Be forewarned: This is not an easy book to read. It has a complicated plot, filled with a wide assortment of characters, and jumps back and forth both in time and between circumstances. It flits episodically so that this reader, at least, became confused more than once. It was work to read, despite some excellent prose.
The main story involves Tracy Waterhouse, a zaftig ex-cop, now chief of security at a mall, who on a whim buys a young girl from a dope-addicted prostitute, and Jason Brodie, now a PI who is pursuing the quest of a New Zealand woman to find her birth parents, or information about them (she, obviously, was adopted). Then there are all kinds of other individuals who come and go, and eventually play a part in the mystery, as the story twists and turns.
If you have the stamina and patience to tackle the book, reading and rereading passages, paragraphs and whole sections, as I had to, it is a worthwhile endeavor. But be prepared. With this caveat, the novel is recommended.
I liked it a lot although found it somewhat disconcerting that a major plot point was left to hang. I guess that will be answered in the next book.
Ditto. I also liked it a lot, although perhaps less than a couple of her other Jackson Brodie novels. One of the wonderful things about Atkinson is that her characters are so interesting and complex; the mystery is sort of secondary. But you are left wondering how relatively intelligent people like Tracy Waterhouse who have gotten themselves into strange predicaments will find a way to survive relatively intact.