When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

When Will There Be Good News? is one of those books that has three or four story lines that seem totally unrelated to each other but bit by bit they come together. This book is told from the perspective of Joanna Mason, who witnesses a crime when she is six, now it is 30 years later and the man convicted of the crime is released from prison. It is also told from the view of sixteen-year-old Reggie, who knows about bad things since ‘bad things happen to me all the time’. The doctor she works for is missing and Reggie is convinced something has happened to her. We also are following a plot line with Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe, who has her own missing person to find and Jackson Brodie, who for a while is himself missing, who is a private detective and friend of the Chief Inspector. Oh and a train crashes. The various story lines may sound confusing here, but when reading the book they are clear, what is not clear is how they are all going to intersect, slowly it comes together, but not too slowly. The characters are all real, so much you can actually hear Reggie say, “Sweartogod” when you know she is lying.

I bought this book on a Saturday in the city, started reading it on the way home and finished it on Monday. The back cover says, “Unputdownable.” I don’t think that is a real word, and I did put it down, I do have to at least look like I am working when I am at my job. Strong character development, intriguing story line, even the back and forth relating of events, the same events from one point of view than another was not confusing and served to capture my interest. The book is labeled Crime Fiction but it is not a mystery in the true sense of the word, it is more about how crime effects us, the decisions we make and the people we become when we grow up.

I recommend this book.

with the name of the book in the subject line and your name and mailing address in the body of the e-mail. The first person who e-mails will receive my copy of this book. It is a trade paperback and since I bought it instead of receiving it from the publisher, I wrote my name on it. This is the only place I wrote on it, the rest of the book is in like new condition.