I love Kate Atkinson’s work and have done since I first read Life After Life. But Emotionally Weird is a strange creature. I honestly can’t say I enjoyed it, as the plot and characters go nowhere. But if you’re a fan of hers, it’s fascinating to see how the ideas from his book would fuel her later (much better) work.

I tend to find that when an author has an ongoing character they come back to with some of their books but not all – as Atkinson does with Jackson Brodie – I enjoy those ones less. And it’s true that I’ve enjoyed her non-Brodie books more than her Brodie ones. But I this this was my favourite of the Jackson Brodie books, mainly because the way she uses him as a link between elements of the story, rather than the protagonist. This story isn’t about him. He’s simply part of it.