The weight of these early losses has always given Brodie a fierce sense of responsibility towards vulnerable children, but there’s a knowingness in the way Atkinson plays with one of the conventions of her chosen genre: the lone wolf detective with the tragic past. Negotiating the hazards of parenting a teenager in the modern world would be challenge enough for Brodie, whose age is left deliberately sketchy (though basic maths suggests he must be close to a bus pass), but his son’s privileged existence is a constant reminder of his own youth: “By the time Jackson was 13, his mother was already dead of cancer, his sister had been murdered and his brother had killed himself.”
Ten years since we left him, now living back in his native Yorkshire, Brodie’s solitary existence has been interrupted by the arrival of his 13-year-old son, Nathan, for the summer holidays. Now, after three books set during the second world war (the Costa winners were followed by Transcription in 2018), Atkinson has returned to Brodie and a very contemporary theme: the sexual exploitation of women and children. In the intervening years, Jason Isaacs has brought him to brooding life on screen in the BBC series Case Histories, named after the first Brodie book, and his creator has produced her most acclaimed historical novels, including Life After Life and its sequel, A God in Ruins, both of which won the Costa Novel award. ***** 'Sheer genius, with the characteristic thread of humour.I t’s nearly a decade since Kate Atkinson’s gruff private detective Jackson Brodie last appeared in print. ***** 'An intelligently written, gripping book with characters you fall in love with.' ***** 'A glorious tapestry of storytelling.' Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breathtaking new literary crime novel, both sharply funny and achingly sad, by one of the most dazzling and surprising writers at work today.
Jackson's current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for his suspicious wife, seems straightforward, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him into a sinister network-and back into the path of someone from his past. It's a picturesque setting, but there's something darker lurking behind the scenes. Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village in North Yorkshire, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son Nathan and ageing Labrador Dido, both at the discretion of his former partner Julia.
'Laced with Atkinson's sharp, dry humour, and one of the joys of the Brodie novels has always been that they are so funny.' Observer 'Like all good detectives, he is a hero for men and women alike.' The Times It's a masterclass in brilliant writing and whether you've read the earlier books in the series or not, you'll enjoy it.' Independent
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