Started Early, Took My Dog

A Novel

By: Kate Atkinson

Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm

Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Waterhouse leads a quiet, ordered life as a retired police detective - a life that takes a surprising turn when she encounters Kelly Cross, a habitual offender, dragging a young child through town. Both appear miserable and better off without each other - or so decides Tracy, in a snap decision that surprises herself as much as Kelly.

Suddenly burdened with a small child, Tracy soon learns her parental inexperience is actually the least of her problems, as much larger ones loom for her and her young charge.

Meanwhile, Jackson Brodie, the beloved detective of novels such as Case Histories, is embarking on a different sort of rescue - that of an abused dog. Dog in tow, Jackson is about to learn, along with Tracy, that no good deed goes unpunished.

©2010 Kate Atkinson (P)2011 Hachette Audio

Completely absorbing story, outstanding narration

Kate Atkinson does it again. She zooms in on the minor daily irritations characters endure, or the mini-catastrophes they fight, in a semi-stream of consciousness style. When I first read her books, I was puzzled why so many, apparently completely unrelated people, had the most minute attention given to episodes in their lives. But as I continued to read, or listen, as in this case—all eventually becomes clear, but the connections still astonished me. Her writing is completely absorbing. More than once, I sat in my driveway, listening to that one last bit. Graeme Malcolm’s narration is masterful. I saw this novel unfold as much as I heard it—and much credit goes to him for his performance.

A bit dark

I liked the other books better as this one was a dark tale that made me sad. I felt sorry for so many of the characters except the dog and Courtney. However, being a fan of Kate’s writing and a fan of Jackson Brody, I’ll continue reading.

Pleasant surprise

I downloaded this book as a filler in until I got my next credits, and chose it strictly for its quirky title. (I never heard of the author.) I hoped it would be a good listen, and I wasn't disappointed. The characters are well formed and real, not ultra glamourous, as they have been in some of the books I've listened to recently. The plot held my interest throughout. It also had that real effect. It was a story that could plausibly happen to any of us, and kept me listening to find out how everything would turn out in the end. The narrator's British accent threw me off at first, only because I had to listen just a tad bit closer to understand the words. Once I got used to it, I found his voice smooth and delightful to listen to. I look forward to listening to another one of Ms. Atkinson's books. This one deserves all five stars.

Second Reading just as enjoyable.

This is Kate Atkinson at her best: wise, funny, pithy. Her stories and people, all flawed, but they are so loveably human. When Tracy described her parents as living past their sell by date, I laughed out loud and hope I won't come to that fate. Jackson Brody, detective, tries to find an adoptee's biological parents. Seems simple but he is almost killed trying. Meantime, retired police woman Tracy decides to buy a little girl off an abusive parent, so she will have someone to love. And then there is aging actress Tilly who wanders in and out of the plot. Read this book.

One of my all time favorites

Charming story. Excellent reading. Sounds silly, but this book makes me laugh and cry every time I listen. Big thumbs up.

Really enjoyable

I'm not quite sure why I enjoyed this so much, but I did so I thought I should say so. I have read the others in this series, and watched them on PBS and enjoyed them too, but this one was just sort of a romp and I liked that. It jumps around quite a bit but all comes together, sort of, in the end, so stick with it.

Started Early, Took My Dog

Another terrific novel from Kate Atkinson. This was my first Audiobook and now I think I'm hooked. The narration was terrific. I have a 1 hour communte each way and this made the time fly. I found I was actually looking forward to the drive.

4th Jackson Brodie novel a disappointment

We have loved the first three novels by Kate Atkinson about her protagonist Jackson Brodie and his friends and adversaries. We also really liked the audible presentation of the recent 5th book in the series, ‘The Big Sky.’ So we were quite disappointed by this 4th book in the series. The plot was cluttered with implausible coincidences, the author played unnecessary tricks on the reader to deceive—e.g., by inserting a second investigator named Jackson in order to confuse. And the reader/narrator was tediously solemn, with seemingly no effort made to capture the different styles of speech of the different characters.

weirdly wonderful

Odd, disjointed, wordy, wonderful characters & language, beautifully narrated: would listen to anything else by this writer.

Enjoyable listen. Stands up to a second 'reading'

An interesting tale, well told. It is part mystery, part romance in the classical sense, part sheer entertainment. Note that it is part of a continuing series by Kate Atkinson. Something I wished I knew before starting this one.