He has two children, one of whom he does not see, and the other of whom lives with a former wife who has refused to acknowledge that the child is his. Married twice and “almost married” to a woman who eventually fleeced him out of a large bequest, Brodie can be forgiven for being cynical about people and their motives. Like so many noir investigators, Brodie has always had a problem with alcohol and women, with whom he has always looked for escape from some of the underlying miseries of his life. In the course of the three previous novels ( Case Histories, One Good Turn, and When Will There Be Good News), Jackson Brodie has become a broader character, and in this one, his inner life is at least as important as the plot with which it intersects. Though they are often called “mysteries” because the main character, Jackson Brodie, is a private investigator, Atkinson’s novels are far more character-driven than the norm, and more literary in execution–intriguing on several levels simultaneously. Howeve r good Kate Atkinson’s three previous Jackson Brodie novels have been, they were just the warm-up for this one. “Everyone has a killer inside them just waiting to get out, some more patient than others.”
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