It has been such a long time since I read a Jackson Brodie book! I know now that I missed #5 and will have to back up and get it at some point.Death at the Sign of the Rook brings Brodie back, but he's now 70. His current clients annoy him, and he certainly has questions about the painting they want him to find and about the brother and sister who want it recovered.
Maybe because it has been so long since the last Jackson Brodie, this one felt a bit different. Is it a pastiche or homage to Agatha Christie?
I like the way Atkinson spends a great deal of time with other characters, but in this one, it feels like Jackson Brodie gets lost. He kind of bookends the plot, his search for the missing painting begins the story and he is there at the end, but not too often in between.
In the end, I found it a bit disappointing, especially since I'd looked forward to the return of Jackson Brodie. I liked it, but wanted to love it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for this copy.
Mystery. Publication Date, Sept. 3.
I've kept up with the Last Chance Saloon series featuring DI Declan Walsh for several years now. Tom Marlowe is a secondary character who has occasionally made an appearance in that series, so I thought I'd give this one a try.
Sleeping Soldiers has Tom Marlow, a Section D agent of MI5, currently on medical leave after mission that went wrong. (One connected to the Declan Walsh series).
From blurb: "Someone is killing old spies. Retired and forgotten, these relics from the Cold War are being removed—quietly and brutally."
Tom gets drawn in to the situation, when an old mentor dies, and from then on it is full of action.
Fast-paced, as Tom survives one deadly incident after another. I liked it fine, but not nearly as much as the Last Chance Saloon books with Declan Walsh and all the other characters who have become so familiar.
Espionage. 2022. Print length: 364 pages.
I thought this was funny as I've had a young possum visiting at night.
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I love that T-shirt! We have possums that visit too, occasionally. More often a raccoon or even a fox. Lots of deer. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the t-shirt, too! It tickles me, but looks nothing like the fierce little creature that sometimes visits and hisses at me. :) Only once did I catch a racoon, never a fox, but boy, the complaints about coyotes from subdivisions a little further out!
DeleteYou made me realize how long it's been since I've read from the Jackson Brodie series, too. In fact, I must have missed number five, myself, so I may go back and find that one first. I've enjoyed the earlier books, and thought the TV series was pretty well done, too. As I remember those show, they were really faithful to the novel plots.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in trying the TV series, especially since it has been so long since I read the early books! Thanks, Sam.
DeleteLove that shirt! We have had possums visit, but not often and not lately. Wed welcome them back.
ReplyDeleteThe homely possum does take care of some of the slugs and snails in the garden, so I welcome my occasional visitor, too.
DeleteSuch a cute shirt! We like our possum friends around here. :-)
ReplyDeleteI have only read the first Brody Jackson mystery and liked it quite a bit. I am sorry this latest one wasn't one to fall in love with. Sounds like it had some good things going for it though.
I think I'm going to try to find the TV series Sam mentioned and see if it is more like a remember the earlier books. :)
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