Started Early, Took My Dog

Jackson Brodie 4

De: Kate Atkinson

Narrado por: Jason Isaacs

Brought to you by Penguin.

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

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.

'Crime has given Atkinson the freedom to write an ambitious, panoramic work, full of excitement, colour and compassion' Sunday Times

© Kate Atkinson 2010 (P) Penguin Audio 2010

©2010 Kate Atkinson (P)2010 Random House Audio

Ending left me hanging....

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The book was OK. I enjoyed it, once I suspended my disbelief that a police officer saavy enough to be on the force for 20-some years and rise to a very senior level would make such a dumb move as buying a child from her abuser. That aside, I liked the twists and turns in the plot. But as with another book I listened to within the last year, it felt as though the author reached the required page count and just wound things up quickly. The story was nowhere near over yet. No satisfactory resolution, no tying the loose ends up with a bow, nothing. Rather disappointing overall. But the narrator was great, for what that is worth when the story kinds sucks, in the end.

Do you think Started Early, Took My Dog needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

The ending leaves it wide open for a sequel. "Started Early, Took My Dog" doesn't really END at all.

Kate Atkinson - what a find !!!

Have just finished the entire quartet of Jackson Brodie novels, and am at a total loss.
<b>How can I manage without him ?</b>
Jackson is the best protagonist I've come across in - oh, YEARS !
All four books have Atkinson's modus operandi: the introduction one by one of all the characters, and a slightly-confusing-at-first way of jumping to and fro in time (only years, not time travel !). And all four have WONDERFUL plots and SUPERB characters and DELIGHTFUL humour. Sorry about the upper case: I wish I could think of better adjectives ...
Added to all this is the narration by Jason Isaacs - now my favourite reader of all times.
(Ah ! - something I can do, then: see what other books he's read.)
If Kate Atkinson is not right this minute writing a fifth Jackson Brodie, I might have to commit hara kiri.

Just love Kate!

Would you consider the audio edition of Started Early, Took My Dog to be better than the print version?

I am enjoying Audio versions of books theses days, love to listen while I'm driving, I fell I get to know the characters better

quirky and entertaining

my new favourite author. I enjoy her characters with all their imperfections and the stories are never predictible.