Oh, how I hated this book.
I hated it so much I loved it.
I hated it because it had drama and heartbreak and gut-wrenching sorrow.
I loved it because the writing was phenomenal and I wanted to stay up all night reading until the end and the ending was just as heartbreaking but in a beautiful way that made all the pain and nail-biting irresolution so very worth all the agony.

I hate drama because I always want to make things better for people, and I don’t want people to have pain and hurt and sorrow.

But this was so well done in that the story was combined a mystery novel that I hung onto the rollercoaster ride anyway.

Plus, the writing. This was one of those books that always make me wonder ‘how do they do that’ like when I muse over little bits in J.K. Rowling’s book and think ‘did she have every little detail outlined from start to finish with all seven books’ which always evokes my admiration, because I struggle so much with outlining and plotting. And then I just tell myself it’s a writer’s magical serendipity at work and I plow on through with my own panster-based writing.

But back to writer Kate Atkinson. Wow, I just ate up the words like frosting on a cake.

And one, or more, of the women characters, yes, yes, yes, because who hasn’t felt like that in a relationship?

But then came the twists, which were also yes, yes, yes, still but were also “holy f**k”…

So, I’d just wrap this book by saying read it. Read it now. Even if you think you hate it.

(I received a copy of Case Histories by Kate Atkinson from a Goodreads giveaway, compliments of Hachette Book Group, with no request for a review.)