Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

This spectacular book is the first I have read by Atkinson and hopefully won't be the last, it tells the story of a Private Investigator looking into what at face value look like three completely different cases, all involving suspicious disappearances or deaths. These are outlined in case histories at the beginning of the book.

As the story grows the character of Jackson Brodie (the PI) is developed slowly and his past leading to his current profession becomes clearer and his rather gruff manner also begins to make a lot more sense. The other characters that appear throughout the book are developed piece by piece as if putting together an extremely complex puzzle. Two sisters looking into the never solved loss of their younger sister live out their grief in different ways, a man who has lost his favourite daughter tries to come to grips with why she was killed and a woman builds a new life for herself hiding a secret that no one can ever know.

The thing I loved about this book was the multiple storylines, every one explored fully and every one with its own twists and turns. The character development as mentioned before throughout the book was also most impressive and well placed. It came to a finish weaving all three cases together and shows the reader the complexities of loss and the terrible burden of guilt.

Would highly recommend this to anyone.