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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
A child's murder opens the novel; violence is present throughout the three cases in disturbing detail
Language
Some
Some strong language in the British crime fiction register
Sexual Content
Barely any
Minimal sexual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Some social drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The long shadow cast by violent loss on families and individuals is Atkinson's central concern throughout the Brodie series
What this book is about
The first Jackson Brodie novel introduces the Edinburgh private detective through three separate cases: a missing girl in 1970, a murdered young woman in 1994, and a man who watched his sister be killed as a child. Atkinson weaves these cases together with Jackson's own fractured history in her characteristic literary-crime style. The violence — particularly the opening murder of a child — is deliberately disturbing and sets the novel's emotional register. Literary crime fiction at its best.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Child murder depicted
Violence against women across multiple cases
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