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One Good Turn

(Jackson Brodie)

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The second Jackson Brodie novel (after Case Histories): literary crime from the prizewinning, number-one bestselling author of Big Sky and Transcription.

It is summer, it is the Edinburgh Festival. People queuing for a lunchtime show witness a road-rage incident - a near-homicidal attack which changes the lives of everyone involved. Jackson Brodie, ex-army, ex-police, ex-private detective, is also an innocent bystander - until he becomes a murder suspect.

As the body count mounts, each member of the teeming Dickensian cast's story contains a kernel of the next, like a set of nesting Russian dolls. They are all looking for love or money or redemption or escape: but what each actually discovers is their own true self.

'An absolute joy to read...the pleasure of One Good Turn lies in the ride, in Atkinson's wry, unvanquished characters, her swooping, savvy, sarcastic prose and authorial joie de vivre' Guardian

© Kate Atkinson 2006 (P) Penguin Audio 2010

 Cosy Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Mystery Police Procedurals Private Investigators Suspense Thriller & Suspense Funny Fiction

Critic reviews

An absolute joy to read...the pleasure of One Good Turn lies in the ride, in Atkinson's wry, unvanquished characters, her swooping, savvy, sarcastic prose and authorial joie de vivre.
Atkinson is frequently very funny...while the tone stays light, the plot continues to darken....manages to be that rarest of things - a good literary novel and a cracking holiday read
Atkinson, while having fun with the murder-mystery genre, slyly slips us a muted tragedy
One Good Turn is the most fun I've had with a novel this year (IAN RANKIN)
Thrillingly addictive...In One Good Turn Atkinson proves quite unique in her ability to fuse emotional drama and thriller...Imagine a Richard Curtis film scripted by Raymond Chandler, both a little enlivened by the collaboration...The mix is embodied by Brodie. Like all good detectives, he is a hero for men and women alike
All stars
Most relevant
Lots of characters meant to start with meant you needed to concentrate to keep track but soon worked it out. the end seemed to come before the story had really got interesting but it was entertaining enough

entertaining but not a favourite

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KA is such a wonderful writer. The story was complex, and kept me guessing. I love the internal narratives of the various characters, which really shine a light on their personalities. The narration was excellent.

I love the internal monologues of the characters

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This was fantastic. Kate Atkinson at her best. Jackson Brodie is a wonderful character, brilliantly narrated ("Hello to Jason Isaacs"). I wish this had been available unabridged when I downloaded - I think there is a an unabridged edition available now, however. Sometimes I didn't feel I was getting the full story, hence only 3 stars.

Would have loved to have had an unabridged edition

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I wish audible would make it clearer when books are abridged, I accidentally downloaded this instead of the proper version then spent ages wondering why the story felt thin and too short! Especially compared to the first one. It was fine but now I’m wondering how much better it would have been to listen to the whole thing.

Abridged version!

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I enjoy the characters and the way the story hangs together. I can imagine the actor narrator looks like the main protagonist

jackson brodie 2nd book

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