Case Histories (Paperback)

Atkinson's suspenseful and dramatic cases pique the reader's interest in the characters and their lives, especially the female characters. All have faced traumatic events and suffered through less than ideal childhoods, which unfold inexorably as the cases become more complex. Not a linear narrative, the novel focuses on different characters in successive chapters, moving back and forth in time to provide background and to set up the overlaps which eventually occur. The characters are sometimes bizarre, baffling, and even unsympathetic, but they are always memorable for their behavior and their justifications for it.

Filled with ironies and noir humor, the novel also reveals Atkinson's astute observation of social interactions, as she skewers some aspects of her characters' lives while also creating sympathy for them. While the first two case histories-that of the missing Olivia and the murdered Laura-are genuinely sad and regarded overall as tragedies, the story of Michelle Fletcher, and peripherally, her sister Shirley, is much darker. Neither Michelle nor Shirley elicits much empathy after the opening chapter, but the occasional interjection of their story line stirs up the action, changes the pace, and keeps the novel from being overly melodramatic. Atkinson's eventual revelations about Michelle's life provide Atkinson with some of her best opportunities for social satire and wit.

Readers will delight in Atkinson's characterizations, and the ironies are priceless--the room where Laura was killed has, ten years later, become a day spa named "Bliss," and the place where two other deaths take place becomes an elaborate garden. Atkinson saves the biggest noir twists for last. Though the cases are, in fact, all "solved" by Jackson, they are not really solved. At least five important "loose ends" regarding the perpetrators of these murders and disappearances remain, showing that even murder cases are not as "cut and dried" as one might expect. (4.5 stars) Mary Whipple

Although the book conforms loosely to a crime novel setup, the emphasis is, as always, on the unique quirks and foibles of the characters and the innate humanity of people. One gets the feeling that Kate Atkinson's plots, deliciously tangled and convoluted as they are, are vehicles for exploring character, response to events and development.

This particular novel is set up to read like a police file, with several unsolved cases linked by the main protagonist, Jackson Brodie. In all her novels, I have found that the main characters are a little bit transparent and lacking a particularly strong personality of their own, and Jackson Brodie is no exception. However, in my opinion this does not detract from the quality of the novel, as the multitude of minor characters serve to liven the story and "bounce off" the main character.

The style is definitely an acquired taste, but for those who like their books stuffed full of lively prose, small yet razor-sharp observations, a wry turn of phrase and a unique downbeat, deadpan and very black humour, I cannot recommend it enough.

The novel centres around four 'Case Histories', the threads of which are brought together by Jackson, a detective living in present day Cambridge.

Each of the Case Histories occur at a different point in history; a 3 year old girl goes missing from a back garden in 1970 and is never found, a beloved 18 year old daughter is murdered in 1994, a harassed wife kills her husband in 1979 and the final case concerns some revelatory truths about Jackson's family.

Jackson meanders passively through the novel with relatives involved in each of the cases coming to him for help. He seems somewhat bewildered throughout the novel and he is the only character I didn't really feel that I got to know.

Kate Atkinson's prose is lovely and she has the knack of creating suspense, she moves us around in time almost creating cliffhangers so we are dying to know what happens next. Her characters are all mostly sympathetic and the tragedy in their lives makes you, on occasion, ache for them. You do get the impression that the purpose and drive they employ in trying to gain closure from these events in their histories is often an excuse to not get to grips with the other problems in their lives, be it weight problems, overcoming inhibitions in an uptight personality, or finding love. The threads of the cases are tied up somwhat neatly at the end, leaving a satisfying conclusion.

All in all, it's a great read and I recommend it to everyone!