Rating: 5/5
Review:
A great read
One Good Turn is the second in the Jackson Brodie series and it is
very enjoyable - at least as good as the first, Case Studies.
This time, Brodie is
in Edinburgh as his sort-of-partner Julia is in a dire production at
the Fringe. In a slightly bonkers plot, he is a witness to an
assault and then becomes involved in a series of slightly bizarre and
sometimes violent incidents as a story of corruption, exploitation
and ultimately murder evolves. It’s a great read, with some very
sharp barbs aimed at the excesses of crooked property developers and
others, some genuinely funny moments and a rather gripping, well
structured plot.
One of the book’s
chief pleasures is Kate Atkinson’s wonderful character portraits
(Case Studies, in other words) with her exceptional eye and ear for
people’s actions, speech and internal monologues. The shy,
repressed but successful author, the ageing wife of the corrupt,
unfaithful businessman and others, plus Jackson himself and the
police officer with whom he becomes involved – possibly in more
ways than one – are all superbly painted and the whole thing is a
pleasure to read.
This is an
exceptionally good series, I think, and I can recommend this
instalment very warmly.
(My thanks to Random
House for an ARC via NetGalley.)
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