One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson: Book two in the Jackson Brodie Series

One Good Turn is the second book in the Jackson Brodie series from Kate Atkinson. It directly follows on from events in Case Histories (book one) so I would advise reading them in order. In One Good Turn, Jackson finds himself caught up in more than one case, despite not officially being a private investigator anymore…

Opening sentence: He was lost.

Actions have consequences

One Good Turn brings the action to Edinburgh and has a classic premise delivered really well: A cast of characters all witness an altercation and we get to know more about each character, including how their lives are linked, throughout the story. In not as obvious ways as first meet the eye.

Jackson is indeed one of the witnesses, we’ll come back him. Other key witnesses are Pam and Gloria, friends married to rich businessmen and Martin Canning, a cosy crime author of the Nina Riley books who is trying to branch out into other genres.

That detail alone sent Jackson’s brain spinning. Boxes within boxes, dolls within dolls, worlds within worlds. Everything was connected.

We also meet DS Louise Monroe, she is leading the investigation into the altercation and there are some very interesting moments between her and Jackson…

The enigma of Jackson Brody

So yes, onto the man himself. Jackson is in town for the legendary Edinburgh Festival Fringe to support his actress girlfriend, Julia (who he met as a client in Case Histories) in her play.

Finding himself with a lot of time on his hands, he heads out on a coastal walk and ends up spotting something unusual – a drowning woman. He’s not quick enough though and the waves claim her. But who is she? This is another plot thread that links seamlessly with the above.

As I mentioned in my Case Histories review, I wasn’t 100% into Jackson Brody as a character. I found some of his beliefs a bit old-school, for example his take on gender roles, referenced here too:

Nothing to do with them being women (his only precious child was a girl, after all), more to do with Jackson not being a man. A real man.

But, I do feel I’ve seen more in terms of his character development and am warming to him. It helps that his split nature is being directly referenced. Maybe we’re not supposed to actually like him right now?

Good Jackson, Bad Jackson. The pair of them seemed to be having quite a tussle these days.

Overall, One Good Turn was a very clever, high-pace read that pulled its many narrative threads together in a really satisfying way. For a series, I thought that One Good Turn had quite a different tone to Case Histories. Whereas the first was more vignettes with a deeply emotional focus, this had a slightly higher action structure and felt more like a multi-part drama series you might watch on TV. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, I did! I will indeed be reading book three very soon.

• Get your copy of One Good Turn here;
• Published by Black Swan 2006;
• 418 pages;
• Book review rating: