One Good Turn Audiobook By Kate Atkinson cover art

One Good Turn

(Jackson Brodie)

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One Good Turn

By: Kate Atkinson
Narrated by: Steven Crossley
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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 2015

 Literary Fiction Mystery Private Investigators Genre Fiction Women Sleuths Police Procedurals Cozy

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
Acerbic, eccentric, and maddeningly perverse, she is a writer I always read with my heart in my mouth, as if watching a trapeze artist perform a high-wire act between cockiness and courage. Here, as in "Case Histories," she is splendid at the stuff of people's lives... Her observations about Edinburgh are easily as funny as Alexander McCall Smith's, though less benign
Delivers everything a good book should have. It's a fantastic detective story and a wonderful piece of writing...has taken the crime genre to another level
This is a detective novel packed with more wit, insight and subtlety than an entire shelf-full of literary fiction. The plot is an incidental pleasure in a book crammed with quirky humour and cogent reflections on contemporary life. Highly recommended. *****
While Kate Atkinson could give a masterclass on creating believable and intriguing characters, she also knows more than a thing or two about plotting...another class act
One story nests within another, like the set of Russian dolls that Martin owns...Kate Atkinson has that priceless Ancient Mariner ability that keeps the reader turning the pages
All stars
Most relevant
I love how Kate Atkinson writes so beautifully about such bleak and seedy things. I loved the performance and I loved the characters. I was a little disappointed at how she tied up the threads in the end, though. Still a lovely and engaging story.

Expected more of a twist

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A very good story with a lot of twists. A bit slow in the beginning, but makes up for it in a twirl of an ending. Special thanks to the very good narrator.

A true thriller

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This was such a treat of a story to listen to on all the long drives we've done lately. We hung on every word and revelled in Steven Crossley's delivery. Highly recommended.

Fantastic audio book

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I like the Atkinson novels but in this case I was a bit disappointed, the technique she use of many chatacthers telling the story is ok but it has ben used too much and the story has lost some suspense. I have 4 stars because she can write and create a good setting.

Good writing but too much woolgathering

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Finishing this book was a chore. I enjoyed the first Jackson Brodie outing, 'Case Histories', but I am deeply disappointed by the second one. The whole novel is dragged down by the interminable interior monologues of unlikeable characters . "Dead as a door nail. Why a door nail? Does a door nail have a special quality of deadness?" and so on. Action is rare, stakes are low and the payoff is unrewarding. Brodie comes over as a pathetic character, robbed of power to act by the fact that he is no longer a member of the police force. I finished it because I was damned if I was going to waste a credit but honestly it wasn't worth the effort.

A Chore to Read

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