Reviews

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

romanici's review against another edition

3.0

Just ok. Didn’t meet my expectations. Plot had too many dimensions to make it cohesive.

amlibera's review against another edition

4.0

Kate Atkinson is a really good writer - it's been a while since I've had that experience of just enjoying the words, sentences, and characters in this way. Fun to read something set at the Fringe Festival and to have all of the places in my head. There's holes here - several characters have to be pushed a bit into the plot places that Atkinson has created for them but it all comes together (mostly) in a satisfying way.

sb27's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Another enjoyable listen. Very wry. Matter of fact. 

girlglitch's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

3.0

shirleytupperfreeman's review against another edition

I hadn't read her first book with the same characters but this was mildly entertaining. There was a clever plot twist at the end.

nicovreeland's review against another edition

2.0

DNF at 60%. The writing is kind of like pleasant small. It’s not bad exactly, but it’s not terribly compelling. It’s not really a mystery or even a suspense novel. It’s a coincidence novel, following the different people brought together by a car accident. I’m not much of one for coincidence in mysteries, it’s just too easy for an author to create them.

The pacing is also quite slow. We get a lot of people’s perspectives, and we don’t need all of them. For instance, there’s a murder, which we see, and then there’s a 13-minute chapter from the POV of the maid as she discovers the body. But of course she doesn’t just discover the body, she expounds about her life and her daily routine and her clients and on and on. It’s pleasant writing, but not good enough to make up for the fact that the whole chapter is a stall, drawing out the inevitable.

I tried to push through because other reviews said it picked up when the pieces started coming together, but holy hell, I made it 60% of the way through and very few pieces had come together. The ones that had were outweighed by all the dry British pontificating on aubergines and who brought what dish to last Christmas.

jessie_fleur's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

therealkathryn's review against another edition

3.0

Atkinson comes up with great characters, histories and interwoven storylines again in this sequel to Case Histories. For the most part enjoyable though went on a bit long.

kingsamong's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

frannydo's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0