Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (2005, Paperback, Reprint)

I like this book. It is one that I am reading for my book club this year. There are LOTS of characters and different threads of the stories so I am finding that I need to take notes or I will never remember all the characters and stories by the time of our discussion in the fall. The main character, the investigator Jackson, is very human and very likeable. It took me a while to get into it but I really want to find out how these stories/characters are connected!

Well written and interesting. Tells how several old human stories evolve and touch each other. good for book club.

This book is on the best sellers list so I was expecting a good read...wrong.
The story premise is good but the writing and plot is weak. It all could have been written in about a 1/3 of the pages. There 3 different stories but they were weakly developed and I found myself skipping paragraphs as they added nothing but fill. I usually read a book once I have started but this one I read half and gave up. I read the last couple of pages to know the conclusion and felt I didn't miss anything.

Sorry this review is late but the book came in excellent condition in a very timely manner. We are avid readers in our house and often get our books from your site. Have had great experiences everytime but one. We have recommended you to many of our friends and family.

Case Histories is the first book I have ever read by Kate Atkinson. When I first saw the cover and took a brief look inside, I was excited and fascinated to realize the book was about three cold cases, abet written in the form of a novel as opposed to being a book about true crime. The manner in which Ms. Atkinson writes is extremely intriguing because she is able to intertwine all three cases together through the character of Jackson, who once was a criminal investigator with the police department, but upon falling on hard times has become a private investigator.

The book was very interesting; however, I found that if I was forced to read the book in small bits and pieces due to time constraints, I had to continually go back and re-read portions of the book to be able to fully understand the story up to the point I had left off. There were times when I felt like I missed out on the characters of the story, but again, this could be due to the fact that I was unable to sit down and fully comprehend the stories in several sitting. The fact that Ms. Atkinson lives in Scotland and the book is written using the British terminology and spelling of words made it a little bit difficult to understand and fully comprehend. Overall, the book was very good, but once I finished it, I wondered whether I fully comprehended the entire three stories and whether I really found out what happened to all individuals involved in the three cases.

While the book was brilliant, I would suggest that when you are getting ready to read the book, you do so when you have a lot of time on your hands and can read it in one or two sittings. I plan on going back and re-reading the book in this manner to see if I can glimpse where I got lost the first time.