very fun and easily read. spies are cool! and what a strange time in history. it’s inherently interesting moving thru this period
but occasionally the writing is poor, it’s obvious in an amateurish way, and i think the ending is very oddly delivered. my friend m

iriam

was saying the other day, just before i started this, that atkinson’s not actually a particularly strong plotter, and i felt that here. it’s not that the plot isn’t here, but it’s oddly revealed.

the reveal juliet’s a spy feels like it comes too late in the game to matter, and there’s not much of a hint of any of it. heck, halfway thru i thought ‘it’s weird that she doesnt seem to believe in anything except snark’ and like i guess that was a conspicuous absence. but the fact we don’t know this stuff about her only really works in a book that is more plot than character (like a christie) whereas this feels so focused on juliet and the plot is so murky for so long that there’s no way to read it except as character, except what character. idk maybe i should have been more clued in by the fact we’re doing spying in the 50s. but it felt all a bit out of nowhere.

still, i enjoyed it, which has been a major hesitation with kate atkinson since slogging thru life after life so maybe i will catch up with jackson brodie again one day