Big sky

This is the fifth Jackson Brodie novel written by Kate Atkinson and the first that I have read. I found it took time to become used to the way the story is presented. In the first one hundred pages we are introduced to most of the elements and characters before the story starts to come together in the latter two thirds of the book. It can also be a little confusing in that the author describes what is happening in one time frame and we then are presented with the back story. However once I became used to the way the plot was written I became involved in the story and with the characters.

Jackson Brodie, a former police detective and member of the army, is now trying to earn a living as a private detective in a small North Yorkshire coastal town. One day when out with his son and his dog he thinks he witnesses the abduction of a young girl but when he reports his concerns to the police they are not interested. As the novel unfolds it is obvious that all is not well in this community which has a history of men procuring young girls for the entertainment of their friends. But this is in the past or is it?

There are a number of overlapping stories in the novel including the attempts of two female detectives to investigate recent information about the original sex crimes in the area - their investigations running parallel the unraveling of a current sex trafficking scheme.

This novel is very much character driven and the reader becomes involved with the lives of members of a number of families including Jackson's teenage son, Nathan, and Harry, another teenager caught up in the situation created by his parents. Dogs also feature throughout the book.