When Will There Be Good News?

by: Kate Atkinson

Published by: Hachette Audio (September 24, 2008)

Reviewed by Sharon Broom

When Will There Be Good News? was first published in the United Kingdom, which means that unless fans of Atkinson have a connection, there is always a wait for her books to be published in the United States. This novel is another adventure featuring Jackson Brodie.

It’s a day like most days when Joanna Mason was just six years old, except that it wasn’t. This particular sunny day would change her life forever. It was, you see, the day she would witness and survive the brutal slaying of her mother and two siblings.

It’s now thirty years later and ex-police officer turned private investigator, Jackson Brodie is contemplating DNA. He’s boarded a train that crashes (and it wasn’t even the train he was supposed to be riding). A sixteen-year-old nanny of Dr. Joanna Mason Hunter (yes, the six-year-old girl from thirty years ago), Regina Reggie Chase comes to Brodie’s rescue and coincidences explode from then on.

During the chaos of the crash, Brodie ends up with the wallet of one Andrew Decker. Decker happens to be the recently released (after thirty years) murderer of Dr. Hunter’s family.

When Dr. Hunter disappears, Nanny Chase is sure that she’s been kidnapped and calls upon Brodie to find her. The result is a dangerous adventure involving murder, husbands, old girlfriends and much, much more.

Atkinson’s novel is exciting (almost frenetic) in its telling. The numerous plots would or could fall apart in a less skillful hand. She grabs the reader’s attention immediately and never lets loose.

Ellen Archer is a singer and actress and reads Atkinson’s novel with great care and skill. Her voice is a wonderful fit for this particular story.

Armchair Interviews says: If you can overcome the series of coincidences (and it’s easy to do), you’ll have a grand ride into Atkinson’s gripping, yet dark novel.

Author’s Web site: http://www.KateAtkinson.co.uk