"Big Sky" by Kate Atkinson

Once again, I’m blown away by Kate Atkinson’s writing.

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.

This book is masterfully written. If you want an example of “Show, Don’t Tell”, this is it. Each chapter is set in the POV of one of the characters, each going about their lives, and this is how we see the story. We’re never explicitly told what is happening, or who people are. Instead, we put it together as we see things from each characters perspective. When one character thinks about an event, the things they know combine with what we learnt from another, and we put them together.

Once more, Atkinson has shown why she is one of those authors that both challenges me to be better, and makes me despair that I’ll never be this good.