A day like any other for security chief Tracy Waterhouse, until she makes a shocking impulse purchase. That one moment of madness is all it takes for Tracy's humdrum world to be turned upside down, the tedium of everyday life replaced by fear and danger at every turn.

Witnesses to Tracy's outrageous exchange in the Merrion Centre in Leeds are Tilly, an elderly actress teetering on the brink of her own disaster, and Jackson Brodie who has returned to his home county in search of someone else's roots. All three characters learn that the past is never history and that no good deed goes unpunished.

Wahay - I love Kate Atkinson's books - soon to be read :-)

Kate’s Jackson Brodie novels never let me down. Once again she shows she can weave together a complex plot, laced with tragedy but also great humour, and develop wonderful believable characters.

Jackson, bemused and prone to getting himself into tight spots (literally at one point), whilst searching for the natural parents of a client from New Zealand, stumbles into a mystery that harks back to murder and intrigue in the 70s and a missing child.
In a style similar to the previous novel the narrative switches between Jackson and three other characters whose lives are drawn together through connections and coincidence.

We meet Tracy the retired police officer full of regrets who finds herself in an unexpected parenting role and on the run; Barry Crawford, another copper who worked with Tracy who is weighed down with grief and secrets, and Tilly, an ageing actress battling with the onset of dementia. I loved the way all these were handled and their relationships with lesser but equally well drawn personalities such as the little girl ‘Courtney’, the other private detective called Jackson and the fab dog ‘The Ambassador’ that Jackson B hooks up with.

There is some memorable ‘Life on Mars’ type insight into 70s policing and social attitudes overshadowed by the spectre of the Yorkshire Ripper. There is a definite theme of loss – in every sense of the word – and of family ties and parental relationships. Oh and some great Yorkshire locations.

Yes the plot is a little bit contrived and coincidental – but so was Dickens. Atkinson carries it off because she writes with great page turning skill and verve.

For release at bookcrossers' meet on Thursday.

Picked this up at the bookcrossing meet last night in Oxford, thanks darkhorse. I actually read it last year and passed my copy on, but it is the selected book for the National Women's Register "Big Read" later this year, so I'll read it again.