Kate Atkinson is one of my favourite contemporary authors - not only is her writing excellent and her plots are very clever, keeping me wanting to read on and on and on, but also some of her books are set in Yorkshire, which is always a plus with me.
"Big Sky" is her fourth book featuring detective Jackson Brodie, who was so well protrayed (in my opinion) by Jason Isaacs in the eponymous TV series.
Places I know feature in this book: Scarborough, Robin Hoods Bay, Helmsley, Bridlington (which was one of the few places in Yorkshire I did not really like), Harrogate and Leeds, for instance.
The case Brodie is given at the outset of the book does not feature all that much in the course of the story, but that thread is picked up again towards the end. Speaking of threads, Kate Atkinson proves once more a master weaver. When you least expect it (most of the time), her characters, places and events form an artful pattern, to be admired as it emerges.
A lot of the book involves sexual exploit of girls and women; definitely not my favourite subject and nothing one should draw entertainment from, and yet it forms the backbone of the book, along (of course) with Jackson Brodie and the place in life he founds himself at. In spite of this, it is a beautiful book - I can't put it any other way.
I would like to tell you loads more, but that would only spoil the reading experience for you, if you plan on borrowing or buying the book. In case you have read it, you are welcome to guess in your comment who my favourite protagonist was (clue: a human being, not one of the dogs).
PS: I have used my mid-afternoon coffee break to write this review, in case you were wondering about the unusual time for me posting.
Strangely, I thought from the title this post was going to contain more walk pictures.
ReplyDeleteWhy would I put "Read in 2021 - 16" in front of a walk? That would have had to be "Walked in 2021 - 314" or something like that :-)
DeleteI'm a skimmer and scanner - only saw "big sky". It's me not you.
DeleteIt was the big skies that I found so attractive about Scarborough castle. Up on that headland, the sky feels bigger than in many other places.
DeleteI got this book as an audiobook and kept falling asleep while listening. I will have to go back to it. I must disagree about Bridlington. The beaches and promenades are wonderful and the Georgian old town is very atmospheric. Please give it another chance when you are in Yorkshire.
ReplyDeleteI can only rely on my memory of one brief visit to Brid with my late husband in 2003. The beach was beautiful, but I didn't see much of the old town; we came and went by bus, and only walked that bit between beach and bus station. The place was packed, and people pressing on me from all sides - I did not feel safe, and kept clutching my handbag, half expecting someone to snatch it from me and run off.
DeleteI seriously struggled with two or three books by Kate Atkinson some years ago, none of them were detective novels I think, but I still don't feel tempted to give her another go...
ReplyDeleteShe is certainly unique and not to everybody's liking in her style. With one or two of her earlier Jackson Brody books, I took a while to get the hang of it, too.
Delete