-ish 50+ cop on the cusp of retirement.  There are a myriad of other characters, as well, and story lines that happen today juxtaposed against those that happen in the 1970s.   This mystery is not for skimmers – it requires the reader to read slowly and pay attention.

I think that’s great.  The New York Times review comments “…Ms. Atkinson (is) a darling of other writers, who understandably admire the wizardry of her techniques.”  Guess I’m one of those admirers.

Children – having them, caring for them, neglecting them, stealing them, abandoning them, wishing for them, dealing with them, learning from them, loving them – populate the novel, and confusion about the fate of a child from long ago is one of the mysteries unravelled.  There’s the small child discovered locked in an apartment with the mother’s weeks-dead body.  There’s a child given to the childless couple, who emigrate to Australia.  And then there’s the child that Tracy Waterhouse buys outside a shopping mall from a skanky, shiftless low-life woman, well-known to Child Protective Services.

Tracy’s story – hiding out, and then on the lam with Courtney – is scary and lovely at the same time, as the reader learns more about Tracy and Tracy learns more about herself and what she is capable of.   Brodie’s search involves doggedly following the clues where they lead.

And for those who want to know “what about the dog?” I’ll just say that there is a dog and he is a wonderful character in his own right.  Brodie’s investigation is richer for having to schlep around a small, smart, and scrappy dog.  The dog repays Brodie’s rescue in kind.  Very satisfying.

Needless to say, Atkinson pulls the plot threads (and a couple more that I’ve ignored in this review) together at the end, in an interesting and satisfactory way.

I don’t usually choose crime novels when selecting fictitious fare, although I have read my fair share of them in the past (John Grisham, Stuart Woods, Mario Puzo, John le Carré). However, One Good Turn by Edinburgh-based, bestselling author Kate Atkinson was a welcome change of pace and a literary mystery novel that unravels several crimes slowly and with great intrigue as well as humour. Atkinson’s characterizations are so detailed and the plot so complex that I really don’t know what to say about it that will do it any more justice than all the professional, critically acclaimed media reviews that have come before. It was an absolute delight to read and one helluva gripping page turner!

One Good Turn is set in contemporary Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which for me, made for an interesting backdrop because I’m such an Arts lover and I’ve always wanted to attend the Festival. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t as much detail about it as I’d hoped but it didn’t put me off the rest of the story and it does include a has-been stand-up comedian named Richard Mott to lend authenticity. Although the book reintroduces former police inspector turned man-of-leisure millionaire Jackson Brodie and his aloof actress girlfriend Julia (who I didn’t like one bit but has a play running at the Festival which is why Brodie’s in Edinburgh) from Atkinson’s previous novel, Case Histories, you don’t have to have read it to enjoy the suspenseful One Good Turn.

The plot revolves around the participants in and witnesses of a fender bender that’s immediately followed by a brutal road rage attack. This action sets the stage for a series of exciting and complicated events that are all interrelated but we don’t know exactly how until the end of the story, which concludes in a matter of four days, in one of those whopping A-HA moments!

The narration oscillates between the main characters which include an asexual, diffident but thriving crime novelist named Martin Canning (a.k.a. Alex Blake who writes about a 1940s English female detective named Nina Riley and is vaguely reminiscent of Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote) who witnesses the baseball bat beating by thug Terrence Smith of unsuspecting motorist Paul Bradley. Martin reacts by throwing his laptop at Smith which knocks him off of Bradley just in time for the police to step in and then Martin finds himself accompanying Bradley to the hospital and strangeness ensues.

The incident is also witnessed by Jackson Brodie (who additionally discovers a female floater in the bay which sets up an equally interesting subplot), Archie Monroe and Gloria Hatter, a middle-aged, wealthy woman with a penchant for following rules, who is ironically married to criminal construction tycoon Graham of Hatter Homes – Real Homes For Real People – and stands as the moral center of the story.

Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Louise Monroe is struggling with a 24/7 career that leaves little time for her to keep an eye on her 14-year-old son Archie, who goaded on by his buddy Hamish, may or may not be sinking into dark waters that are too deep for him to tread…or is that Brodie who is falling deeper and deeper into the mystifying peripheral events of the story?

One Good Turn embodies really great storytelling and even the secondary characters will keep the reader enthralled.

The novel also includes a conversation with the author at the back of the book, questions and topics for discussion if chosen by a book club, and the first chapter of Atkinson’s subsequent novel, When Will There Be Good News?, which gives One Good Turn’s Chief Inspector Louise Monroe and Jackson Brodie another mystery to solve.

Jackson Brodie also stars in her latest novel, Started Early, Took My Dog and according to Atkinson’s website he will soon be appearing in a six-part television series adapted from Case Histories, One Good Turn and When Will There Be Good News? for BBC One. Now, I’ll have to go back and read all of these books because I know they’ll make for some terrific television! But who will play Jackson Brodie?! (I think Colin Firth or Eric Bana might be a good choice!)

Tracy Waterhouse is supplementing her pension from the police force by working as the head of mall security when she makes an impulsive purchase, setting into motion one helluva ride for Tracy, one that will have you rooting for this most unlikely heroine.

Jackson Brodie is trying to find the biological parents of an adopted woman raised in Australia. Her text messages to Brodie alone are the work of great invention by Atkinson, as we come to know this character we never see. Women confuse and perplex Brodie, including his new client.

How these two disparate stories overlap shows Atkinson at her best, in this fourth offering featuring Brodie. Dogs figure here: pursuers by, accompanied, neglected and adopted. Then throw in an elderly actress, slowly sinking into dementia. And the children: there are children here, too, some at risk, others waiting to be loved. There is also a tragedy from the past the needs to be unraveled, involving a police cover-up.

In the hands of a less skilled writer, these threads might have become confusing, but Atkinson keeps you turning pages long after you should have put the light out. She gets the varied voices and mental streams just right, as the past haunts all three of these people.  Even the changes in voice are revealed to be a deliberate device, affecting the plot.

It all works out in the end, with the important questions answered. This is a highly original novel from a writer at the top of her game.

Jackson Brodie has been hired by Hope McMasters to find her birth parents.  As he pursues the few leads he has, it seems he’s crossing paths with another detective, Brian Jackson, who has been hired to find someone else.

Retired detective Tracy Waterhouse is out shopping one day and witnesses a scene that appalls her.  She reacts in an unexpected way and ends up with something she didn’t bargain for.

Aging actress Tilly is trying to do her job, but dementia is eating away at her brain, so everything is difficult for her.   She seems to be living in the past more than the present.

Readers discover that the current mysteries are tied to one from the past when the characters’ worlds collide.

I’ve heard great things about Kate Atkinson‘s work, so I was really excited to read Started Early, Took My Dog.  I liked the book a lot, but didn’t quite love it.  The book is Atkinson’s fourth Jackson Brodie novel, and I suspect I would have enjoyed it more if I’d read the previous books.  Some background was filled in, but when it was, I still felt like I was missing something.

The book is technically a mystery, but it’s not the heart-pounding, page-turning thriller type of mystery – it’s more literary in nature.  It’s quiet and thought provoking and leaves several questions unanswered in the end.

Told in the third person from several points of view, and alternating between the present day and 1975, Started Early, Took My Dog is a solid mystery with fantastic characterization.  This book will appeal to both mystery and literary fiction lovers.

To see more thoughts and join in on a discussion of the book, be sure to check the read-along on the Reagan Arthur Books Challenge blog.

Challenge: Reagan Arthur Books Challenge

Review copy provided by Hachette Books. I am an Indiebound Affiliate.

As you will gather from the title, it’s about the investigation into the theft of several letters from a post box in the village of Burley Cross and it’s the inhabitants of the village and its environs that are the characters in the book – and what characters they are. The story is told in the form of letters : ie. an epistolary novel. The letters reveal a whole host of secrets, prejudices and pettiness, but it takes an age to get through some of these long rambling letters (complete with underlinings, exclamation marks in abundance and sometimes footnotes) , that the reader is likely to forget what the plot is about if (s)he stops reading at a vital point. Reviews of this book on Amazon are very mixed – from five stars to one. One reviewer sums it up very nicely, if  Mr D J Brindle doesn’t mind me quoting him: “this is a tale of a load of letters written by a bunch of objectionables that are normally the sort you’d try your very, very best to avoid reading. Whether you choose to avoid reading this book is up to you”

It’s also disappointing since Nicola Barker has won several awards and been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize with one of her earlier novels Darkmans [Fourth Estate £9.99 978-0007193639] which I’ve now requested from the library.  So maybe I’m missing something here, but I’m certainly not alone!

This week saw the first episode of “The Crimson Petal and the White” on BBC2. This is certainly not your normal costume drama, dealing as it does with a well read prostitute named Sugar who is taken up by wealthy perfumer, William Rackham, whose wife is slowly going mad. It’s adapted from the novel of the same name by Michael Faber [ Canongate £9.99 978-1847678935]. It’s not a pleasant story, but the book apparently is, according to the Guardian reviewer Kathryn Hughes, the novel that Dickens would have written, had he been allowed to speak freely. I somehow doubt it.  I have to say that it’s not my cup of tea, but if you enjoyed the first episode on the telly, then you might like the book too.

One book which I am hoping to get hold of in the near future is Started early, took my Dog by Kate Atkinson, which is no 17 in the official UK book charts as of last Saturday according to The Bookseller magazine. At first sight this appears to be another detective novel, but it seems that there’s much more to it than that: it features private eye Jason Brody, a cop-turned-security- guard, Tracy Waterhouse (who makes a “shocking” impulse purchase) and the almost-retired DS Barry Crawford. Then there are a few more intriguing characters plus the dog called The Ambassador. A “must read” I think. Oh and by the way, Jason Brodie is coming to BBC 1 soon – look out for “Case Histories”.

In Kate Atkinson’s terrific — and terrifically intricate — new novel, Started Early, Took My Dog, reluctant private detective Jackson Brodie sets his GPS for his boyhood home in North Yorkshire. “The voice on Jackson’s SatNav was ‘Jane,’ with whom he had been in a contentious relationship for a long time now.”

No surprise there. Over the course of three previous books, Jackson’s women invariably inspire, disappoint and confuse him. Now he’s ostensibly looking for his second wife Tessa, who disappeared with his money, but he’s really “looking for a peg to hang his hat on, an old dog looking for a new kennel, one untainted by the past. A fresh start. Somewhere there was a place for him. All he had to do was find it.”

Meanwhile, he’ll see if he can find an Australian woman’s British birth parents. This new quest will eventually intersect with other stories playing out both in the past and present. In one, Tracy Waterhouse, a retired cop working mall security, impulsively buys a little girl from her abusive mother and prepares to reinvent her life. This is the same Tracy, who in the book’s beginning scene in 1975, is a rookie who discovers a toddler in horrific circumstances. Then there’s Tilly, the aging actress who has a bit part in a TV detective show and whose wig and memory keep slipping.  Jackson’s former lover Julia appears in the same popular series, which Jackson despises for its its “neat sanitized narrative.”

Atkinson’s narrative is hardly that. By all appearances, it’s a hot mess, lots of jumping around in totally different directions. But wait. Trust Atkinson’s GPS.  She knows exactly where the book is going as she turns left, right, left again, doubles back, then straight on to the roundabout as the characters try to save others and themselves.

Jackson comes into possession of a winsome border terrier after punching out its cruel owner. Tracy, determined to protect young Courtney, confides in her former partner, who is grieving his own great losses. A gray car with a pink furry rabbit drooping from its rearview mirror shadows Tracy, then Jackson. Linda the social worker keeps missing appointments. Hope McMasters texts Jackson from Australia: Any luck finding her parents?

Luck, coincidence, fate. Emily Dickinson’s poetry. The old refrain, “for want of a nail.” These are among the coordinates Atkinson maps with such acuity.

She has used this same narrative technique to good effect in the previous Jackson Brodie books, but she’s brilliant in Started Early, Took My Dog. Tricky plot. Memorable characters. Perfect ending. For fans, she’s certainly answered the title of her last novel, When Will There Be Good News? 

Open Book: I bought my hardcover copy of Started Early, Took My Dog (Little, Brown) when it was first published a couple weeks ago and read it immediately. Then I read it again.

The Short Version:

The Rating: Something wonderful about coming home and reading a book in a day.  Especially a decent sized one, like this.  This was a recommendation from the always-reliable Biblioracle over at The Morning News and, interestingly enough, a book I already had – had gotten for free – and had forgotten about until just a few weeks ago.  My sister got it for free when she bought a bunch of things at Waterstones before coming home last summer.  It was for one of the two of us to read but we never got round to it and, before long, it just ended up on the table in the living room and was mostly forgotten.  Then, about two weeks ago, I saw that the newest Jackson Brodie book was featured on The Staff Recommends and the name rang enough of a bell that I remembered this book sitting at home.  Then, less than six hours before I got on a train to come home for the weekend, The Biblioracle ends up recommending it to me.  That, my friends, is some cosmic awesomeness if I’ve ever seen it.

Anyway, the book itself: good-not-great.  That’s the best way I can describe it.  I read it in a day without pushing, although I admit to reading most of the day.  There was something comforting about Atkinson’s assured writing – but it also felt a little too convenient, a little too simple.  Jackson Brodie is not like the other named cops who show up in the mysteries I tend to read.  Harry Hole sticks vividly in my head because Jo Nesbo writes in a particular fashion, the entire Dublin Murder Squad are fully realized in Tana French’s novels – same with detectives going back to Poirot and Holmes.  Brodie just… is.  I can’t picture him in my head, much as I can’t really picture most of the other characters from the novel.  There are vague outlines of these individuals but nothing distinct.  A happy, somewhat hazy presence – but nothing that I imagine will stick.  I don’t need to know what Jackson will be up to next.  If we happen to run into each other, great – but he didn’t nail the introduction and so I’m not left wanting more.

The book itself clicks together in that satisfying puzzle way, with pieces slotting into place on queue.  There was a pleasant realization that I was smarter than the author when I predicted most of the major plot twists around… 1pm.  But it wasn’t a “HA!” I’m-better-than-you feeling – just a satisfaction at realizing that this book wasn’t going to be challenging, wasn’t going to keep me up.  I could put it down and come back later – I wouldn’t have that gnawing urge to just read it straight through.  It is a well-constructed mystery that deftly juggles three different stories before bringing them together satisfactorily – if a little too neatly.  There was something just a bit too nice about the way all of these stories intersected.  Something that felt artificial.  Sure, it was heartwarming to see the connections come together and leave everyone happy – but it rang false, in a way.  Perhaps because these ‘case histories’ were all rather violent and saddening – and there’s such a sad story in Brodie’s own past, revealed rather abruptly and somewhat hamfistedly 2/3rds of the way through – that the happy ending felt… wrong.  I mean, it’s nice in a Hollywood way, but completely artificial by any other reckoning.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.  It isn’t an exceptional novel, it isn’t even a great one.  That said, it was well-written and entertaining and had this sort of warm feeling to it, much like sitting in the sun in the living room of your parents’ house and knowing you don’t have to think about a damn thing but the book in your hands.  It was, in that sense, exactly what I needed.  I’m not sure I’d recommend it, but I’m sure glad Mr. Warner did – the timing was, as always, impeccable.

One Good Turn is the second book in the Jackson Brodie series, the first being Case Histories which I reviewed here.

In the follow-up, we find Jackson Brodie in Edinburgh at the festival, which he is attending for the sake of his actress girlfriend Julia (remember her from Case Histories?). While Julia is acting in the worst kind of fringe theatre, Jackson somewhat aimlessly explores the town. He ponders Julia’s emotional distance, and the curse of being well-off but being without a purpose. But things happen and soon Jackson is witness to a car accident with a violent thug and finds the body of a young woman which then promptly disappears again. There’s also meek Martin Canning, writer of light old-fashioned mysteries, who loses his wallet and novel and is falsely identified as a murder victim; and Gloria Hatter, hopefully soon-to-be widow of a property developer (of crappy houses); and a mysterious company called Favours; a crazy Russian girl; and Louise Monroe, a police officer, trying to make sense of the confusing going-ons and her errant son Archie.

As in Case Histories, Atkinson creates a pastiche of these seemingly unrelated stories, hopping from perspective to perspective with each chapter. But don’t worry, every character has a strong voice and is memorable enough to make it no problem at all to reconnect with them. The great thing with this style is that with every chapter,  a piece of the puzzle fell into place, which is probably why I raced through this book, Atkinson’s plotting is only surpassed by her writing. Her writing is an absolute joy; it’s lively but descriptive and despite her demonstrations of the meanness and misery of the human condition, her sarcastic commentary made me laugh out loud every other page.

Where Case Histories was heart-wrenching in its depiction of grief and loss, and felt more melancholy in tone, One Good Turn is more of a fun romp. Or it will be for you, if you can appreciate the author’s caustic humour. The main characters are scarily real but when they interact, the housewife and the crazy Russian girl, there are lots of moments for more light fun. I quite admire how Atkinson can expose human behaviour so completely but still balance this with a fun puzzle and moments of slapstick like attitude. Fun moments also come from Martin being a crime writer and Atkinson poking fun at writers, publishers and the whole gang.

I love Atkinson for bringing her considerable writing talent to the supposedly unworthy genre of crime fiction, for using a German word and spelling it correctly, for characters who apologize for using split infinitives, for exploring the concept of masculinity in Jackson and especially Martin, and for making all of this into one amazing read!

Favorite passages:

On the road rage:

“Even Martin had wondered at first if it was another show- a faux-imprompto piece intended either to shock or to reveal our immunity to being shocked because we lived in a global media community where we had become passive voyeurs of violence (and so on).”

“What must it have felt like to have pinned your colours to the standard of a just war, to have experienced so many noble feelings (yes, a lot of propaganda, but the kernel of it was true), to have been released from the burden of individualism?”

“Gloria often had the impression that her life was a series of rooms she walked into that everyone else had just left.”

“Gloria felt suspicious of people who had no time for sugar, it was a personality flaw, like preferring weak tea. Tea and sugar were a test of character.”

“Sometimes Gloria wondered where she had been when feminism occurred in the kitchen making interesting packed lunches, presumably.”

“Martin couldn’t imagine a world where there was no time to read.”

“Tarvit slumped in his chair as if languor and bad posture were a mark of masculinity”.

Other thoughts:

Shelf Love

Have you reviewed this book? Let me know and I’ll add a link!

Took the train up to Edinburgh recently, just for the day, in order to visit the exhibition of Joan Mitchell’s work at Inverleith House in the Royal Botanic Garden. Okay, a longish way, not so far off ten hours in  total on the train, but it was a comfortable enough journey and, aside from window gazing (great views of the sea, quite stormy, from Berwick upon Tweed north), I managed quite a bit of reading – and, at least, unlike Jackson Brodie in When Will There Be Good News?, I was travelling in the right direction. Besides, not so very long ago (2002) I flew over to New York to see the major retrospective of Mitchell’s paintings at the Whitney, so this was nothing …

It says much about the position of woman artists internationally, both now and in the recent past, that this is the first solo museum showing of Joan Mitchell’s painting in Great Britain. Mitchell began painting in her home city of Chicago, lived briefly in Paris with her first husband, before moving to New York in the early 1950s amidst the tumult of early abstract expressionism. Encouraged by Willem de Kooning and the poet and art critic/curator Frank O’Hara, she seems to have succeeded to a significant extent in keeping her head above water in what must have been an intensely masculine, testosterone-fuelled environment. (By all accounts, she swore like a stevedore and could drink many men under the table) In 1957, her work was included, along with that of fellow women artists Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan and Jane Freilicher in an important group show at New York’s Jewish Museum, Artists of the New York School: Second Generation. But by 1959, she had moved to Paris along with her lover, the Canadian painter, Jean-Paul Riopelle, and France was where she spent most of the remainder of her life, until she died in 1992.

Landscape and nature were always, I think, an important element in her painting, an element which helped to give a structure to the abstraction, and living and working in France, she naturally took on the influence of such artists as Monet, Cezanne and Matisse. This influence is already clear in some of the earlier pieces in the Edinburgh exhibition, which, although small, gains greatly from its situation, the gallery’s high windows looking out towards the trees and shrubbery of the Botanical Garden outside. And there’s a full and persuasive review of the show by Jackie Wullschlager in the Financial Times.

If I had to choose one painter whose work I could live with to the exclusion of any other, Joan Mitchell would be the one.

The world of Kate Atkinson’s crime fiction is built on coincidence and peopled by characters, at least one of whose close relatives or otherwise loved ones is dead or dying, often as a result of some violent accident or suicide.

“A coincidence,” her private detective, Jackson Brodie, tells Louise, the policewoman who is his erstwhile lover, “is just an explanation waiting to happen.”
“Shut it, sunshine,” Louise responds. She might well have said, “Not here it isn’t. Not without waiting a bloody long time. And even then …”

It must be important to Atkinson that we understand that and accept it, as the same statement occurs twice in the same book, When Will There Be Good News?, pp 216 & 402. And you either accept the fact that her narratives depend upon the most far-fetched coincidences she can imagine, or you vote not to play, set the book aside, or – and I’ve known this – hurl it against the nearest wall.

Take this for example. Jackson Brodie, instead of catching the train south from Edinburgh towards London, his destination, takes the train travelling in quite the opposite direction, King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, and doesn’t notice – even when it’s pointed out to him. Doesn’t notice, in fact, until Atkinson has got him where she wants him and gets the train to crash exactly at the spot close to the house in which another of her, as yet unconnected, characters is spending the evening– the crash itself caused by the wayward driving (or was it an act of suicide?) of that house’s owner. And that’s not all, a recently released murderer is travelling on the same train and in the consequent mix up and rescue, his and Brodie’s wallets and papers become exchanged.

It’s confusing, but I think I’ve got it right, the jist of it at least.

And to accept it takes a leap of faith not far short of the one required to believe in transubstantiation. Accept it, as believe it, that is. An alternative is to shrug and say, okay, that’s what happens in these books, this world, just accept it and read on. Which you do – I do now, though there were times when I thought I might not.

I read the first book, Case Histories, just after it came out and liked it quite a lot. Started the second and didn’t take to it at all. Then, a few weeks back, in Waterstone’s, they were selling signed first edition hardcover copies of the new, fourth book, Started Early, Took My Dog, at half price and I thought, why not?  (See, it works) Loved the title, anyway. Liked the book. A lot. The more far-fetched bits of story here – and there are more than a few – are interestingly anchored by a back story of a crime that occurred at the same time as the Peter Sutcliffe murders and in a similar location, which runs the danger of making the main narrative less ‘real’ but rides it out successfully. Works well, in fact.

So after that I bought and read book three, When Will There Be Good News?, the one which turns on the train crash of coincidences above, and found I loved it. Loved it for the characters – mostly the female characters, Brodie aside – and at least one, the undersized heroic Reggie, sixteen though no one believes her, you want to not just keep reading about, you want to take her home and be nice to her, make her realise her worth. Then there’s Louise, the police inspector who’s married the wrong man, and Dr. Jo Hunter, who has had to teach herself to be invincible, and is strong enough not only to coping with the awful traumas of her past, but strong enough [SPOILER WARNING] to force a ball point pen deep into a man’s eye if that’s what it takes to ensure nothing similar happens again.

Beyond that,  I loved the book for the social comedy, the sardonic observation. Wouldn’t surprise me to discover that in her past Kate Atkinson had been a bit of a fan of Jane Austen.

Finally, I’m not even sure if, despite the fact that crime provides their motor, these books are crime novels at all. Or if they are, they’re a very special kind.

‘Started Early, Took My Dog’ is the fourth in what has become a series of ‘literary crime’ novels, as they have been pigeon-holed by publishers/bookshops not by me, featuring Jackson Brodie. Yet if you are now worrying ‘oh I haven’t read the other three’ fear not because what is brilliant about this set of books is that they all stand alone and (as a few of my family members have – not naming any names) you could read them in any order. But let’s get onto what ‘Started Early, Took My Dog’ is all about shall we?

To try and encapsulate the story or plot of ‘Started Early, Took My Dog’ is actually quite difficult. It’s quite a complex plot, though not so complex you have no enjoyment in it in fact quite the opposite, told over two periods in time and through several different view points in each. As the main story, told in the present day, opens we are in Yorkshire where Jackson Brodie has come out of ‘semi retirement’ as a private investigator to look into the past of Hope McMaster who was adopted and taken to New Zealand. We also have Matilda ‘Tilly’ Squires an aging and slightly forgotten actress in the Yorkshire drama ‘Collier’ who is suffering from the start of dementia. We also have Tracy Waterhouse a former Sergeant for the West Yorkshire Police and now Head of Security in the Merrion Shopping Centre  who is completely unaware that she is about to do something that will change her life forever.

The second interweaving back story from mid 1970’s when Yorkshire was in the grip of several serial killers. This is where we meet a much younger Tracy and her colleagues investigating the murder of a prostitute and her son who vanishes from orphanage to orphanage as if someone wants him not to be found. How does all this weave together and what does it have to do with the aforementioned Tilly and Jackson? Well you would have to read the book to find out and you really should because the way Atkinson does it is not only incredibly clever (without leaving the reader completely lost) it’s also very readable.

The more I read of Atkinson’s work and in particular this series, the more of a genius I think she is. Not only do you have a mystery or two in the book to work out, you have this overall mystery of just how on earth everything interlinks and with ‘Started Early, Took My Dog’ she draws out the process by introducing each character and bringing their circumstances and personalities to the fore. No one dimensional characters here, not even if they are merely in the book for a page or two. All the main characters are marvellous, readable and real. In doing so she also gets to voice her thoughts on both issues from the past (in this case the serial killings in the seventies which gripped the nation and left many women in fear) and in the present (prostitution, child welfare, the recession, dementia) through their back stories which makes it even a fuller read. If you are reading them in order and for Jackson Brodie (as my Gran does) then he does soften a little in this one and all because of the most surprising new sidekick.

I also think ‘Started Early, Took My Dog’ has learnt from its excellent predecessors. It has the darkness of ‘Case Histories’, the humour – though less farcical and more contained – of ‘One Good Turn’ and the brilliant complexities of the coincidental plotting in ‘When Will There Be Good News?’ whilst also like its predecessors being nothing like any that have gone before it. I can’t wait for the next one!

A book that will: show you why crime fiction can be so good and why its so annoying that some of it doesn’t get a mention in the big prize long lists. 10/10

I don’t think I can suggest any perfect prose partners for this other than the earlier books in the series. I could suggest some of the Sophie Hannah or Susan Hill crime novels because Hannah makes the impossible and complex possible, and Hill interweaves crime with great social awareness and themes, yet though I love them dearly Atkinson seems to interweave the two. If you haven’t read these then you really must. If you have read this and/or its predecessors what did you think? Which other novels by Atkinson have you tried? I really must give ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’ a whirl.

Some new titles that I am very happy to see coming soon are;

Kate Atkinson, Started early, took my dog.   It features her hero Jackson Brodie again, and he is a very likeable creation.  If you haven’t read any of these books, the first one is Case Histories.  If you like crime, but really well written crime with well developed characters, it is definately worth trying.  It is coming out in September

Don Winslow, Savages.   This is another book involving drug cartels, this time in Mexico.  His previous drug cartel thriller, The Power of the Dog.  was largely about South America, and I tell you, you DO NOT WANT TO MESS WITH THOSE GUYS.  It was very violent, and so is this one.  But again, good writing.   This one is coming in August.

Lee Child,  Worth Dying for.    If you read 61 hours which came out in March this year, you will know that it ended with  a cliff-hanger.  What was going to happen to Jack Reacher?   Lee Child is going to end the suspense in October this year.  Child usually only produces one book a year, so this is a treat for the fans.

If you would like to pre-order any of the above titles, email or ring us, or leave a comment on the blog, and we will reserve a copy for you.  They are all $32.95

Happy reading, Heather

This is a cracking crime novel/thriller, with three-dimensional characters and real emotional depth.  Often when I read books that are described as ‘literary thrillers’, I can feel that the ‘literary’ side of things is compromised by having to adhere to a recognisably ‘crime’ or ‘thriller’ structure. Not so here. This book feels like a fully realised piece of work.

The book is set in Edinburgh during the Fringe festival, and opens with a road rage incident. While in his car, a mysterious, shady character is shunted from behind by another driver, a psychopath who then starts attacking him with a baseball bat. A mild-mannered, middle-aged writer intervenes and becomes an unlikely hero.  The attack is  witnessed by ex-cop Jackson Brodie, along with two women who are waiting to attend a Fringe show.  This violent incident sends ripples through all of these – and several other – people’s lives, and they become embroiled in a story that involves a corrupt property developer, a hitman, and a dead Russian girl.

Not keen on this cover design.

This is a novel that is as much about the inner lives of its characters as it is about the outward crime story that it tells.  Atkinson devotes a lot of time to the backstory and inner thoughts of each of her characters, and over the course of the novel each of them experiences their own unique emotional journey.

However, it is also a cracking crime story that’s cleverly plotted and which throws up some genuine surprises at times.  Atkinson does a great job of bringing together such a disparate group of characters to form a gripping, exciting narrative.

Great characters, great story, and laced with a subtle humour throughout – this is an absorbing and brilliantly written book, and it’s left me feeling hungry to read more of Kate Atkinson’s work.

Reggie, a plucky sixteen year old steals the show, managing to overshadow the familiar and somewhat complex Jackson Brodie who we have met in previous outings. Reggie is an orphan with a precocious wit and a predisposition to solving crime, who I hope we will meet again, alongside Louise Marlow, a world weary detective with ongoing feelings for Jackson Brodie, and the man himself, who manages to spend part of the book in a coma, after a train crash, but still has a brooding effect on everyone he encounters. (But not while he’s in the coma of course!)

You could say the general theme of the book is loss, and how to keep going, and the initial chapters relay the story of a young girl who is the only remaining survivor after her mother, brother and sister are brutally murdered. Escapism you say? Thankfully, we discover that the young girl is now a doctor who, with her husband and baby boy, generally manages to get on with life, (with the support of the ever helpful Reggie who is her nanny), until the murderer is released after 30 years in jail, and her sudden and strange disappearance gets everyone on the hop.

There is a certain predictability in how the story unfolds, which personally I find somewhat comforting, but enough of a twist to keep you on your toes. I’m looking forward to Atkinson’s next outing, that according to TimesOnline will feature two female characters, Gloria and Louise, at a murder mystery weekend. I’m sure they will be the usual quirky and interesting characters that Kate Atkinson (and I) love.

There are several story lines and a number of memorable characters, but at the center of the book is a question – how do people go on after something truly horrific happens to them?  Joanna Hunter is a successful physician and a devoted mother; but she is also the survivor of the murder of her mother and her two siblings, and the murderer is about to be released from prison.  There are other women in danger, too, including a truly amazing 16 year old orphan.  There’s a train wreck, and a woman that Jackson is very attracted to, and confusion of identities.  If this sounds rather Gothic, I suppose it is (astounding things are always happening to Brodie), but it’s grounded in realistic human emotion. 

If you like mysteries, you should read this book.  If you like a good story with great insight into character, you should definitely read this book – but read the other two Brodie novels first! 

Happy Reading! 

The Book Goddess

Atkinson’s books, stuffed to the brim with plot, more often resemble a literary chimera than a novel proper. Her retired detective, Jackson Brodie, turns up in her latest crime thriller, When Will There Be Good News?, this time as the survivor of a horrendous train crash.

On that train, travelling to Edinburgh, was also Andrew Decker, recently released from prison having served 30 years for murdering a mother, her baby son and elder daughter.

He’s seemingly en route to make contact with the massacre’s sole survivor: the younger daughter Joanna, now married with a baby and working as a GP. Decker has now disappeared, and soon afterwards so does Joanna, adding to the mounting headache of Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe.

One person who won’t go away, however, is 16-year-old orphan Reggie, Joanna’s regular babysitter, who keeps cropping up in unlikely places and has a capacity for surviving a seemingly endless stream of personal catastrophe.

Atkinson’s tone is bleak and robust – she dispenses with murder, death and tragedy with a grim, quasi-ironic efficiency. She delights so much in finding the horror in the everyday that virtually no character is spared disaster.

Her ability to spin such dense and slippery cat’s cradles from the vagaries of fate and human behaviour (as well as liberal quantities of coincidence) invite admiration but so much occurs here that waiting for something good to happen is a largely fruitless exercise.