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Case Histories

The first book in the Jackson Brodie series from the bestselling author

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Case Histories

By: Kate Atkinson
Narrated by: Jason Isaacs
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The first Jackson Brodie novel: literary crime from the prizewinning, number-one bestselling author of Big Sky and Transcription.

Cambridge is sweltering, during an unusually hot summer. To Jackson Brodie, former police inspector turned private investigator, the world consists of one accounting sheet - Lost on the left, Found on the right - and the two never seem to balance.

Surrounded by death, intrigue and misfortune, his own life haunted by a family tragedy, Jackson attempts to unravel three disparate case histories and begins to realise that in spite of apparent diversity, everything is connected...

'An astonishingly complex and moving literary detective story that made me sob but also snort with laughter. It's the sort of novel you have to start rereading the minute you've finished it' Guardian

© Kate Atkinson 2004 (P) Penguin Audio 2010

 Cosy Mystery Police Procedurals Private Investigators Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction
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Critic reviews

Her best book yet, an astonishingly complex and moving literary detective story that made me sob but also snort with laughter. It's the sort of novel you have to start rereading the minute you've finished it
Sharp humour, together with a number of unexpected twists makes this a typically pacey and intelligent read
A greedy feast of a story by a masterful author...A profound, exciting and lingering read
Triumphant...Her best book yet...A tragi-comedy for our times
To read it is to enter a hall of mirrors...Part complex family drama, part mystery, it winds up having more depth and vividness than ordinary thrillers and more thrills than ordinary fiction...A wonderfully tricky book
As satisfying as anything dreamed up by Raymond Chandler, but the beauty of the novel lies in its spot-on characterizations, pitch perfect observations of contemporary culture and a sharp, wisecracking narrative voice
Shot through with sharp, black humour, and introducing a loveable hero in Brodie, this is storytelling that satisfies at every level
Atkinson is very good indeed... more satisfying than many detective novels. Everyone who picks it up will feel compelled to follow it through to the last page
Brilliantly playful, witty and original... massive and consistent talent for comedy
Intriguing and affecting... she has also created a compelling central chracter in world-weary private investigator Jackson Brodie, who is determined to bring justice to all the lives that lie fractured around him
All stars
Most relevant
The premise of this story is very clever and beautifully thought out. However, I made a mistake when I purchased this and ended up with the abridged version. Sadly, because I didn’t buy it on a credit, I’m not able to return it and swap it for the full length version.

I like Kate Atkinson’s writing style. I’m actually contemplating buying the full version because I found that I had difficulty following the story as it was progressing. Towards the end I was completely up to speed but the abridged version made reference to things that had happened earlier in the story that weren’t in the abridged version, making it very confusing.

DON’T BUY THE ABRIDGED VERSION! Go mad and buy the full 10 hour version! I will definitely be following Jackson Brody as a character and listening to more of Kate Atkinson’s books

Abridged version is this joint theatre and confusing

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A great introduction to the thoroughly decent bloke that is Jackson Brodie. Kate Atkinson is a genius at creating complex and believable characters. Sometimes laugh out loud, sometimes incredibly sad, but always written with great skill. Threads of people’s lives that weave together in a great story.

A cracking story

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Hard to imagine a better novel of the genre.Kate Atkinson is a superb storyteller and informative writer.

Superb

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Loved it, wasn’t sure if would be as good as the previous books but I was constantly rewinding to catch little bits I had missed just so I got the full story. Wasn’t keen on relationship with his son compared to his relationship with Marley in previous books, didn’t seem as genuine but a great read non the less (all the better for fantastic narration by Isaacs)!

Brilliant - Jackson is back!

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Brilliantly written as usual. Great use of flashbacks and reading between the lines. My third ebook by this author - definitely in my top list of authors already.
Jason Isaacs has lovely timbre to his voice and good characterisations. I just felt it was slightly rushed - my brain couldn't always keep up with his narration. Perhaps a personal thing but is reason for four stars out of five.

Brilliantly written

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