Iconoclastic detective Jackson Brodie returns in a triumphant new novel about secrets, sex, and lies. 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 … 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.
“Thank goodness the long Jackson Brodie hiatus is over.” –Janet Maslin, New York Times
Sheer poetry! Last in the Jackson Brodie stories and absolutely brilliant!
Atkinson never disappoints. Another excellent Jackson Brodie crime novel.
After a complicated and at times muddling start the author weaves the threads together. While
It deals with a challenging subject it is both thought provoking and witty.
I enjoy Kate Atkinson’s style of writing. In the books I’ve read she starts with a number of unrelated stories but then weaves them together. There’s always a serious mystery at the center of it all and she surrounds it with interesting, quirky characters.
I was excited to again spend some time with Jackson Brodie in this fifth of the series – albeit nearly 9 years since the last book. Very current, with issues of sex trafficking, and with a cast of many, Jackson was a bit in the background and yet connected to all. It’s a lot to track but very worth it. Very enjoyable read. I’m ready to go back and start the series again!
This author keeps the intrigue and suspense at fever-pitch throughout this book. Her character development is spot-on. My love of British suspense/thrillers was validated anew!
This is my first Jackson Brodie novel, and it won’t be my last. I love the way Atkinson burrows into her characters’ thoughts, channeling their core insecurities and blind spots, then twists the plot and action around the characters’ inner lives, instead of the reverse. It’s almost as if they’re too preoccupied with their own thoughts to notice the story they’re creating — much like life! This is an unusual and wonderful approach to mystery, and beautifully delivered.
British author Kate Atkinson uses her wry wit in BIG SKY to weave humor into this intricate plot line. Highly recommended.
She’s such a good writer. Jackson Brodie is such a likable character. Occassionally, you laugh out loud. The subject of trafficked women, of course, is serious and sad. Writing about that subject extended somewhat the emotional range of this series, although most of the book is simply smart and entertaining.
Jackson Brodie is back, and in the nine years that have passed since his last appearance, so many things have changed, but just as many have stayed on the same course.
The baby whose presence was denied him is now a surly teenager, Nathan. Now that Julia has tired of “want[ing] him to myself,” she depends on Jackson to keep him while she films a television program. The two of them trundle about Yorkshire and its surroundings in a variety of duties: chronicling a cheating spouse, discovering who’s threatening a posh wife; worrying about the little girl Jackson saw getting into a car at night. Not far away, a man in a trailer video chats with women in third world countries who want to work in England, representing a fictional firm serving as a cover for a sinister operation; a trio of golf buddies adds an awkward fourth, and teenage sleuth and Brodie savior/admirer Reggie (from the third Jackson book, When Will There Be Good News?) is now a full-fledged police officer, working on an reopened case with a fellow female cop named Ronnie — the two are so dogged in their pursuits, they’re nicknamed the Kray twins, after the legendary gangsters. And just who is the bride with Jackson in the very first chapter?
There are many story lines in Big Sky, but Kate Atkinson never drops a single one. So many are resolved that readers might credibly believe this is her last Jackson Brodie novel. Let’s hope that’s not the case.
It was ok.
Big Sky, the fifth book in Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series, is both poignant and intriguing. Jackson is a lonely soul–a private detective who just wants to do the right thing. Unlucky in romance but long on love for his teenage son and daughter, He encounters a former client during his own investigation of a minor matter and finds himself on the periphery of a search for human traffickers.
I love the Jackson Brodie books. Every one of them. He’s a real, anti-hero hero. His humanity, his inner dialogue, his care for the vulnerable, and his own vulnerability make him one of my favorite guys! Atkinson consistently portrays him with understated skill and compassion.
KA seamlessly draws together the strands with aplomb
Kate Atkinson is one of those very rare writers who’s a master at absolutely every aspect of the novel-character and plot and voice and language and themes and humor and dialogue and on and on. I love everything about BIG SKY, a giant mosaic of people and stories that fit perfectly together in a complex, beautiful pattern, offering tremendous reading pleasure on every single page.
Welcome back Jackson Brodie !!
If you have not read any in the series, you can read this as a stand alone . It will probably have you hooked enough to read the series.
Lots as always in Kate Atkinson’s books. There is relationships, mystery, murder , sex trade, so much to absorb.
I thoroughly enjoyed the return of Jackson , his stepson and his ex Julie.
Thanks to Net Galley and Little Brown and Company for the opportunity to read Big Sky.