Mini book review: Big Sky, by Kate Atkinson, Penguin Random House

Fans of Jackson Brodie can rejoice – he’s back chasing bad guys in Big Sky, Kate Atkinson’s latest novel. It’s been nine long years since the last Brodie caper and it’s been a long wait. Not that I’m complaining – Atkinson wrote some glorious novels in the interim, like Life After Life and A God in Ruins. But it’s damn good to have Brodie back.
He’s still a private eye – this time chasing an unfaithful husband to get proof of his infidelity for his wife – but more meaningful, if unpaid, work awaits. There’s a human trafficking ring operating underground just beneath the surface of the seemingly quaint, but slightly sleazy, seaside village, complete with pier attractions, where Jackson finds himself. He’s father to a growly teenage boy and a young woman about to be married.
As always, Atkinson packs so much into this novel that it begs to be read twice, just to catch all the finer details. But even for casual readers, this mystery is a joy. The characters are strong, including Crystal, a trophy wife, Reggie, a police detective who was a nanny in an earlier Brodie novel, and a pragmatic teenage boy named Harry, who works backstage at two of the pier attractions, most notably in the dressing rooms of drag queens and an aging, angry comedian.
The murder is almost a side note in this caper, but it does tie together the many subplots. When writing Brodie, Atkinson is always hilarious, but also profound. Little tidbits of depth – like one throwaway sentence when Jackson ponders the afterlife – are sprinkled throughout, adding to the reader’s experience.
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