I've read all of Kate Atkinson's other books, and I was looking forward to this one, with its reputation as the best of the lot. And it does live up to it.
It's one of the multi-strand stories that Atkinson seems to enjoy writing, and this one works particularly well. It begins by introducing three incidents in different times - a small girl who disappears, a young woman who's murdered, and woman who kills her husband with an axe. We are then introduced to Jackson Brodie, a private detective and ex-policeman, who slowly draws all these disparate threads together.
As usual, with Atkinson, this is a novel that thrives on its detail and deliciously three dimensional characters, which in a way are almost more exciting than the mysteries involved (although I was anxious to see those solved as well). I particularly enjoyed the father/daughter storyline, as I really identify with loving a parent enormously, yet secretly thinking of them as a bit silly, and how cruel that is.
This is a wonderful, five star novel - something to force your family and friends to read.
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