Review: Case Histories

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. British detective Jackson Brodie is working on three old cases: the disappearance of a toddler; the slasher murder of a young woman, and the location of a teenage runaway. This book moves between Brodie’s detective work and retelling some of the stories of what happened all those years ago

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This is actually the second time I’ve read this book; it was chosen for our book group, so I reread it. All of the cases examine family relationships: parent to child, sibling to sibling. Brodie’s life comes in for some examination too as he struggles to redefine his life as a father after his wife leaves him for another man. These cases are interesting, and Atkinson weaves them together intriguingly, but I was a little unconvinced that all three cases could be so neatly solved after stumping the police for decades, and all within only a couple of hundred pages. The book is a mystery, yet it’s more than your average genre mystery, and people who aren’t big mystery buffs might still find it a worthwhile read. 3.5/5*

p.s. This detective series was made into a TV show a few years ago.