What readers think of When Will There Be Good News?, plus links to write your own review.

When Will There Be Good News? is the third book in the Jackson Brodie series by popular British author, Kate Atkinson. Some two years after the events of One Good Turn, Jackson Brodie is intent on discovering the paternity of Julia Land’s son, Nathan, in a small town in the Yorkshire Dales. At the same time, in Edinburgh, Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe tries to protect a small family from their threatening father, but is distracted by young Reggie Chase, who is convinced that the disappearance of her employer and son is not as innocent as it is claimed to be. A moment of inattention finds Jackson travelling to Edinburgh and much more deeply involved than he ever intended. This instalment has a plot with quite a few twists and some surprises that will leave the reader gasping or laughing out loud. Once again, Atkinson carefully builds up her characters until the reader is invested in them and really cares about their fate. As well as multiple murders, there are stolen IDs, comprehensively vandalised flats, faithful dogs, a severed artery, kidnapping, amnesia (real and feigned) and a train derailment as the action moves from Devon to Edinburgh to Yorkshire and back. There are some marvellous poetic quotes, nursery rhymes and wordplay, and the inner monologues of the main characters are priceless: “She was wearing an aggressive three-piece outfit that was probably very expensive but had the kind of pattern you would get if you cut up the flags of several obscure countries and then gave them to a blind pigeon to stick back together again.” and “…she was still using her car, a blue Saxo that she drove in the way an excitable and short-sighted chimpanzee might have done, accelerating when she should be braking, braking when she should be accelerating, going slow in the fast lane, fast in the slow lane, more like someone on an amusement arcade simulator than a real road.” Brilliant, as always.

I loved every page of this book. Brilliantly written and has a snarky sense of humor.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish, with my attention being held all the way through. All the characters are interesting, especially sixteen-year-old Reggie, who'd be a good one to have around in a crisis, believe me, despite her completely dysfunctional brother who keeps popping up at the wrong times.The writing is excellent: Atkinson paces her story very well, and writes with both empathy and humor. I'm going to find some more of her books to read!

I absolutely loved the books "Case Histories" and "One Good Turn" by Kate Atkinson and could not wait for the 3rd book in the series. Unfortunately, I just did not find it as interesting. Kate continues an write the best characters in the mystery genre, especially Jackson Brodie, but the story just wasn't as good as she normally writes. However, an average book by Kate Atkinson is going to be so much better than other books in this genre. Kate has great humor and has a knack for writing things you think about during a certain even but never say out loud. I love that and look forward to her next book. Hope it comes out soon.