Customer Reviews

Case Histories: A Novel

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(68)
3 star:		(35)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

This is my first venture at Atkinson, and I have to say she's a delightful writer to read. She really knows how to hook you.

The story opens with the accounts of three crimes from the perspectives of those who were there at the time. Then, in the present, we meet private investigator Jackson Brodie (a former police inspector) who is dealing with his painful divorce, serious dental problems, and his ever-maturing eight-year-old daughter. Jackson's perspective guides the rest of the narrative through new leads in the three cases, and it isn't long before all three cases are entwined via their connection with Jackson.

While this sounds like a stock mystery novel or something straight off a British crime drama, Atkinson's style offers a little more than the standard mystery fare. She leaps one perspective to another with admirable grace, always managing to keep the many characters and their intertwining narratives totally distinct and completely engrossing.

My only qualms with the story had to do with the plot itself: it's pretty easy to pick up the clues Atkinson drops, and thus, figure out the conclusion well before the ending; and as for the ending--it wasn't as satisfying as it could have been. But her writing is so fluid, by turns funny and poingant, that I couldn't put it down.

This is the first book I've read of Atkinson's, and while it's fairly entertaining, I'm not quite sure what all the hype is about. The story revolves around 30something ex-cop Jackson Brodie, who plies his private investigative skills in present-day Cambridge, England. He is called upon to look into three cases from the past, which are introduced in the three opening chapters. The first involves the disappearance of a small girl in 1970, the second involves the apparently random murder of teenage girl in 1994, and the third involves the whereabouts of a woman who killed her husband in 1979. As Jackson looks into these different blasts from the past, we also see him struggling with his personal life. Like so many fictional police and detective protagonists he's divorced and estranged from his ex-wife, and barely able to connect with his 8-year-old daughter. He also has a family secret in his past which is alluded to several times before being revealed at the end.

The cases are all quite dark, and Atkinson does a very good job of conveying the sense of sorrow and loss that surrounds each. Jackson pursues them without a lot of hope but with due diligence and as in so many procedurals, discovers threads to each that went unexplored. It's diverting enough, but many of the characters are somewhat superficial, which keeps the book from being as good as it might have been. In the first case, the father is the archetype distracted, brusque professor, each of the four sisters is a "type" (the golden child, the outgoing dramatic one, the repressed lost middle one, the weird religious one), and there's a crone who lives next door with a gazillion cats. In the third story, the murderess is a typical teenage mother with postpartum depression, and the victim is a typical dashing young man who settles down into a somewhat less dashing adulthood. Theo, the father of the victim in the second story is better developed, and a genuinely sympathetic character who still mourns the loss of his daughter. Perhaps most egregiously, we never really get to know Jackson all that well.

The chapters hopscotch between the different storylines, and the plot unravels in the manner of a good airplane or beach read. The writing is all very fluid and professional, although there's no sense of style to mark it. There's some nice bits of humor, some nice bits of human insight, a decent irony here and there. However, there are other elements that are rather clumsily handled, such as the true reason which is unveiled for the missing little girl from the first case, as well as the adult development of one of the two sisters, which is ridiculously forced. Similarly, the dark secret about Jackson's past is totally over-the-top and unnecessary, serving no real purpose in relation to his character. There's also a homeless girl who appears throughout the book whose identity should be pretty obvious very early on, and although Atkinson leaves it unspoken, it's kind of a groaner. To her credit, it's nice that she doesn't quite spell everything out and tie up every loose end in a neat bow. On the whole, it's fairly enjoyable, and I would read another set of Jackson Brodie investigations, but there's nothing particularly groundbreaking here. For a more interesting recent take on the modern British detective story, try Patrick Neate's "City of Tiny Lights."

The Washington Post review has it right. You will like this novel if:
--You enjoy strikingly crafted, humorous phrases that make you applaud the writer's insights regarding the human condition.
--You like stories written in non-linear fashion, where points of view and major characters change from one chapter to the next, incidents are not always revealed in the order in which they occur, new characters suddenly enter the story for no apparent reason, and you get to use your smarts to deduce what is happening. (Fear not; all is eventually and clearly explained.)
--Several engrossing mysterious threads keep you on edge to find out what the explanations are going to be.
--"Howtodealwithit"--conflicted, troubled people trying to straighten out their lives--is as interesting to you as whodunit.

You will not like this novel if:
--You want a slam-bang action thriller with little or no introspection by the characters.
--You're turned off by major changes in story line and characters from one chapter to the next.
--You'd rather not read about incest, (occasional) casual sex, and dysfunctional families with parents who seem incapable of giving love.
--You strongly object to unlikely coincidences that tie plot elements together.

Stephen King rated this as the best novel of the year in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY. I couldn't put it down. This was my first Kate Atkinson novel, and I'm going to read all of her others.

Addendum to review: Sorry to report that I did not enjoy Atkinson's earlier novels; found them tedious, difficult, slow, hard to relate to. Think twice before buying any of them.

Kate Atkinson's marvelous first novel, BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM, distinguished her as a gifted storyteller and a novelist to watch. Now, with her fourth work of fiction, CASE HISTORIES, Atkinson proves her mettle with a thoroughly engaging novel that is part thriller, part psychological study, and part consideration of the mysteries of fate.

The novel opens with three "case histories." First come the Lands, the four daughters of a remote, unlikable Cambridge math professor. The youngest, Olivia, is universally beloved. When she disappears from a tent during a backyard slumber party, none of the Land sisters will ever be the same.

The second case is that of Theo Wyre, a Cambridge solicitor who dotes on his younger daughter, Laura. He worries about her constantly: "He worried when she went out in a high wind that a piece of falling masonry might drop on her head, he worried that she would take a student flat with an unserviced water heater and die of carbon monoxide poisoning." That's why, when Laura takes a job in Theo's office during the summer before she is to start college, he's glad that he'll be able to keep an eye on her. Little does he know that what he imagines as the safest place for Laura will prove deadly.

Finally, we have the case of Michelle Fletcher, a young mother who feels trapped by her marriage and her baby: "she hadn't 'bonded' with the baby, instead she was shackled by it." Isolated and lonely, Michelle snaps when her husband makes the mistake of waking the baby up from a nap.

Some of these cases are more than thirty years old; others happened recently. Into the middle comes private detective Jackson Brodie, who, in the course of a few weeks, shifts from investigating adulterous wives and missing cats to pondering cases that the police had abandoned years ago. Jackson is having a personal crisis of his own, and he ends up getting personally and emotionally involved with too many of his clients.

As the story unfolds gradually, shifting perspectives and timelines expose connections that no one had anticipated. Careful readers will delight in these revelations (one character reveals her identity by using a particularly odd metaphor, for example). All along, the careful plotting of Atkinson's story and the loveliness of her language make for a novel that is as thrilling as any mystery but has depth beyond most other thrillers.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

I went into this with low expectations, because I thought the title was boring and the beginning was unpromising. Boy, was I wrong! This is a fascinating story with multiple narratives, tied loosely together by Jackson, an investigator who has some dark secrets of his own.

Jackson has to solve the following mysteries:

1) Where is the child of a murdered father?

2) Where is a missing child?

3) Who is the killer of a teenage girl?

The mysteries are all solved, in unexpected ways with big surprises, but it's not a plot driven book. The characters are fully developed and feel like real people. Although the beginning is a little stiff, Atkinson's trademark intelligence and dry wit take over pretty quickly. The book was a delight to read. I would say it was just as good as Behind the Scenes in the Museum, though completely different.

This book is not: Dan Brown, Danielle Steel, or Jackie Collins. It's not vanilla or cotton or Pottery Barn. You won't find weary formula here or something previously manufactured and twisted inside out in hopes you won't recognize it. This is talent -- talent that slaps you across the face and awakens you. I imagine Kate Atkinson at age four, barely able to wield a pencil, with all this talent coursing through her. Just Waiting for her.

Case Histories abandons rules and entagles genres. It's a fantastic smorgasbord of eccentric characters and fused lives. It often feels amorphous. It runs amok like a Jackson Pollack but then you get up close and you're suddenly aware of the foresight -- the fastidious structure and precision. It was meant to be sly and sweet here, raw and grusome there and just when you weren't expecting it, sparkling and whimsical.

This novel doesn't just sit there on paper. It pulses and breathes and comes alive in your hands. Even now, after I've finished it, it doesn't want to die. That's a good trick and Atkinson is one hell of a magician.

As an true and devoted mystery novel addict, I have had a growing annoyance with recent books in this genre; many have become predictable, boring, uninventive and sometimes just crass. Kate Atkinson has renewed my faith in the belief that a good mystery can be considered true literature as well as a real mental exercise.

I was especially impressed by two elements in this novel. The first is simply the believability of her characters as full and faily regular people, most of whom carry emotional baggage not totally unlike the normal person. All characters appear to be returning from a trauma that has changed them and, in the short journey the reader takes with each one, they share a journey to realize who they are apart from their residual grief.

The second source of ingenuity is Atkinson's gift for weaving a complex and compelling plot. The action of this story is vibrant and insists the reader tackle just one more page to see what's around this next bend. The grip of this story is immediate and intense enough to ensure that just the experience of reading becomes an active exercise of mind and heart rather than a passive, and sometimes frantic, turning of pages to get to the moment of revelation. The shape of the plot causes you to begin to care for all the characters whether or not you like them.

All I know about myself is that I enjoy a great story. Atkinson's latest made me savor every page, especially once I realized how special and rare this work is. Just after I finished the last word I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to flip to the first page and start over again.

In the book Case Histories, private investigator Jackson Brodie, receives three new clients in the course of a couple of weeks that all have "cold cases" they need closure on.

Case 1 - 34 years ago 3-year old Olivia Land disappeared from her backyard, where she had been sleeping with her sister Amelia in a tent, never to be seen again. Victor Land, their father dies bringing Olivia's two surviving sisters back to their childhood home where they find the first clue in Olivia's disappearance.

Case 2 - Theo Wyre misses his daughter Laura terribly. 10 years ago, while temping in his law office, she was killed in a tragic slaying. Now 10 years later Theo needs to find his daughter's killer so he can know the truth about what happened that day.

Case 3 - Michelle Fletcher, mother of a young baby, kills her husband because he "woke the baby up." After serving her time she disappears and starts a new life never searching for that child she left behind 25 years ago. Her sister, who was only 15 at the time promised she would look after her neice Tanya. However Tanya was taken from her and handed over to her paternal grandparents. She has now run away and Shelly enlists the help of Jackson to find her sister's daughter.

The character development in this book is incosistent but the mysteries started out good! It was a very enjoyable read up until the last 50 pages. Atkinson does a great job closing Case 1, however for Case 2 & 3 she provides enough information so you can infer what happened but not enough to really close out the story. You're left to wonder how some of the characters feel at the end of the book and asking yourself did everyone achieve the closure they were looking for? It left me unsatisfied. There was a lot going on in the book and I felt like Atkinson was trying to rush us to the finish. Overall, quick, easy, fun read - but don't expect much from the ending.

Kate Atkinson has taken an interesting way to introduce her stories; she presents them as small summaries, before she brings any of the characters into the present.

Case 1) A 2 year old girl wanders away from her house on a hot summer night and is never seen again.
Case 2) An eighteen year old girl is working in her father's law firm, a man walks in, asks for her father (whose out), runs past the receptionist, stabs one of the partners in the conference room; when the girl runs into the conference room to help him, she is slashed in the neck and dies; the killer is never caught.
Case 3) A young woman, with a young child is living on a rural farm, her husband is seldom around and she seems to be suffering from post-partum depression, one day she looses it and kills him with an axe; the baby is given to his parents to raise.

Ex-Inspector Brodie, is a down and out PI, he left the force for personal reasons and is scraping along, doing mostly surveilance on cheating husbands. He is asked to do the following:
Case 1) it's been thirty four years since she disappeared, two of her remaining sisters ask him to find out what happened;
Case 2) it's been ten years, but the girls father can't get past her murder; he asks Brodie to find her murderer;
Case 3) she's now twenty-five, but her aunt hasn't seen her is over twenty years; she wants Brodie to find her niece.

Brodie who is dealing with his ex-wife, and trying to spend quality time with his eight year old daughter, is asked to answer questions that the police never answered. All these trails are past being cold, on top of this, it appears that some one is trying to kill him.

With a great amount of empathy, and involvement with two peripheral cases (while all the while he dreams of retirement in the French countryside), our intrepid PI goes at it. Interweaving the three stories, the sisters of the two year old, the father of the eighteen year old, and the aunt of the lost girl, Atkinson creates a truly involving story. The game is afoot, just try to avoid the cats.

I truly enjoyed reading this (fairly) fast-paced book that didn't insult my intelligence at the same level that the NYT Best Sellers do. The twists & turns and randomness of events slowly merge together so subtly that you barely remember that they started out at unrelated times and locations.

A very nice change of pace from the mind-numbing, page-turning work of James Patterson, etc. I actually can remember what the story was about after I was finished!

I almost called in sick to work to finish reading -- but I didn't (thus only 4 out of 5 stars).