Thursday, July 31, 2008

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

Last year I read Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. Here is my post about that book. I’ve just finished One Good Turn, her follow up book, and it’s even better than Case Histories.

Jackson Brody is back, still grumpy, but now he’s in love with Julia, an actress we met in Case Histories. They have gone to Edinburgh together so that Julia can perform in the Fringe Festival and Jackson can get caught up in stuff, as Jackson is wont to do.

This is the most complicated plot I’ve encountered in a long time. Everywhere Jackson turns he encounters strands of the same spider web, all of which lead to a corrupt builder and his henchman. This book has everything: road rage, prostitution, embezzlement, missing dead bodies, washed up comedians, dissatisfied mystery writers, juvenile delinquents, and housewives who are not what they seem. Atkinson keeps all these balls in the air at once, managing the plot with deftness and humor. It’s really impressive. She keeps her trademark stream-of-consciousness narration in check just enough to keep the whole thing from sliding into chaos, but it’s still there, bubbling under the surface. I love her writing.

(Book 29, 2008)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really liked this too, but my favorite of hers is the one I first read about on your blog: "Behind the Scenes at the Museum." A GREAT novel!

Becky Holmes said...

I'm so glad you liked Behind the Scenes. It is one of my all time favorite books.

PattisPages said...

Hi, Becky. I loved "One Good Turn" and "Case Histories." I'm looking forward to "When Will There Be Good News?", and I really enjoy your blog. I have one, too, on blogspot called Patti's Pages. I've recently added my blog to a compendium site called Here
Be Reviews. I don't see your blog on there. Check it out.

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