Big Sky

The main plot…is dark and disturbing, but Atkinson brings wry comic touches to the story as she both playfully inhabits and deftly subverts the crime genre. * Observer *Big Sky is laced with Atkinson’s sharp, dry humour, and one of the joys of the Brodie novels has always been that they are so funny. * Observer *Atkinson weaves a magically absorbing world full of crossed paths and coincidences. Her sublime turn of phrase, impeccable gallows humour, beautifully drawn characters and complex plotting make for a fabulously entertaining and moving book. It can be enjoyed as either a standalone mystery or a very welcome reunion with an old friend. * Sunday Mirror *A masterclass in what can be done with crime fiction, brilliantly using the form to expose what Atkinson bleakly describes as ‘one more battle in the war against women’. * Sunday Times *Atkinson’s new mystery hits all the right notes * Sunday Times Style *Atkinson brings back her much-loved PI Jackson Brodie for a tightly plotted tale…the real mystery here is the human heart, with Atkinson serving up an acute and believable look at the state of Britain today. * i *I romped through it: as ever, the plotting is clever and complex, it’s full of the dry wit Atkinson is so good at and it’s an absorbing mystery. * Good Housekeeping *There’s a lot going on here, all of it rendered with Atkinson’s vastly enjoyable nonchalance…Atkinson tells a great story, toys with expectations, deceives by omission, blows smoke and also writes like she’s your favourite friend. Thank goodness the long Jackson Brodie hiatus is over. * New York Times *Atkinson throws in many entertaining diversions, and a fair few juicy red herrings… an exuberant, entertaining read…Atkinson’s work is always playful, and there’s a brisk, jaunty tone to Big Sky and much dry observational comedy. * Independent *The brilliance of Big Sky lies in its broad range of memorable characters, each with their own intriguing backstory…..sharp humour,sparkling prose and acute psychological insight. * Daily Express *A stunning comeback… Told in Atkinson’s typically wry prose, it is Dickensian in sweep, utterly riveting and has a wonderful ending, quite magnificent. * Daily Mail *I can’t get enough of Jackson Brodie…he may well be the great fictional detective of our age...her bunch of seemingly ordinary but deeply fascinating characters… seem so real that you come to care about them like your oldest friends. * Sunday Express *As usual, it’s ingeniously structured and told with humour and compassion. * New Statesman *Her peerless ability to plot with audacity and with a sinuous beauty...it’s the most marvellous book, so delightful you’ll want to eke it out for as long as possible. * Radio Times *Jackson Brodie gets his fifth outing in the new novel by the reliably brilliant Atkinson. * Woman & Home *You can’t go wrong with the majestic new Kate Atkinson book...wise, funny and sad. * Stylist *Jackson Brodie is back and how we’ve missed him….you’re in for a treat. * Red *How can anyone fail to love Kate Atkinson?…A gripping beach read for lovers of detective fiction. * ES magazine *Atkinson’s nimble and endearing skill across all her fiction…is to take the determinedly domestic, find the wry, sometimes waspish humour in it, and yet reveal something profoundly humane….And deft misdirection, cheeky literary references and Brodie’s flailing attempts to offer sympathy by quoting country-and-western lyrics are constantly entertaining. You finish Big Sky feeling battered - but thoroughly cheered up. * The Times *With a many-tentacled storyline distilling some of the more disturbing headlines of recent years, this dark material proves supremely compulsive…Brodie brings out the best in Atkinson, partly because he’s a handy peg for what tends to come across as her regretful sense of bemusement about modern Britain. * Metro *

KATE ATKINSON is one of the world’s foremost novelists. She won the Whitbread Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Life After Life, an acclaimed BBC TV series, won several prizes including the Costa Novel Award, as did A God in Ruins. Two further historical novels - Transcription and Shrines of Gaiety - were also Sunday Times bestsellers. She has published two critically acclaimed collections of short stories- Not the End of the World and Normal Rules Don’t Apply. Her bestselling literary crime novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie, Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News? and Started Early, Took My Dog, became a BBC television series starring Jason Isaacs. Jackson Brodie later returned in the novel Big Sky and the most recent, Death at the Sign of the Rook, was a number one bestseller. Kate Atkinson was awarded an MBE in 2011 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.