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Started Early, Took My Dog

(Jackson Brodie)

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Started Early, Took My Dog

By: Kate Atkinson
Narrated by: Nicholas Bell
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The fourth Jackson Brodie novel: literary crime from the prizewinning number-one bestselling author of Big Sky and Transcription.

A day like any other for security chief Tracy Waterhouse, until she makes a shocking impulse purchase. That one moment of madness is all it takes for Tracy's humdrum world to be turned upside down, the tedium of everyday life replaced by fear and danger at every turn.

Witnesses to Tracy's outrageous exchange in the Merrion Centre in Leeds are Tilly, an elderly actress teetering on the brink of her own disaster, and Jackson Brodie, who has returned to his home county in search of someone else's roots. All three characters learn that the past is never history and that no good deed goes unpunished.

'Crime has given Atkinson the freedom to write an ambitious, panoramic work, full of excitement, colour and compassion' Sunday Times

© Kate Atkinson 2010 (P) Penguin Audio 2011

 Cosy Crime Fiction Mystery Police Procedurals Private Investigators Suspense Fiction

Critic Reviews

Crime has given Atkinson the freedom to write an ambitious, panoramic work, full of excitement, colour and compassion
Atkinson's finest novel to date. Indeed, it's one of the finest British novels, in any genre, to have emerged for years...sharp and dexterous, subtle and stylish, very funny and at time extraordinarily cutting...This is very much a state of the nation novel - far sharper and more observant and satirically understanding than anything else out there at the moment. And yet Atkinson also gives us humanity, insight and entertainment...a story that deserves to be read for decades to come (Henry Sutton)
The wonder of Atkinson's novels has been their joie de vivre, extraordinary given the high incidence of violent death. An irrepressible exuberance shines throughout..folds past and present together with Atkinson's customary flair...extraordinary combination of wit, plain-speaking, tenderness and control
As ever, Atkinson's prose is diamond-cut to twinkle and slice by turns. Her playful sense of humour dances round the darkness of her themes. She skips through the difficult steps required to balance the reader's need for satisfying (and surprising) resolution with a realist's view of human nature and the messiness of real-life criminality
A wonderful stylist...but she was never confined to the crime genre, has written in assorted other modes and excels at them all. Whatever she goes on to write, she leaves Jackson Brodie at a suspenseful and pivotal moment. Future installments are well worth waiting for (Janet Maslin)
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I thought it was very clever and I loved the setting. However I felt it was a bit cluttered as there were so many characters and little plots that eventually wove together but were disparate for most of the story.

A clever book

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Unfortunately, I found the continuous error of the narrator misprouncing Niamh drove me insane.

Great story

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This is a my favourite Kate Atkinson book. Generally the reading is good, but one thing ruins it for me - the reader's constant mispronunciation of Naimh, which is pronounced Neeve and not Name.

Pronunciation matters

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...of "Niamh". How on earth did it get through? it is limited to this book, the others Jackson Brodie stories haven't butchered the name so why this one?

I get that I am being petty.

I can't get past the awful pronunciation...

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Difficult to keep track of so many characters when listening. I'm intrigued by the interweaving of the plot. Narration great listening but better to leave longer pauses between 'scenes'. Too hard to follow the time differences. I wonder if the narrator should have been pronouncing Niamh as Nieve!!! Found that a bit disturbing. I intend reading more of this author.

Enjoyable Read.

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