Customer Reviews

One Good Turn: A Jolly Murder Mystery

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Book 2 in the Jackson Brodie series

This multi layered plot full of intriguing twists, graphic violence and a bit of sexual tension kept me fascinated and maintained my interested till the last page. In the past I found it hard adapting to her style, has she mellowed or have I? This author is growing on me. Ms Atkinson's writing is gripping, full of satire and wickedly funny. Her strength is in her development of strong characters and masterfully orchestrated sagas.

The story opens with a car accident on a busy street in Edinburgh, triggering a case of road rage followed by strange events. When witnesses turn out to be connected to each other and more and more weird incidents come to light, we... the readers are slowly drawn into a multitude of exciting and complicated dramas.

This multi faceted story is told by the characters, recounting their experiences, the narration alternates between them as the story progresses back and forth in time. Ms Atkinson has masterfully tied all this information into a suspense filled novel.

Returning to the front scenes are: Jackson Brodie, the intrepid ex-private detective and Julia, the actress. We are also endowed with a rich cast of fascinating secondary characters. I am looking forward to reading the sequel.

Voice performer Robin Atkin Downes is a more than proficient actor - he's equipped to narrate in some 40 dialects. Television aficionados recognize him for his appearances on Nash Bridges, Beverly Hills 90210, Buffy the Vampire slayer and others. His London stage performances include starring in Dracula, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, and more. He delivers a stellar reading of "One Good Turn," by Whitbread First Novel Award winner Kate Atkinson.

What does a Good Samaritan get for his trouble? In the case of 50-year-old Martin Canning, a second tier crime novelist who spends much time in wishful thinking, maybe a star in his crown but only a wealth of woes on this earth.

Set in Edinburgh, Scotland, our story opens with a crowd of people witnessing what appears to be a minor bumper bash but quickly turns ugly. The driver of one of the vehicles jumps from his car and brutally attacks the other driver with a baseball bat. Just as a perhaps fatal blow is about to be delivered, someone in the crowd tosses a laptop case which deflects the attacker's aim. The tosser is Martin.

For his life saving act, surely the most untoward thing he has ever done, Martin is robbed and worse.

The crowd is quick to disperse, leaving listeners to believe that is the end of them. Not at all. Atkinson's magic pen brings them back, weaves them throughout her narrative in surprising ways. While we never know what life may hold in store, this author leads us on a fascinating journey of what it might.

- Gail Cooke

A road rage incident on busy Edinburgh, which is witnessed by a group of people, all get tangled together in this complex, character driven novel.

A person we later know as an assassin stops short to avoid hitting someone and is in turn rear ended by a Honda, and, the driver of which is constantly referred to as Honda man, takes a baseball bat and goes after after the driver of the car in front.

Various people see the incident, but mild mannered mystery writer Martin Canning throws his laptop at Honda Man, thwarting his attempt to sriously hurt the driver of the other car.

From this incident we get involved with a range of poeple who are all in Edinburgh for different reasons. Some live there and others are there for the Fringe festival.

Martin feels somewhat responsible for the injured man and stays with him a a seedy hotel, the only rooms available due to the Festival.

We then meet ex police officer Jackson Brodie who also witnesses the incident, but his involvement here has to do with finding a dead body, which then gets lost.

In the middle of all of this are Graham and Gloria Hatter. he is an entrepreneur and owner of Hatter Homes.

The story moves back and forth between the different characters with characters turning up in the strangest places, which leads Jackson to state that there are no such things as coincidences, coincidences are puzzles waiting to be solved.

Police officer Louise is in the middle of it all.

The book takes place over four action packed days during the festival. each chapter goes back and forth between the different characters, and we do get some overlapping of event descriptions.

Indeed, some of that overlapping was, for me, the only weakness of the book, especially when we are told briefly at the end of one chapter what we get fully described in the next chapter.

But overall, an excellent character, or should I say, characters, driven novel.

Jackson Brodie expected a pleasant, restful vacation in Edinburgh with his girlfriend, Julia. Shortly after his arrival a number of unsavoury events occurred which seemed to conspire against this. He became embroiled in a fight, a possible murder, and several other wicked crimes. Retirement should be much calmer that this. It's not only Brodie that had a bad several days. Author Martin Canning had no intentions of attacking a motorist, Paul Bradley didn't plan to become a victim of road rage, and Graham Hatter naturally assumed he'd continue to get away with his secret trysts.
I first met the character of Jackson Brodie in Ms. Atkinson's earlier book Case Histories. I was amazed how the author could take such seeming un-connected incidences and tie them together back to a missing child. She did not fail to amaze again. I sat riveted, page after page, waiting to see how these stories would pull together. I was not to be disappointed. The only part of the story I didn't like was the character of Julia. She was a wet noodle the whole way through. Then again, that's exactly how she was planned to appear. Sorry, can't say any more on that. This was a terrific story and it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. And no, I didn't guess at the final outcomes of the various story lines. Right to the end, they were surprises.

When I purchased this book, I also purchased a copy of the next Jackson Brodie book When Will There be Good News? and am looking forward to reading it.

I found out I could have bought this for half the price at my local Black Bond Book store - so all in all it was an expensive lession - buying from Amazon.