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.
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Simply astounding writing. Also, great title, as all her books have.
I think this was my favorite of all the Jackson Brodie novels. I became slightly obsessed with this author’s works and when I finished one, I had to read another. Even now, I grab each of her new books. One of the authors whose writing is so good she could write a shopping list and I’d read it – anyhow, this book features Brodie now tracing the parents of a woman who was adopted – but all he finds are dead ends and more questions. Like in most of Atkinson’s books, there are various storylines that seem to have nothing to do with each other, and all get woven together in the end into a brilliant tapestry of a book. Start with Case Histories (book I) and enjoy them all!
My favourite JB mystery. LOVE Kate Atkinson – what a writer.
Love everything Kate Atkinson writes!
Good enough that I want to catch up on the preceding Jackson Brodie mysteries and follow him into the future. That’s pretty good.
Kate Atkinson really knows how to shake up the private eye genre. Here we have a cast of thousands, with Jackson Brodie, at times, playing a supporting role to other vividly drawn characters. And there’s a great plot, too.
Goodreads asks, when you complete a book, “what did you think?” I think this series is disconcerting. I didn’t dislike it, or I wouldn’t have finished the first book, much less the rest of them. But Atkinson, at least with the Jackson Brodie series, which is all I have to go on, starts each book with a pile of disjointed characters whose stories eventually (mostly) weave together, with something of a resolution(ish) at the end, this book following suit. The issue I had with this one, though, is that the various and sundry characters were especially disjointed (more than any other of the previous installments of the series) and there were an absolute *ton* of them, to the point I could hardly keep track of who did what, who was married to whom, and what role they had to play. Heap onto the pile the fact that I never could figure out why we needed to spend so much time with Tilly. (Sorry if that should be deemed spoiler-ish by someone, but I don’t feel like it gives anything away, other than my frustration.) Atkinson stayed true to form, right through to the final pages. We’re left with unanswered questions and dangling threads, some of which hint at possible further adventures with Jackson, though it’s been six years since this one came out, so perhaps not? I actually would be ok with that. I almost feel a sense of relief, because this series wears me out, emotionally, with its darkness, and if another book came out, I am pretty sure I’d feel obligated to read it, just to see if there were any unanswered questions given conclusion. Overall, though, I felt like this was the weakest book in the series.
(Skip this paragraph to avoid some questions that might be deemed true spoilers. First, seriously, why so much time with Tilly when her final scene at the train station would have been enough to serve her purpose? I wanted to scream over how many precious minutes I spent caught in the whirl of her slowly decaying mind. I will say that Atkinson captured well the unsettling feeling of losing one’s marbles, though. It was uncomfortable and alarming and I couldn’t wait until her sections of the book moved on to another character. Second, who the heck is Courtney and where *did* she come from?? She was a charming little bit of a thing, probably my favorite part of the book, along with The Ambassador. But no further explanation, seriously? And finally, what was up with all the prostitute murders that never seemed to tie to anything else? Was that just to give the police something to do, when all their multitudes weren’t busy scrambling over one another as my brain sorted endlessly to keep them straight?)
Populated by characters you can relate to. Fear and danger wherever you look.
Great read.