You’ve heard of the ‘hooker with a heart of gold,’ right? It’s the story of a woman overwhelmed by her circumstances, outmatched by the world, and forced to take on the life of a prostitute. But she maintains a ‘pure’ heart no matter what awful things she endures, vowing to leave the ‘life’ just as soon as she’s saved enough money or met the right guy or whatever. Well, Kate Atkinson’s [Case Histories] reminds me a lot of theat story; it’s a ‘mystery with a heart of gold.’

Let me explain. Atkinson takes all of the typical elements of an average legal thriller or police procedural and matches them with a superbly written human drama. There are knife and ax wielding, cold-blooded sociopaths. There is the tired, beaten, and bored ex-cop, relegated to private investigator work beneath his abilities until he can prove himself again, regain his confidence. There are fatally sad victims with souls emptied by the arbitrary, powerful touch of violence. There’s even a fiery explosion.

But Atkinson supplied what could have been a mindless, if entertaining, thriller a heart pulsing with real emotion. She infused it with an air of reality and mundanity all too often absent. Jackson, the PI, solves the story’s multiple mysteries by talking to people, spending time getting to know them, and paying attention to the subtleties of their stories. And he does it between trips to the dentist, sometimes with his young daughter in tow. There is no high tech gadgetry, no black ops teams, and no unusual superhuman ability behind Jackson’s investigative work, just a common man with the ability to unlock people’s secrets with human communication and attention to detail. (Sadly, there is one reference to that clichéd and fantastical parlor trick where the detective identifies a lie because their eyes shifted up and to the right, or is it down and to the left, I forget. Really, when will crime writers finally be disabused of this absurd notion.)

Atkinson’s crimes read brutally honest; the violence is arbitrary, messy and it lashes out lightning quick. Atkinson has a keen eye for the consequences of such injury and loss and her characters fumble around in a complicated and unscripted way. Each of these broken people battles a universal truth: once violence touches you, you don’t get over it, you don’t deal with it, and you don’t put it behind you – it simply gets assimilated into you life. It becomes part of who you are every minute of every day and you must constantly choose how much rein to give it in your life. Some figure that out and some don’t.

All this adds up to a captivating and unusually engaging read; a story with more than meets the eye, like that ‘hooker with a heart of gold.’

Bottom Line: Save for a few slow early pages and a slightly packaged ending, it’s a book with more to offer than the typical thriller/mystery fare. ( )

I enjoyed reading Case Histories. It was a quick read. Three cold case mysteries turned over to a private detective keep the pages turning. I don't agree with Stephen King's assessment that this is the "mystery of the decade," but a solid, well written, enjoyable story about a private eye with problems in his personal life trying to bring these three cases to closure for his clients, all the while with someone trying to kill him. A unique and interesting cast of characters emerges as the story is told, with occasional unexpected humor. ( )

I found this a decidely unsatisfactory read. Unlike Kate Atkinson's other books, this novel jumped around all over the place, and would benefit from a good editor. A lot of the characterization left me cold, with the exception of Jackson. There was some humerous qoutes that made me laugh, but on the whole it was an unsatisfactory read, and I will need a lot of convincing before I purchase another of her novels. ( )

A fascinatingly voyeuristic web of interconnected stories, wonderful development of deeply human characters, skillful writing, and mysteries solved at the end. I loved it! ( )

2nd fave atkinson book, awesome story and with heart ( )