One Good Turn

By: Kate Atkinson

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Brought to you by Penguin.

The second Jackson Brodie novel (after Case Histories): literary crime from the prizewinning, number-one bestselling author of Big Sky and Transcription.

It is summer, it is the Edinburgh Festival. People queuing for a lunchtime show witness a road-rage incident - a near-homicidal attack which changes the lives of everyone involved. Jackson Brodie, ex-army, ex-police, ex-private detective, is also an innocent bystander - until he becomes a murder suspect.

As the body count mounts, each member of the teeming Dickensian cast's story contains a kernel of the next, like a set of nesting Russian dolls. They are all looking for love or money or redemption or escape: but what each actually discovers is their own true self.

'An absolute joy to read...the pleasure of One Good Turn lies in the ride, in Atkinson's wry, unvanquished characters, her swooping, savvy, sarcastic prose and authorial joie de vivre' Guardian

© Kate Atkinson 2006 (P) Penguin Audio 2015

©2006 Kate Atkinson (P)2015 Random House Audiobooks

Expected more of a twist

I love how Kate Atkinson writes so beautifully about such bleak and seedy things. I loved the performance and I loved the characters. I was a little disappointed at how she tied up the threads in the end, though. Still a lovely and engaging story.

A true thriller

A very good story with a lot of twists. A bit slow in the beginning, but makes up for it in a twirl of an ending. Special thanks to the very good narrator.

Fantastic audio book

This was such a treat of a story to listen to on all the long drives we've done lately. We hung on every word and revelled in Steven Crossley's delivery. Highly recommended.

Good writing but too much woolgathering

I like the Atkinson novels but in this case I was a bit disappointed, the technique she use of many chatacthers telling the story is ok but it has ben used too much and the story has lost some suspense. I have 4 stars because she can write and create a good setting.

A Chore to Read

Finishing this book was a chore. I enjoyed the first Jackson Brodie outing, 'Case Histories', but I am deeply disappointed by the second one. The whole novel is dragged down by the interminable interior monologues of unlikeable characters . "Dead as a door nail. Why a door nail? Does a door nail have a special quality of deadness?" and so on. Action is rare, stakes are low and the payoff is unrewarding. Brodie comes over as a pathetic character, robbed of power to act by the fact that he is no longer a member of the police force. I finished it because I was damned if I was going to waste a credit but honestly it wasn't worth the effort.