As I mentioned when I reviewed Life After Life I’ve had Started Early, Took My Dog on my TBR for a while. After Life After Life I re-read The Servants and then I read Started Early…
That was two months ago.
I know I go on a lot about my memory but it really isn’t that great. So I’ve had to go back and refresh it a little by skimming the book. I’ll also have to try to avoid comparing it/confusing it with the TV adaptation which I watched.
The story starts in the 70s with a young policewoman witnessing the aftermath of a brutal killing. This is around the time of the Yorkshire Ripper and later this crime becomes part of that investigation although at this stage no-one’s had the chance to make that connection yet. In the present day this woman is now retired from the police but making a living as a security guard. One day on a whim, she intervenes to help a small girl. The book is then the story of what happens next and how it connects back, through various characters, to what had happened in earlier times. Of course Jackson Brodie becomes involved too. He’s travelling the country trying to find a place to settle and has landed briefly in Yorkshire, where the novel is set.
I enjoyed this book. My main impression of it is how different the Brodie in the book is the the one played by Jason Isaacs. He seems a little tougher. He may be a little older – his daughter is – and he’s a little more damaged. He also becomes the custodian of a dog to which he becomes quite attached.
I enjoyed this book because I enjoyed Brodie. The writing was good but it was also unobtrusive. Not that Life After Life was overly ‘literary’ but this was definitely less so.
7/10 – Good, and some not-so good, people doing perhaps bad things.