One Good Turn
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Review
A "NEW YORK TIMES" NOTABLE BOOK OF 2006
"This is a detective novel packed with more wit, insight, and subtlety than an entire shelf full of literary fiction... the plot is an incidental pleasure in a book crammed with quirky humour and cogent reflections on contemporary life.... Highly recommended reading." "-- Marie Claire "(5/5 Stars)
"[Atkinson] writes like an angel and her sense of humor is wed firmly to her formidable intelligence... a wonderful read.... I remain utterly impressed by Kate Atkinson. I'll definitely be reading anything else she cares to publish." -- "Philadelphia Inquirer"
"The suspense ratchets up quickly and palpably, as surely as when the doctor experiments with different settings for your new pacemaker. . . . One Good Turn is full of a zippy satire that provides a smooth skating surface for the reader to whiz through. This is clean, purposeful prose that drives the plot, wickedly funny in places, sometimes quietly insightful and fairly faithful to the traditional mystery form. Atkinson's novel is like something her detective might drink in the wee hours after knocking around the docks, something straight up with a twist." --"The Globe and Mail"
"One Good Turn is the most fun I've had with a novel this year."-Ian Rankin, in the "Guardian" (UK)"
" "Thrillingly addictive. . . . In One Good Turn Atkinson proves quite unique in her ability to fuse emotional drama and thriller. She is so successful that it is surprising this has not been attempted more often (although it takes a writer of extraordinary range to bring it off)."-"The Times "(UK)
"
"""One Good Turn" is an absolute joy to read. . . . The pleasure of One Good Turn lies in theride, in Atkinson's wry, unvanquished characters, her swooping, savvy, sarcastic prose and authorial joie de vivre."-"Guardian" (UK)
"In One Good Turn, . . . the deft and tricky British author Kate Atkinson shows again, in her inimitable bleakly funny way, how much easier it is to explain a death than to solve a life." -"The New York Times Book Review
""One Good Turn"," . . demonstrates that no good deed goes unpunished, often violently. A fender-bender outside a comedy performance initiates a run of multiple murders, enlivened by comic set pieces."-"The Village Voice" (A Favourite Book of 2006)
"Crackling one-liners, spot-on set pieces and full-blooded characters help make this another absorbing character study from the versatile, effervescent Atkinson." "-- Publishers Weekly"
"[Atkinson has a] knack for psychological portraiture and dark humor... Paradoxically, murder has given her a framework that helps liberate her insights on the living, as the lurking presence of corpses reminds readers there are worse offenses than bad parenting and worse fates than unhappy marriages.... Atkinson knows that the line between victim and tormentor can be blurry and that survivors sometimes have good reasons for guilt.... Astutely, Atkinson has noticed that the high-tech lifestyle has given rise to a high-tech deathstyle that makes the old props of detective fiction -- fingerprints, dusting powder, alibis -- as passe as a fedora." --"The New York Times"
"Perhaps the most consummately all-round book of the year is Kate Atkinson's One Good Turn, a marvelous thriller so beautifully written you'd stop to admire the prose if you weren't so busy page-turning.... It features a killermost writers would die for, and a plot that touches genius. It's unalloyed pleasure from first to last." -- "The Scotsman"
"In [Atkinson's] skilful hands, the occasionally grisly story that unfolds amid the festivities often has a surprisingly humorous, almost lighthearted spirit.... These characters are complex, being by turns philosophical, cranky, melancholy, bemused, and confused.... Atkinson provides some surprising denouements as she deftly twists the convergent narrative threads into one vivid tapestry." --"Vancouver Sun"
"This is a detective novel packed with more wit, insight, and subtlety than an entire shelf full of literary fiction... the plot is an incidental pleasure in a book crammed with quirky humour and cogent reflections on contemporary life.... Highly recommended reading." "-- Marie Claire "(5/5 Stars)
"Atkinson's voice rings on every page, and her sly and wry observations move the plot as swiftly as suspense turns the pages of a thriller." "San Francisco Chronicle"
"Atkinson is a restrained, perceptive writer skilled at telling stories from multiple and hugely diverse points of view... Her prose is piercing, lucid and perceptive." "USA Today"
"Acerbic, eccentric, and maddeningly perverse, she is a writer I always read with my heart in my mouth, as if watching a trapeze artist perform a high-wire act between cockiness and courage. Here, as in "Case Histories," she is splendid at the stuff of people's lives... Her observations about Edinburgh are easily as funny as Alexander McCall Smith's, though less benign." "-- The Independent"
"Atkinson endows her cast with a fascinating richness of life. . . . Whatever she does is done to the highest ofliterary standards. She has produced an engrossing, enjoyable, complex novel packed with intriguing characters, vividly imagined scenes and a compelling plot."
-"Times Literary Supplement "(UK)
"Atkinson is best at the quiet desperation of middle-aged marriages, and characters revealed by the intricacies of a plot that exploits flashbacks and missed connections. Atkinson, while having fun with the murder-mystery genre, slyly slips us a muted tragedy."
-"The Telegraph "(UK)
"
""It doesn't really matter in which genre Atkison chooses to write. Her subject is always the irrecoverable loss of love and how best to continue living once you have glumly recognised that. . . . Her gift is in presenting this unnerving and subversive philosophy as a dazzling form of entertainment."
-"Sunday Times "(UK)
"Atkinson is frequently very funny - the extracts from Martin's Nina Blake novels, in particular, are a sustained comic highlight-but while the tone stays light, the plot continues to darken. . . . [One Good Turn is] that rarest of things-a good literary novel and a cracking holiday read."
-"Observer" (UK)
"This is a detective novel packed with more wit, insight, and subtlety than an entire shelf full of literary fiction... the plot is an incidental pleasure in a book crammed with quirky humour and cogent reflections on contemporary life.... Highly recommended reading." "-- Marie Claire "(5/5 Stars)
"[Atkinson] writes like an angel and her sense of humor is wed firmly to her formidable intelligence... a wonderful read.... I remain utterly impressed by Kate Atkinson. I'll definitely be reading anything else she cares to publish." -- "Philadelphia Inquirer"
"The suspense ratchets up quickly and palpably, as surely as when the doctor experiments with different settings for your new pacemaker. . . . One Good Turn is full of a zippy satire that provides a smooth skating surface for the reader to whiz through. This is clean, purposeful prose that drives the plot, wickedly funny in places, sometimes quietly insightful and fairly faithful to the traditional mystery form. Atkinson's novel is like something her detective might drink in the wee hours after knocking around the docks, something straight up with a twist." --"The Globe and Mail"
"One Good Turn is the most fun I've had with a novel this year."-Ian Rankin, in the "Guardian" (UK)"
" "Thrillingly addictive. . . . In One Good Turn Atkinson proves quite unique in her ability to fuse emotional drama and thriller. She is so successful that it is surprising this has not been attempted more often (although it takes a writer of extraordinary range to bring it off)."-"The Times "(UK)
"
"""One Good Turn" is an absolute joy to read. . . . The pleasure of One Good Turn lies in theride, in Atkinson's wry, unvanquished characters, her swooping, savvy, sarcastic prose and authorial joie de vivre."-"Guardian" (UK)
"In One Good Turn, . . . the deft and tricky British author Kate Atkinson shows again, in her inimitable bleakly funny way, how much easier it is to explain a death than to solve a life." -"The New York Times Book Review
""One Good Turn"," . . demonstrates that no good deed goes unpunished, often violently. A fender-bender outside a comedy performance initiates a run of multiple murders, enlivened by comic set pieces."-"The Village Voice" (A Favourite Book of 2006)
"Crackling one-liners, spot-on set pieces and full-blooded characters help make this another absorbing character study from the versatile, effervescent Atkinson." "-- Publishers Weekly"
"[Atkinson has a] knack for psychological portraiture and dark humor... Paradoxically, murder has given her a framework that helps liberate her insights on the living, as the lurking presence of corpses reminds readers there are worse offenses than bad parenting and worse fates than unhappy marriages.... Atkinson knows that the line between victim and tormentor can be blurry and that survivors sometimes have good reasons for guilt.... Astutely, Atkinson has noticed that the high-tech lifestyle has given rise to a high-tech deathstyle that makes the old props of detective fiction -- fingerprints, dusting powder, alibis -- as passe as a fedora." --"The New York Times"
"Perhaps the most consummately all-round book of the year is Kate Atkinson's One Good Turn, a marvelous thriller so beautifully written you'd stop to admire the prose if you weren't so busy page-turning.... It features a killermost writers would die for, and a plot that touches genius. It's unalloyed pleasure from first to last." -- "The Scotsman"
"In [Atkinson's] skilful hands, the occasionally grisly story that unfolds amid the festivities often has a surprisingly humorous, almost lighthearted spirit.... These characters are complex, being by turns philosophical, cranky, melancholy, bemused, and confused.... Atkinson provides some surprising denouements as she deftly twists the convergent narrative threads into one vivid tapestry." --"Vancouver Sun"
"This is a detective novel packed with more wit, insight, and subtlety than an entire shelf full of literary fiction... the plot is an incidental pleasure in a book crammed with quirky humour and cogent reflections on contemporary life.... Highly recommended reading." "-- Marie Claire "(5/5 Stars)
"Atkinson's voice rings on every page, and her sly and wry observations move the plot as swiftly as suspense turns the pages of a thriller." "San Francisco Chronicle"
"Atkinson is a restrained, perceptive writer skilled at telling stories from multiple and hugely diverse points of view... Her prose is piercing, lucid and perceptive." "USA Today"
"Acerbic, eccentric, and maddeningly perverse, she is a writer I always read with my heart in my mouth, as if watching a trapeze artist perform a high-wire act between cockiness and courage. Here, as in "Case Histories," she is splendid at the stuff of people's lives... Her observations about Edinburgh are easily as funny as Alexander McCall Smith's, though less benign." "-- The Independent"
"Atkinson endows her cast with a fascinating richness of life. . . . Whatever she does is done to the highest ofliterary standards. She has produced an engrossing, enjoyable, complex novel packed with intriguing characters, vividly imagined scenes and a compelling plot."
-"Times Literary Supplement "(UK)
"Atkinson is best at the quiet desperation of middle-aged marriages, and characters revealed by the intricacies of a plot that exploits flashbacks and missed connections. Atkinson, while having fun with the murder-mystery genre, slyly slips us a muted tragedy."
-"The Telegraph "(UK)
"
""It doesn't really matter in which genre Atkison chooses to write. Her subject is always the irrecoverable loss of love and how best to continue living once you have glumly recognised that. . . . Her gift is in presenting this unnerving and subversive philosophy as a dazzling form of entertainment."
-"Sunday Times "(UK)
"Atkinson is frequently very funny - the extracts from Martin's Nina Blake novels, in particular, are a sustained comic highlight-but while the tone stays light, the plot continues to darken. . . . [One Good Turn is] that rarest of things-a good literary novel and a cracking holiday read."
-"Observer" (UK)
"From the Hardcover edition." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Guardian
An absolute joy to read...Atkinson’s wry, unvanquished characters, her swooping, savvy, sarcastic prose and authorial joie de vivre.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
120 of 123 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In a book that is more fun than any other book I've read all year, Kate Atkinson creates a series of bizarre characters, all involved with murder--either planning it, committing it, or trying to avoid it. Many seemingly unrelated characters, involved in several seemingly unrelated plot lines, make their appearance in the first fifty pages. During the four days in which the novel takes place, however, these characters and plots start to overlap and eventually come together, until, at the end, the reader is smiling with pleasure at the brilliant plotting and ironic twists of fate--full of admiration for Atkinson's skill in bringing it all together with such panache.
In the main plot line, an Edinburgh automobile accident leaves "Paul Bradley," a mysterious man and innocent victim, at the mercy of a crazed, baseball bat-wielding Honda driver. A witness, Martin Canning, the timid writer of Nina Riley mystery stories, reacts instinctively to the impending carnage, hurling his laptop at the Honda driver and saving "Paul Bradley" from certain death. A second set of characters revolves around Graham Hatter, the wealthy developer of Hatter Homes, who is in trouble for bribery, money laundering, and fraud in the building of cheap tract houses.
Jackson Brodie, former cop and private investigator, in Edinburgh for a drama festival in which his girlfriend is involved, introduces a third plot line when he discovers a woman's body on the rocks beside the ocean. It washes out to sea, nearly drowning him when he tries to retrieve it. Sgt. Louise Monroe, who lives in one of the Hatter Homes and whose son is a petty thief, is assigned to investigate the report of the body Brodie claims to have seen. Additional threads involve a housecleaning company/escort service, a second-rate comedian who "comes to dinner," and events which took place in Russia some years ago.
Full family backgrounds and work histories are given for all the characters, and it is through these that the reader often detects some of their interconnections. Ironies abound, and as characters' dreams are revealed and their fantasies are explored, the reader comes to know them--until Atkinson reveals even more surprises and shows how much we have yet to learn. With action that comes fast and furious, devious plot twists, and deliciously dark humor, Atkinson crafts a novel that proves one of Jackson Brodie's maxims: "A coincidence is just an explanation waiting to happen." By the end of this novel, all the explanations have happened. Mary Whipple
In the main plot line, an Edinburgh automobile accident leaves "Paul Bradley," a mysterious man and innocent victim, at the mercy of a crazed, baseball bat-wielding Honda driver. A witness, Martin Canning, the timid writer of Nina Riley mystery stories, reacts instinctively to the impending carnage, hurling his laptop at the Honda driver and saving "Paul Bradley" from certain death. A second set of characters revolves around Graham Hatter, the wealthy developer of Hatter Homes, who is in trouble for bribery, money laundering, and fraud in the building of cheap tract houses.
Jackson Brodie, former cop and private investigator, in Edinburgh for a drama festival in which his girlfriend is involved, introduces a third plot line when he discovers a woman's body on the rocks beside the ocean. It washes out to sea, nearly drowning him when he tries to retrieve it. Sgt. Louise Monroe, who lives in one of the Hatter Homes and whose son is a petty thief, is assigned to investigate the report of the body Brodie claims to have seen. Additional threads involve a housecleaning company/escort service, a second-rate comedian who "comes to dinner," and events which took place in Russia some years ago.
Full family backgrounds and work histories are given for all the characters, and it is through these that the reader often detects some of their interconnections. Ironies abound, and as characters' dreams are revealed and their fantasies are explored, the reader comes to know them--until Atkinson reveals even more surprises and shows how much we have yet to learn. With action that comes fast and furious, devious plot twists, and deliciously dark humor, Atkinson crafts a novel that proves one of Jackson Brodie's maxims: "A coincidence is just an explanation waiting to happen." By the end of this novel, all the explanations have happened. Mary Whipple
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A fantastic murder mystery that keeps you guessing throughout. It follows the story of Jackson Brodie, an ex-policeman and ex-private investiagtor. He's in edinburgh for the festival and stumbles across a road rage incident and two murders, all closely connected. Various wonderful characters appear, each chapter written from a different viewpoint. It is a very intricate mystery with plot twists everywhere. Incredibly well written and a fantastic plot. I highly recommend reading case histories, the first book, as it will provide so much background to the characters. It's a bit of fun to read, not an average crime novel, it's more upbeat. I fully intend to read all of the author's other books she is fantastic. Highly recommended.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As a relative newcomer to Ms Atkinson's work I had no 'previous' to base any initial attitudes when I started reading 'One Good Turn' but inside a matter of minutes she had me as a fan of both her style, her characterisations and her superb ear for dialogue.
I just love her work and would urge any reader who:
a. likes this type of novel that tells a great story,
b. enjoys laughing out loud,
c. is prepared when doing b., at 2 in the morning, to risk and endure a severe rollicking from a woken spouse...,
to try her out.
For me, a pensioner living in France on a rubbish pension made worse by the exchange rate, there are no regrets about buying all her works. I'll cut down on wine but not on books that I enjoy so much that I can reread them a month later with as much or more pleasure.
Keep on writin' Kate.
David Price
(...)
FRANCE
I just love her work and would urge any reader who:
a. likes this type of novel that tells a great story,
b. enjoys laughing out loud,
c. is prepared when doing b., at 2 in the morning, to risk and endure a severe rollicking from a woken spouse...,
to try her out.
For me, a pensioner living in France on a rubbish pension made worse by the exchange rate, there are no regrets about buying all her works. I'll cut down on wine but not on books that I enjoy so much that I can reread them a month later with as much or more pleasure.
Keep on writin' Kate.
David Price
(...)
FRANCE
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great holiday read
A cracking murder mystery: dark, clever, at times sarcastic, often surprisingly funny. Atkinson's characters are a wry, entertaining bunch. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Simon Bendle
Avid Reader
Once again, Ms Atkinson does not let us down. Tautly written and typically multi layered as is her wont. Makes you want to turn the page before you've even got to the bottom of it!
Published 1 month ago by Viking.
Not as good as Case Histories.
This book got there in the end but was not nearly as absorbing as Case Histories. Eventually I found the intricate linking of the stories irritating and the central character's... Read more
Published 2 months ago by jba va.it
Highly irritating
This has to be one of the most irritating books I've ever read. I suppose some may enjoy the literally technique of writing-at-a-tangent, but this was like a conversation with my... Read more
Published 3 months ago by BW Galliford
Much better than the programme
Having read a number of Atkinson's novels, and previosuly meeting Jackson Brodie both on paper and the recent TV serialisation I wanted more. Read more
Published 3 months ago by gordol
Good enjoyable read
Thought this was another good one by Kate Atkinson. All her books are written in a very similar style, so once you've read one you know what to expect, but it's always a different... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Rachel
The weakest of the 4 Brodie novels
If you have not read Case Histories, then this post contains spoilers.
I'm going to be frank and say from the off that One Good Turn was a disappointment. Read more
I'm going to be frank and say from the off that One Good Turn was a disappointment. Read more
Published 3 months ago by R. A. Davison
A good read but not one of my favourites...
I found this a little depressing and nowhere near as good as Case Histories, but nevertheless it was a good read and I found it hard to put down one I was into it...
Published 7 months ago by A Moore
Many good turns
Kate Atkinson is frightfully good. As ever, she creates a series of (mostly) new characters and weaves a complicated murder mystery entirely through the experiences of each one. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Patrick Neylan
Very put-downable
It's not many books I give up on but I've given up on this one about three times and I'm not yet half way through. Read more
Published 9 months ago by E. W. G. Kirk
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