Coincidences and Loose Ends

As I said the other day, I really enjoyed Kate Atkinson’s new book, Started Early, Took My Dog. It’s a very witty piece of work, with several laugh-aloud moments. And although it is hardly an orthodox crime novel, I think we can claim it for the genre. Not just because the main characters are a private eye and an ex-cop, either. Crimes are central to the plot, and there are several mysteries to solve.

And yet. This is certainly not a book in tradition of Golden Age detective fiction. For instance, the plot abounds in coincidences. Time after time, connections emerge between characters, to the extent that one really does have to suspend disbelief. It is a tribute to Atkinson’s skill as a novelist that we are (or, at least, I was) more than happy to do this.

Similarly, a number of issues are left unresolved, or at least are not resolved conclusively, at the end of the book. So, if you like your crime fiction straightforward, it may be that this is not the story for you. Very often, excessive dependence on coincidence, and failure to tie up plot strands, is a mark of sloppy writing. Not here, though, in my opinion. There are very few sentences that one could class as lazy – those that there are stand out, because they are so uncommon, and that’s not something that can be said of many crime novels.

Atkinson is a very different writer from Ruth Rendell – and she is much wittier. But they have in common a willingness to take risks, and to allow coincidence to shape their narratives. Most crime novelists need a bit of help from coincidence now and then, but these are two writers who turn a vice into a virtue. Quite an achievement.

Started Early, Took My Dog

Two years ago, Kate Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News? had me spellbound, and I’ve looked forward to the next book – actually, the fourth in the series - featuring Jackson Brodie ever since. Now it has appeared, and I devoured Started Early, Took My Dog with great enthusiasm. Don’t be put off by the odd title – it is a terrific book.

It’s also book that is quite hard to sum up, zipping to and fro as it does between the 1970s and the present. The main scenes are set in Yorkshire, and the key element in the plot is child abduction. The main female protagonist, Tracy, succumbs to a sudden urge to take a small girl off the hands of her dreadful mother. Money changes hands, and at once Tracy, a retired detective, becomes a woman on the run.

Meanwhile, Jackson is investigating the antecedents of a woman whose past is shrouded in mystery. Whereas Tracy finds herself with a new child, Jackson contents himself with a dog. As the complex inter-relationship between events of the past and the present becomes more and more apparent, the mood darkens.

The story is told from several points of view – those of Jackson and Tracy are central, but there is also a perspective from an elderly actress whose mental faculties are deteriorating. It’s a complex mix, but and there is a large cast of characters, but this very funny and fascinating book kept me gripped from first to last.