- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday; First Edition edition (14 Aug 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385608012
- ISBN-13: 978-0385608015
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (159 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 111,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
When Will There Be Good News?
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More About the Author
Product Description
Guardian
Funny, bracingly intelligent and delightfully prickly...Kate Atkinson is that rarest of beasts, a genuinely surprising novelist.
Daily Express
Gripping...Suspense is tinglingly maintained throughout...shot through with wry wit and gritty realism.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Which book are some of the people on this review page reading?!,
By Ulysses (South Wales) - See all my reviews
This review is from: When Will There Be Good News? (Hardcover)
As the third in the Jackson Brodie series, I found KA's continuation of his life absolutely compelling. Each book builds on the foundations of the last, and I was unable to put this one down. Those people who speak of 'padding' and 'lack of believability' clearly have no understanding of the literary ability Atkinson wields as an author - all the knowing nods to other writers and genres, the clever little conceits she employs to tie her ideas together, the fact that she leaves a lot to the imagination, doesn't feel compelled to tie up every loose end (although if you read the whole series some loose ends are tied up in later books). She doesn't patronise you as a reader, she assumes a level of literary understanding and intellectual ability, and best of all she loves the pure musicality of the words on the page (see Emotionally Weird for proof of this!). I cannot wait for August when her next book is released, and have lent Case Histories, One Fine Day and When Will There Be Good News? to anyone I can think of, jumping up and down with glee as I see their enjoyment increasing exponentially with each new book. Open your minds a little, don't expect a Patricia Cornwell-esque read, recognise this writer's true ability and realise that her books are about more than just a detective story. You won't be able to put them down either in that case!
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kate Atkinson firing on all cylinders,
By
This review is from: When Will There Be Good News? (Paperback)
This is Kate Atkinson's third novel to feature her private detective Jackson Brodie, so it probably helps to have started with the first, Case Histories, to have a feel for the back story - and the second, One Good Turn, also features another major player in this story - Louise Munroe, hard bitten but soft centred DCI. I found One Good Turn not quite as good as Case Histories but this sees her back on top form.I've been a fan of Kate Atkinson's writing since her debut in Behind The Scenes At The Museum. The Jackson Brodie stories have several intertwining plot lines, including a twist at the end to something I hadn't realised was even a plot line until that point. She's a master story teller, her characterisation very sharp, and she makes amusing use of parentheses and italics to voice unspoken thoughts. She's also brilliant at time shifts and flashbacks, and shifts between everyday life and stark tragedy. What's this one about? Without giving anything away, one storyline concerns the grown-up survivor of an horrific murder of a mother and two of her three children (reminiscent of a real and well-known murder) who is now a doctor married to a dodgy husband, another a sixteen year old girl called Reggie, a third Jackson Brodie, a fourth Louise Munroe. They intertwine and overlap brilliantly. I'm about to start on Kate Atkinson's latest Started Early, Took My Dog
111 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A little cluttered, though I'm still a big fan,
By
This review is from: When Will There Be Good News? (Hardcover)
I love Kate Atkinson's writing (I don't usually buy books in hardback!) and did enjoy this novel, finishing it in a matter of days.However, I can't deny that it felt a little cluttered - too many perspectives; too many personal tragedies; too much drama and bloody violence. I felt that an awful lot had been packed in along the way and it began to feel unrealistic and unsubtle. To my mind, the Needler story was unnecessary; Reggie's personal circumstances went from bad to unlikely; and all the key characters were a little too connected. A bit of coincidence is one thing, but this went too far. Perhaps it was meant to feel 'fateful' but it didn't quite work for me. When writing from Jackson Brodie's perspective Kate Atkinson seems at her most comfortable, he's a rounded character and totally believable. For me, Reggie was endearing but didn't quite ring true and I am not at all keen on her new pet character, Louise Munroe. Not that it's vital to always like characters in novels, but she's clearly being established as a heroine, perhaps equal to Jackson, but for me she has few redeeming features. I simply don't want to know much more about her. Given Kate Atkinson's talents as a writer (her colourful prose and characterisation draw the reader in from the very start) I feel she doesn't need to rely so heavily on crime as a genre. She built up her initial tale of the Mason family in a compelling way, only to destroy them a few pages later. It felt like a waste. I remember feeling the same way about Case Histories. I look forward to her next novel but hope she tones down the crime elements just a little and focuses on her characters and insights into their lives and loves.
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