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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
I'm a fan of Atkinson's spare but precise style, and love her unique way of pulling together multiple points of view. And I love Jackson Brodie! In this story, Jackson runs into a string of connected murders/crimes in Edinburgh during an art festival.
Had a book emergency when I ran out of books while traveling so picked this up at our Airbnb. I’ve liked other books by this author and loved that the book was set in Edinburgh from which I just traveled. I loved all of the references to Edinburgh but didn’t quite get into the plot. There were several characters and it was a challenge at times connecting them all to make the story connect and flow
So there's this maid in the book. She's one of those characters that's there to do a job, move the plot along. But because it's Kate Atkinson, you get a complete character, with dreams, challenges, and a clear point of view. So the book moves along, and in the back of your head you're thinking... 'but how did things turn out for that maid?'. In a lot of ways it's not really a mystery novel, but I'd read Kate Atkinson write the phone book.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I feel the pains of addiction thanks to Jackson Brodie. Having finished the second novel featuring him, I'm already fearing the sickness of withdrawal because there are only four after this, and I want to read the third one immediately, but then there will be only three ...
In the first book, Case Histories, Jackson was officially self-employed as a private detective, and he'd been engaged by various clients on separate cases. In this book it's a whole different deal, because he's not employed at all, and he's visiting Edinburgh during the Festival in August — not by any choice of his own but because his actress girlfriend is performing. So he's at loose ends while she's busy in rehearsals, and he finds himself entangled in what is for the reader a delightfully messy (and deadly) sequence of interlocking events. Atkinson's plot is a fantastic box of puzzle pieces, and it's so much fun to see them come together.
I enjoyed seeing Jackson stumble into several incriminating situations and also get himself beaten up pretty badly — reminiscent of Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade getting whacked on the head and losing consciousness and then coming to on the edge of death (and yet not derivative and certainly not predictable). Just when you think it's too much of a coincidence that some character reappears, you discover that what seems to be a coincidence isn't one at all.
Excellent, excellent!
.
In the first book, Case Histories, Jackson was officially self-employed as a private detective, and he'd been engaged by various clients on separate cases. In this book it's a whole different deal, because he's not employed at all, and he's visiting Edinburgh during the Festival in August — not by any choice of his own but because his actress girlfriend is performing. So he's at loose ends while she's busy in rehearsals, and he finds himself entangled in what is for the reader a delightfully messy (and deadly) sequence of interlocking events. Atkinson's plot is a fantastic box of puzzle pieces, and it's so much fun to see them come together.
I enjoyed seeing Jackson stumble into several incriminating situations and also get himself beaten up pretty badly — reminiscent of Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade getting whacked on the head and losing consciousness and then coming to on the edge of death (and yet not derivative and certainly not predictable). Just when you think it's too much of a coincidence that some character reappears, you discover that what seems to be a coincidence isn't one at all.
Excellent, excellent!
.
3.5. I was pleasantly surprised. The book is humorous and sweary, both of which bring me joy. But ask me what happened.
This is my third time through this book and it’s still absolute perfection.
mysterious
Paul Bradley, an assumed identity, stops his car short to avoid hitting a pedestrian crossing the street in Edinburgh during Festival. The Honda behind him hits his car and the driver of the Honda, enraged attacks Paul with a baseball bat. The event intertwines the lives of some of the witnesses: Martin, a soft-crime fiction writer, who throws his bag at the attacker; Gloria who co-owns a housing development company with her husband; Pam who is Gloria’s friend; and, of course, Jackson Brodie, ex-police, ex-private eye, who is in town to financially support the actress Louise who he has been seeing.