{"id":3270,"date":"2019-08-05T05:16:18","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T12:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=3270"},"modified":"2019-08-05T05:16:18","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T12:16:18","slug":"kate-atkinson-big-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/kate-atkinson-big-sky\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate Atkinson: Big Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long wait for the new Jackson Brodie novel. Kate Atkinson was writing Life After Life<\/em> and other literary hits. But her unlucky-in-love, tough-but-soft-hearted P.I. is back. This time Jackson\u2019s 13-year-old son Nathan is staying with him on Yorkshire\u2019s east coast while his mother Julia, Jackson\u2019s former flame, acts in a TV crime series. Jackson\u2019s daughter Marlee is now a law graduate and about to be a bride. Jackson does \u201cdog work for solicitors\u2014debt tracing, surveillance, and so on.\u201d He also documents adulterous couples.<\/p>\n

In Big Sky<\/em>, the fifth Brodie novel, Jackson encounters a bunch of middle-aged golfers, three of whom are in a covert business together. These prosperous men needle their sort-of friend, Vince, a drudge who\u2019s been dumped by his employer and his wife.
\nSteve\u2019s a lawyer. Andy owns Exotic Travel and the Seashell B and B. Former amateur boxer Tommy has a hauling firm. Their fake employment-recruiting business brings in the lucre: Steve Skypes with young women from foreign countries, lures them with air tickets, and has Andy convey them to a sinister former nursing home to be drugged and trafficked.<\/p>\n

Tommy\u2019s glamorous second wife Crystal enjoys the nice things he earns, and mothers their little daughter Candy as well as Tommy\u2019s thoughtful teenage son Harry. (In a major sub-plot, Harry works on the pier at Transylvania World, and at the Palace Theatre.) Crystal is tamping down her nightmare past. At age 12 she went from foster care to the clutches of a child-trafficking ring known as \u201cthe magic circle.\u201d Its clients seemed to be protected by wealth and position. Two ringleaders, prominent in seaside-holiday businesses, met up with justice a decade ago.<\/p>\n

But two female detective constables have come to the area to look again at the crimes. One of them is Reggie Chase, once a plucky orphan who saved Jackson\u2019s life. The women are off on a round of interviews. (In an interesting bit of timing, Big Sky<\/em> came out a week and a half before Jeffrey Epstein was arrested, based on new attention to his very light sentence for crimes against young girls, and his connection to the wealthy and powerful.)<\/p>\n

Then Vince\u2019s not-yet-divorced wife is found dead, her skull smashed by a putter. And Crystal hires Jackson to learn who\u2019s been following her. Jackson, who feels compelled to make things right, is drawn into their unsettled lives.<\/p>\n

Big Sky<\/em> has all the Atkinson hallmarks: the layering of information; the quirkily-detailed thoughts from many characters\u2019 points of view; the audacious use of coincidence; the themes of shifting identities and trying to outrun what\u2019s unbearable or to make up for past miseries; the subplots coming together at the end\u2014all done in a mix of comedy and tragedy. It also shares with previous books a question, \u201cWhat does justice have to do with the law?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her series is also known for its BBC version, called Case Histories<\/em> after the first book, though narratives and settings have been rejiggered to fit a television arc.<\/p>\n

In Big Sky<\/em>, people fall into calamity. Going over the edge is a motif. Harry\u2019s mum had died falling from a cliff. \u201cIt was an accident (Crystal hoped), but you never knew in this life when you might slip and lose your footing and find yourself going over the edge.\u201d Jackson first meets the despondent Vince on a cliff edge. They both fall, but survive.<\/p>\n

On first reading Big Sky<\/em>, the earlier books appealed to me more than this cast of characters and its setting of seacoast resorts and tacky amusements. Jackson\u2019s character builds up through the series, starting with his woeful adolescence in Case Histories\u2014a mother who dies of cancer, a randomly-murdered sister, a brother who hangs himself. The first four books show Jackson\u2019s failed marriages, his affair with Julia, and his complicated relationship with Louise Monroe of the Lothian and Borders Police.<\/p>\n

There are triumphs and redemptions mixed with the calamities; and it helps to read the books in order. (Big Sky<\/em> refers back to When<\/em> Will There Be Good News?<\/em>, where Reggie\u2019s Dickensian predicament as a teenager makes her one of Atkinson\u2019s most compelling characters.) The first two books are my favorites\u2014I especially liked Jackson\u2019s thoughts of living in France, where people will pronounce his name \u201czhaksong;\u201d and the exasperating houseguest in One Good<\/em> Turn.<\/em><\/p>\n

Big Sky<\/em> grew on me with a second reading. \u201cIt was a good day, Jackson thought, when you saved someone\u2019s life. Even better when you didn\u2019t lose your own.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0–Nancy Shaw<\/em><\/p>\n

**********************<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nancy Shaw<\/a> is the author of ten picture books, including the\u00a0Sheep<\/em>\u00a0in a Jeep<\/em>\u00a0series, and an avid mystery reader. She lives in Ann Arbor, MI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a long wait for the new Jackson Brodie novel. Kate Atkinson was writing Life After Life and other literary hits. But her unlucky-in-love, tough-but-soft-hearted P.I. is back. This time Jackson\u2019s 13-year-old son Nathan is staying with him on Yorkshire\u2019s east coast while his mother Julia, Jackson\u2019s former flame, acts in a TV crime … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,196,195,70,14],"class_list":["post-3270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-british","tag-jackson-brodie","tag-kate-atkinson","tag-nancy-shaw","tag-psychological"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3272,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270\/revisions\/3272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}