When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

I've enjoyed all of Kate Atkinson's books immensely, and this one was no different. She writes of people who are often disconnected from society for some reason, or facing problems. The plot meanders but ends up tightly tying all the plotlines together.

This book focuses on lost souls. There is Reggie whose mother drowned on vacation leaving her to make her way at sixteen. Reggie finds a job as a nanny with Joanna Hunter, a doctor. Who could be more normal than a doctor? But it turns out that Dr. Hunter is the sole survivor of a family massacre that occurred when she was six, leaving her to rebuild her world. Louise Monroe is a police inspector, who is questioning her marriage to a surgeon. Then there is Jackson Brodie. A former policeman and then private detective, Jackson is newly married. He takes a train home and is involved in a train derailment which lands him in the hospital after he dies and is revived.

All of these individuals interact as the book unfolds. Dr. Hunter goes missing the same week that her family's murderer is finally released from prison. Reggie is frantic, trying to make Inspector Monroe take Dr. Hunter's disappearance seriously. As she waits, she gets involved in the train derailment, which occurs outside her home. In fact, she is the person who revives Jackson Brodie, and then recruits him to help in the search for Joanna Hunter. This doesn't sit well with Inspector Monroe, who knows Brodie from his former occupations.

Those who have enjoyed Atkinson's other books will find this one enjoyable. Brodie is a recurring character from an earlier book. Those who haven't read Atkinson have a great treat in store for them. I'll definately be waiting for her next book, and thank her for this one.