I adored this. It’s a serious slow burn, so you need to be very patient, sit back and take your time over the gorgeous prose. You’ll be well rewarded as the story unfolds delightfully in front of you.

Fab characters ✔️
Unpredictable ✔️
Writing to drool over ✔️

The best part is it’s the first in a series.

On the surface, the Jackson Brodie mysteries should be ridiculous. He's a hard-bitten former police detective turned private investigator. He's embittered by his divorce and trying to be a good father to his young daughter. He has a dark family history. Every time he picks up a few cases, it transpires that they are all somehow interlinked and they link back to him personally. I remember reviews of the television series mocking him affectionately as the 'Coincidence Detective'. Somehow though, the series just works. The serendipitous happenings do not seem overly forced. The cases are poignant and deeply haunting. And Brodie is a charismatic and compelling fictional detective. Of course this is probably because the lady behind it all is none other than Kate Atkinson, one of the greatest writers of the past fifty years.

I first read Case Histories back in 2005 when it was first published. At the time, I was looking for something similar to Atkinson's previous work, the more comedic Behind the Scenes at the Museum or her other two novels which had been published at the time. It seemed strange that Atkinson had made the jump to crime fiction. But in retrospect it was not so strange. A private investigator type character had appeared in Emotionally Weird and there had been a fair few suspicious deaths in that novel. There is also that thread of dark family secrets across Atkinson's work which belies the notion that they are light reading. Audrey in Human Croquet is carrying trauma which her mother ultimately avenges. Emotionally Weird has Nora, whose siblings are not what they appear. Even in Behind the Scenes, Uncle Ted seems to be deeply unsavoury. So Atkinson's imagination had already turned in that general direction.

Details of crime fiction and thrillers tend to become hazy for me over time but the three titular cases in this novel have remained burned in my brain all these years later. Little Olivia Land vanished into the night. Laura Wyre brutally murdered out of the blue and then that awful cases of harried new mother Michelle who was overcome by the demands on her and carried out a terrible crime. Honestly, I had to re-read with my brain scrunched up and my eyes half-shut as each of these is triggering for me for different reasons. In the background to it all, Brodie mourns the deaths of his older siblings and wishes that things could have been different.

It's strange to compare a book like this which punches me in the gut to the ones which spend far longer on the violence but which I can roll my eyes at and ignore. The fate of little Olivia has always seemed unbearable to me. What happened to her sisters scarcely less tragic. The best I can do to console myself is to cuddle my own children closer and make sure that with every action that I take every day, that I am doing my best to keep them safe. Because the alternative is to become like bereaved father Theo Wyre, another personal worst nightmare.

While I fail to connect with so much of crime fiction, the problem with Case Histories is that it cuts too deep. This is a book that I finish and remind myself again and again that it is fiction, these things did not happen, they are not real. But even doing that leaves me with a guilty twinge because while I can dismiss most crime fiction as overblown or at its worst revolting torture-porn, the cases in the Brodie novels are more grimly mundane. The dark deeds at which Atkinson hints feel suspiciously commonplace and leaves that sick feeling as you realise that there is no Brodie coming to save them.

Still, it's fairly high praise for a book if you can recall the details of it eighteen years after reading. Atkinson's dry wit stops the novel from being utterly depressing and indeed she leaves each of the characters with some resolution and perhaps even some (cliche incoming) closure. The Brodie novels lack the poetry of Life After Life or some of Atkinson's other work but they are nonetheless well worth reading.

I was late to the party with Case Histories, but I'm so glad I ended up reading it. What a story. Intricately plotted, amazing characters, fascinating plot. I'm going to return to Kate Atkinson again and again.

Great thriller which I could not put down. Brilliant characters, and twists and turns. Highly recommend to others!

I quite honestly don’t know why it took me so long to get round to reading/ listening to these books. I listened to Case Histories on my library’s audiobook app, and loved how the narrator, Susan Jameson, brought the story to life. The cases at first sight seem unrelated, but coincidences occur as the story goes on. They’re all quite quirky characters, which I enjoyed, particularly the sisters from case one. They ask Jackson to find out what happened to their little sister 40 years ago. Whilst sleeping in a tent in the back garden, three year old Olivia went missing. When find her beloved Blue Mouse in their deceased fathers desk drawer, they start to think that there is more to her disappearance - and it’s close to home.
Case two is about the death of a young woman at her fathers solicitors offices. After many years, the man who murdered her in broad daylight in the busy office, has still never been found.
The third case is a famous one. Tanya, a nurse, had been given the task of bringing up her niece after her sister murders her husband with an axe. However, Tanya has lost contact with the child (now a woman), and wants to find her again.
The fourth case is that of Jacksons own sister. After their mothers death, Jacksons sister is murdered on her way home from work. The murderer is never found.
It was really interesting to see how the cases wove together as the story went on, but what I really found interesting were the flashbacks to around the times of the murders.
Many of the characters are pretty unpleasant - except for the very moral Jackson Brodie - and I found that an interesting contrast.
I think that this is a series that I’m going to have to read more of. I like the Brodie character, and I’m intrigued to see if the next book is set up in a similar way.

Having read the authors standalone novels and after seeing the large publicity campaign for Big Sky I thought it was about time I read one of her Jackson Brodie novels. I like crime fiction and police procedural novels so was keen to give this a go. Starting at the beginning I decided on Case Histories.
The title is very true. The book covers 3 cases, all with their set of characters that are linked together by Jackson Brodie, a private investigator. A much flawed man I found my liking for him ebbing and flowing as I read.
There are a lot of characters in this book, a lot. Which sometimes made it confusing. It is quite racy at times and not so much a typical crime/police novel as its more about the characters than Brodie's detective skills. It is however well written as are all her books and details and complex story lines. Again as with the standalone books, some I liked more than others, so this may also be the case for this series. I will however give the second book a go. .

I absolutely loved this book! I had read previous books by Kate Atkinson but this was very different. It focuses on the detective Jackson Brodie and three unsolved cases. I loved how the author connected the three cases and I became very attached to the characters. I can't wait to read the next books in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC

Thank you - we featured Kate Atkinson on Caboodle (website and newsletter) in 2019! We look forward to working with you in 2020.

I've always heard such amazing things about Kate Atkinson so I was thrilled to see Case Histories pop up on Netgalley, and now I'm desperate to read more!

Thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm really not a crime fiction kinda gal but this series sounded quirky enough to give it a shot. Stephen King praising it highly may also have had a hand in my decision.

This is the first in the Jackson Brodie series. Jackson, a retired police inspector and ex-soldier, now works as a Private Detective in Cambridge. I'm aware this novel was initially published back in 2004 and has since spawned further books and a television series, the fact that Jason Isaacs plays Jackson in the tv series has helped me to understand why the women in the book find him so utterly irresistible...

One of the reasons I don't really like crime and mystery books is that I usually guess the killer or twist pretty early on. I can confess however, that this book kept me guessing right up until the end which definitely made it a more enjoyable read. The plot concerns three different mysteries - the historic case of a missing child, the apparently motiveless murder of a young woman and the missing daughter of an axe murderer.

The nature of the plot required some suspension of disbelief. The fact that the people involved were pretty much all interconnected was a tricky pill to swallow, I could see it MAYBE happening in a small town or village but in a city? Hm. The attempted murder subplot against Jackson was rather silly and unnecessary too.

The writing itself was good and it's a real page turner as you'd hope from a book of this genre. I found it a little difficult to keep track of all of the different points of view (there are a LOT) but it might have been the formatting of the ebook itself. The characters were sometimes a little larger than life but overall, they were fine except Marlee, who is an utter and complete  spoiled brat.

A better than average mystery novel about the dangers girls face and the enduring impact of grief and loss. A fine start to the series and I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

Firstly, I have to say I have a huge amount of respect for Kate Atkinson as an author. I’ve enjoyed her historical novels but never tried the Jackson Brodie series, so I was thrilled to be accepted to read the first in this crime thriller series on NetGalley.

But, unfortunately the overwhelming feeling I came away from having finished this novel was one of disappointment. Perhaps I’d just overhyped it in my mind, I’d seen glowing reviews and even a quote from Stephen King and it’d been billed as a literary crime thriller, a combination of of my favourite genres. It may well just be me but this just didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Firstly, it’s less of a crime thriller, more a character drama. The three case histories are cold cases which happened decades before, but the three opening chapters explore the events at the time before we jump forward to present day and meet Brodie. We follow him as he tries to crack the cases, with interwoven chapters from some of the victims and survivors.

I usually like this style, but with this book for some reason I felt it was a little too much to keep track of. Atkinson attempts to dive into many different characters’ heads by giving us their internal monologues, but what they were thinking and doing a lot of the time just wasn’t that interesting to me and there were so many different threads to this story that it was difficult to truly connect with any of them or fathom how they might connect together. And, if I’m brutally honest, some of the characters were just a bit dull and depressing (suicidal spinster, I’m looking at you). I would have preferred some more diversity. There’s definitely glimmers of brilliance in Atkinson’s expert writing, but it just didn’t all come together like I’d hoped.

I kept hoping for an epic ending which would make up for it all, but it didn’t materialise. It felt rushed to tie things up, with some tenuous links and last minute explanations which felt like late additions. This is the first of the series published back in 2004, and I know its a huge success so maybe the problem is me or perhaps the series improves. I didn’t expect and don’t like being in the minority on this one and I’m disappointed to be giving such an acclaimed author and series this kind of review, but it’s just my opinion and I’m sure many others will enjoy it. I still love this author and, while I won’t be rushing onto the next in this particular series, I might give Jackson Brodie another try one day

I was pleased to start with the first Jackson Brodie outing to get a feel for the characters. A big fan of life after life I loved this

These aren't typical crime fiction books and they also aren't typical literary fiction books. You just have to judge them on their own merit really and the real appeal to me are the entwined human stories. Plenty of the characters aren't particularly appealing and Jackson himself is really a bit of a mess. Somehow it just works really well. Try it you won't regret it.

Nor fish nor fowl nor good red herring... 2 stars

A child goes missing one night from the tent where she is sleeping. A girl is murdered, seemingly as a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A young mother is driven to her wits’ end by her fractious baby and we all know what happens during periods of temporary insanity. These three cases from years ago are suddenly all brought to the door of ex-police detective and current private investigator Jackson Brodie, and he must try to find the explanations his clients are seeking while juggling his own messy private life.

The first three chapters of this are stunningly good, as Atkinson lays the groundwork to each of the three cases. The last few chapters are fairly good as she wraps them all up, not neatly nor particularly skilfully, but at least to a reasonably satisfying level. The vast swathe of repetitive sex and death obsessed tedium in the middle is unfortunate.

I realise that many people love this book, so obviously as always this is merely my subjective opinion, but I found it a complete mess. I’m not at all sure what Atkinson was attempting to do with it. It’s certainly not a crime novel – there is almost zero detection in it. Brodie simply wanders around bemoaning his lot and eyeing women up to see if they’re sexually attractive, then jumps miraculously to the right conclusions. Well, I say miraculously, but actually since I’d already guessed the solution to two of the cases hours earlier, maybe it wasn’t that amazing after all.

It’s not really insightful enough to count as literary fiction either – I hesitate to use the word banal, but I fear it is the one that was running through my mind while I was reading. Contemporary fiction? Well, perhaps, but it really has nothing much to say about contemporary society. There’s plenty of sex and sexual fantasies, but more in the “ooh, aren’t I naughty and daring for writing dirty words and talking about naked bodies” sense than anything that could push it into the romance category! There were moments when I wondered if Atkinson had been spending too much time with fourteen-year-olds since most of her adults seemed to think like them.

The number of deaths described is extraordinary. Not just the cases, but nearly every character’s fathers, mothers, children, siblings, pets – all dead, all dead! Murders, suicides, cancer, road accidents – life in Cambridge is clearly nasty, brutish and short. It gives new meaning to the phrase “ghost town”. And of course, we get all the grief to go along with all these deaths, which isn’t what you’d call cheery exactly. And for those who have managed so far to maintain a precarious hold on life, their loving relatives spend all their time imagining all the horrible deaths that might happen to them. Jackson himself must imagine at least five horrible deaths for his daughter and can barely look at a piece of grass without seeing it as a potential deathbed for her.

The characterisation is reasonably good of a few of the main characters, but there is also what feels like a cast of thousands who never become filled out in any way, so that I found myself having to search for previous mentions of them to find out who they were when they suddenly re-appeared briefly a hundred pages later. To be honest, it felt to me like three pretty good short stories that for some reason Atkinson had clumsily attempted to tie together to make a novel, filling all the rest of the space with weary and pointless meanderings. And there’s a limit to quite how often coincidence can be used before it becomes annoying.

Nope, I don’t get it. Clearly other people are seeing something in this that I’m not. The potential is there – Jackson could be a decent character if he ever stopped brooding about sex and death and did a bit of detecting, and the basic stories are certainly interesting even if the resolutions are weak. However, since I already acquired the next three books in the series on the assumption that I was certain I’d love them, I’ll read the next one in the hopes that the series improves, although my expectations are now in the basement. Apologies to all who loved it!

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Random House Transworld.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House Transworld, Black Swan and Kate Atkinson for my ARC of ‘Case Histories’ in return for my honest review.

This is my first read of Kate Atkinson and I can see that I have many others to catch up on, which I will be doing. I found the writing witty and engaging with a story full of quirky characters and an amazing storyline. I didn’t consider it a typical crime thriller read but I couldn’t put it down.

Private Investigator Jackson Brodie who is an ex-cop and ex-army sets out to solve what appear to be three unrelated cases. There are flaws to Jackson, which makes the character convincing, extremely likeable, and at times, amusing. The three storylines could be found in any newspaper and the whole novel hangs together with intelligence and originality,

A great read, had me laughing out loud, highly recommended.

Love Kate Atkinson books, but this was the first Jackson Brodie novel I have read- and it did not disappoint! Jackson is an ex policeman turned private investigator and in this first novel he is investigating three different cases- a child who went missing years ago, a girl murdered on her first day in the office and a manic depressed housewife who murders her husband. All cases that took place several years earlier, and which Jackson is asked to investigate. The reader follows Jackson through the investigations as he talks to relatives, and gradually the different stories become illuminated. An enjoyable book, nothing too grisly and definitely recommend you pick this up!

I'm not sure why Kate Atkinson's Case Histories was on NetGalley, since this was first published in 2005, but I wasn't going to argue when it popped up. And I'm very glad it did, because I really enjoyed it. it is apparently "literary detective fiction" whatever that means. It reminded me of Cormorant Strike and John Rebus, so our detective - who is ex-army, ex-police (sound familiar?) is in good company.

There is strong characterisation and some truly funny moments i this book - although some of the "mystery" is not played out in the plot at all, and just explained outright in the last 20 pages. I guess I read the occasional mystery more for the people than the plot. I've already bought the second one in the series - weirdly, NetGalley also game the the third one, so I've got that to look forward to as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the e-Arc, and putting me on to this great series.

This book is a solid proof of why I LOVE Atkinson's writing.
She is just a master of observance, tiny details become big effects in her writing. Her characters are around us, flesh and blood.
In this introduction of Jackson Brodie series, Atkinson makes Brodie explore three cold cases - the book is so beautifully written, after a point I just didn't care what the reveals for the cases would be, and just surrendered myself in the writing and enjoyed it.
It broke my heart in the end, it was sad- but isn't life is sometimes?
Atkinson is a writer I could read anything of, even a shopping list. probably the best detective novel I have read (although I would say Louise Penny might be a close call to this too)

The first in the Jackson Brodie series by Kate Atkinson and I really enjoyed it. This tells the story of three different and seemingly separate cases that fall to Brodie to investigate as he attempts to navigate the world as a divorced man. What I found really appealing was the pacing and the tone. Yes, this is a crime novel with a mystery at its heart, but it is also a really funny exploration of modern life and what it means to be a father/husband/sister/mother today. There are some truly memorable characters depicted here and although some things feel a little dated, the core of the novel remains relevant. All in all, this was an enjoyable read and I am looking forward to seeing what Jackson gets up to in the next instalment.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Case Histories is my first Kate Atkinson book. I've heard so many great things about her books and her writing that I was delighted to have been gifted a copy for review.

Starring Jackson Brodie (best name ever!), ex-cop and ex-army turned P.I., the book follows 3 historic cases that land on Jackson's desk. What can I say about this book.... I liked it then I didn't like it then I put it aside then I went back to it and then I decided I was enjoying it after all. Initially I wasn't sure where it was going, and I think I needed to get used to the style of the writing. However, now, 24 hours after I've finished it, I'm still thinking about it.

More a study of the quirky characters than a run of the mill, paint by numbers crime thriller, the writing is engaging, very witty at times and the characters so true to life that to me they were three dimensional fully fledged human beings by the time I was finished! However, Jackson's character stole the show! The cases were believable and you could imagine them as stories you would read about in the daily newspaper. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to read the next instalment. 4/5⭐