WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS?

Kate Atkinson stretches herself too thin in places in this new PI Jackson Brodie novel, with some five plot lines crisscrossing like a cat's cradle gone gothic. The life of the newly (and unwisely) married Brodie intersects those of Joanna Mason; her thuggish husband; her charming teenaged nanny; Brodie's former flame, Police Inspector Louise Monroe, who is also newly married; Andrew Decker, who once murdered Joanna's family; three kidnappers; and a train wreck. Really. Steven Crossley's masterful performance helps the listener remember and care about a very long list of major characters, and he is never less than supremely entertaining as he sells you coincidence after unlikely coincidence as if they all just show what an ironic and wicked old world this is. B.G. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2009]