JB #3
Karen Lieneke Recommendation

Third in series Jackson Brodie

The ending of this book disappointed me. It read as if the writer abruptly tired of her complex situation and threw in the pieces, taking a quick and unsatisfying route to the end. Reggie's beloved Dr. H. deserved better treatment. These characters give readers an intense journey.

Kate Atkinson has to be one of the most versatile writers working in English. Her"crime" novels are brilliant, and so is her amazing trilogy about the First and Second World Wars.
I'm not crazy about the Jackson Brodie TV series, but the books are aweson.

Hard to star this one. For me, it read like two separate books. After the killings that set up the story, everything slowed down and the story became about the small, everyday things that happen in the lives of all of the characters (and there are quite a few) over time, and I wondered if we were ever going to get back to the main event. This went on for half the book. But once we got back to the murders, and several other intertwined criminal activities, things picked up and I enjoyed the story quite a bit. It's quite an obvious division, and makes me wonder if the author enjoyed developing her characters so much that she forgot about the point of the story. OR...the point of the story was in fact the character development, in which case it was I who missed the point. Things get tied up (for the most part) at the end, but for myself, I could have done with less of what seemed like dithering at the start. Still, I will be giving this author another try.
NOTE: I should add that I 'read' this story as an audiobook, which made keeping track of the smaller characters dicey. In the final chapter or two, when the author makes sure that everyone gets an ending to their particular part of the story, it would have been handy to be able to flip back through a hard copy to remind myself who some of them were.

Facinating. It grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Turned corners I didn't expect.

Atkinson’s third mystery featuring ex-cop turned PI Jackson Brodie. A little girl hides in a corn field to escape an attacker who murders the rest of her family. Thirty years later Brodie jumps on the wrong train and is almost killed. He is rescued by a young girl who involves him in a complicated search for a missing person. Atkinson brings all these plots together brilliantly and offers the reader wonderful character studies.

this is the third of Jackson Brodie books. It was easier to follow all the intertwined stories because of the two anchor characters of Jackson and Louise.

Once again the puzzle pieces of this story all make a picture with a major surprise at the end that changes the whole perspective of the picture--if you've read the whole book. Amazing how Atkinson skillfully puts all the pieces in place, then pulls them all together.

I've been working my way through mystery/detective novels from Britain/Scotland/Iceland/Netherlands. Kate Atkinson was recommended by a coworker.

I loved this book. The author's character development is what makes it an enjoyable read. I kept reading it because I wanted to know what was going to happen. Doesn't get much better than that.