Because Ideas Matter...
The faculty and staff of Butler University's College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences presents
Recommended Readings
Case
Histories
by Kate Atkinson, Little, Brown and Company, 2008
Reviewed by Judi Morrel
Which is it - a complex whodunit or a
sprawling family saga? Perhaps it is both and surely it does
not matter; fans of either genre will relish English author Kate
Atkinson's Case Histories. The world-weary private
detective at the center of the novel, Jackson Brodie, is engaged by
several different clients in Cambridge, England, to investigate
three "cold cases" involving the decade-old murder of a young woman
adored by her father, the disappearance three decades ago of the
youngest sister in a clan of four girls, and the 25-year-old ax
murder of a young man by his even younger wife. Jackson, a
former police inspector, is struggling with his own chaotic
personal life, a life in which his ex-wife uses his adoration of
their young daughter to manipulate him. The three plot lines
intertwine with one another and with Jackson's story in unexpected
ways. Atkinson paints psychologically complex, multilayered
characters, and as the stories unfold, Jackson finds them more and
more personally unsettling for reasons which are only revealed near
the end of the novel. Fans of murder mysteries will revel in
the intricate plot twists and turns; fans of family dramas will
enjoy the depth and vividness of the family dynamics. Both
will meet some appealing off-beat characters, including oddly
enough, a murderer, along the way.
- Judi Morrel is Interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences at Butler University.