I've said it before and will no doubt say it again, but having picked up considerably more books this year than I might normally that would come under the category of crime or thrillers, I wonder why I'd not done so much before now. Admittedly this could be quite a broad category and plenty of what I read may loosely come under there and not so much that would be found in the aforementioned section of a bookshop or library. But either way, the results have largely been positive.
Certainly this applies to Kate Atkinson's Case Histories, my debut encounter with this popular novelist. There are obviously various measures of popularity, but there's only so many authors who get posters on the tube or at railway stations, so that's got to be a mark of something. Anyway, it was easy to see why. An interesting, complex detective, several plot strands slowly revealed and interlinked over the course of the novel, and richly imagined and sometimes darkly comic characters.
Set in Cambridge, the familiar setting was pleasant (perhaps I was too harsh on my judgement of The Oxford Murders in this capacity, though overall I still feel it was rather disappointing) and provided a believable backdrop to the tale. It's small enough, indeed feels small enough, to have a rural air about it still, yet not so small that one can't scatter a handful of stones in the street without hitting a murderer or ten.
Jackson Brodie is the hero, somehow finding himself involved in a series of bizarre yet plausible events, and he is tough, rather likeable and has a heart. As well-drawn as he is, it was the rest of the cast that really made the novel and the multiple viewpoints were handled with skill, highlighting what each really thought of the others and using the device to reveal information throughout in order to drive the plot forward and maintain the mysteries. More, please.
Book number: 83
Title: Case Histories
Author: Kate Atkinson
Category: Charlotte's choice
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