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Reggie ends up getting Jackson's help to find Dr. Hunter and her baby. They were kidnapped by the man that murdered her mother. In this last section, Reggie hits the worst point in her investigation. She feels there is no one she can turn to, "Where did a person go when they had no one to turn to and nowhere left to run"(281)? This quote makes the reader pity Reggie and it feels like there is no hope for her. It feels as though this is where her life will end, she will never find Dr. Hunter. Then she goes to visit Jackson in the hospital and learns that he used to be a detective, Reggie asks him, "So you used to find people"(284)? This is when the reader starts to have faith in Reggie. She may have found a way to find Dr. Hunter. Maybe someone will start to believe in her. She doesn't have any support so when Jackson seems to know something about finding people, she is overjoyed.

Reggie believes that everyone she knows is dead. Many people that she loved and cared about had died recently and she felt alone in the world. However when Jackson ends up living and Dr. Hunter and her baby are saved, Reggie is beginning to think otherwise. Reggie says to Jackson, "Everyones dead"(307). And then Jackson replies, "I'm not, you're not"(307). Jackson is always giving Reggie hope. He acts as her father figure. Reggie is basically an orphan because her mother died three years ago. When Jackson comes along he treats her like a daughter and supports her in her search for Dr. Hunter. Reggie exclaims to Jackson, "We are a family"(309). This is about the end of the book when Reggie finally isn't so alone in the world. They have retrieved Dr. Hunter, her baby and Jackson is not a part of her family. I was very pleased with the ending of the book. Everything seems to turn out okay. Throughout the book Reggie is so overwhelmed with everything going on in her life that it is hard to be happy. The book is titled, "when will there be good news." This is another hint that the book is a sad book. Finally at the end of the book there is good news and everyone seems to be happy. Throughout the book I was always wondering what was going to happen next. This was a very good book because it was interesting, yet very complex.

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Reggie realizes that she is sure something happened to Dr. Hunter. Reggie is the only person that really knows Dr. Hunter. Of course Mr. Hunter knows her but not in the same way Reggie does. Reggie and Dr. Hunter spend so much time together, she knows just about everything about Dr. Hunter. When Reggie talks to Inspector Monroe, she thinks Reggie is lying about everything. Reggie brings up that she saved a man at the train crash, and Inspector Monroe thinks she is crazy. After Reggie tells her about everything, saving the man and Dr. Hunter, Inspector Monroe replies, " 'Oh?'...Reggie might as well have played the alien abduction card, because Inspector Monroe couldn't have looked more skeptical if she'd tried"(214). Inspector Monroe doesn't believe a word that Reggie says, and throughout the story she was yawning and being very rude. On the other hand if a grown adult came and told her this she would most likely believe it in an instant. This also proves that Monroe isn't a very trusting person. Monroe doesn't believe her only because Reggie is a young girl (sixteen). She doesn't even give Reggie a chance.

Later, Jackson wakes up in his hospital bed and is suddenly struck with a sense of loneliness. Still, no one had showed up to say they knew him, or wish him well. Judging by the way Jackson was willing to let go of life easily at the train crash, we can tell that he doesn't value life that much. It says that he just wanted to fade away and die. Later he wakes up and Reggie is sitting on his bed talking to him. When he realizes that this girl had saved his life. He starts to value life more. Someone was willing to save his life, that made him think that he was worth it. He then thinks, "He would look at everything differently from now on. The re-born bit had finally kicked in. He was a new Jackson. Alleluia"(248). Jackson is now going to live life. He feels like a new person now that he has been saved. He felt as though he had been reborn. At the train crash he felt as though he had died and then come back to life when this young girl saved him. He has a whole new look at life. Reggie says she will come back to visit him. When Reggie says this, Jackson is happy, she is like the daughter he never had. For Reggie, Jackson is like her father figure she never really had.

When Will There Be Good News 4

In this section, we find out that the reason that the train fell off the tracks was because Ms. MacDonald parked her car in front of the train. It is unknown whether it was suicide or an accident. We also find out that it was Reggie that saved Jackson's life. While in the hospital, Jackson is wrongly accused of being Andrew Decker, because he can't remember everything. After a while in the hospital however he confirms that he is Jackson Brodie. Along with all of this, Dr. Hunter has gone missing and no one seems to know the truth except Mr. Hunter. I believe that Ms. MacDonald's death was neither suicide or an accident. Although she does believe that there is a better life after death, I still don't think she would die without her dog, Banjo, dead first. She love her dog dearly and wouldn't leave her. Although Ms. MacDonald was dying, and may have wanted to die faster than slowly, she would never leave her dog. Reggie thinks to herself, "Ms. MacDonald was dying, after all and might have decided to go quickly rather than slowly -- until she remembered Banjo. She would never leave the dog on his own"(148). This proves that is most likely wasn't suicide that killed Ms. MacDonald. It is confusing that Reggie isn't sad when she finds out about Ms. MacDonald's death. While the policemen are asking her questions she is more focused on the cute policeman than her mentor's death.

One day when Reggie arrives at her door coming from Dr. Hunter's house, she finds that her house is trashed. It describes the mess as, "Drawers were upended, and mums' clothes, strewn around on the floor, had had a knife or a pair of scissors taken to them. something that looked like chocolate was smeared on the pink broderie-anglaise sheets. Reggie was pretty sure it wasn't chocolate. It certainly didn't smell like chocolate...In the shower room, which was just a hall closet that had been tiled and plumbed, the walls had been spray-painted rather ineptly with the words, 'your dead.' Reggie felt bile rising up, making her nauseous"(174). Immediately after seeing the mess she thought of Billy, her reckless brother. She just assumed it was his enemies after him. By wrecking Reggie's house, these people had wrecked her life. Her house was all she really had left at this point. I think that Reggie jumped to the conclusion of Billy too fast. I think that Billy's enemies would destroy Billy's sister's house. I believe that this all is indeed meant for Reggie. Her house was wrecked right after she started questioning Mr. Hunter about where Dr. Hunter is. I know for a fact that Dr. Hunter isn't at her Aunt Aguie's house like Mr. Hunter said. She left to flee from the murderer of her mother that just got let out of jail. Reggie, however doesn't know this. When the reader knows something that the character in the book doesn't know, it creates a dramatic effect that has kept me interested in what will happen next!

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In this section, the book returns to Jackson's story. He is now on a train heading to Waverly and the train starts to rock. After a few minutes of the train tipping it finally tips totally over and everyone is in danger. Jackson we learn was part of the army so he is trained and wants to help everyone. He starts to someone out of the train. Jackson seems to care more about others than himself. Before thinking of his own danger, he was worried about everyone else. When he finds out he is wounded it says, "He had to get more people out of the train. . . He got about halfway up and had to stop, as weak as a kitten. There was something wrong, he'd been injured in some way but he wasn't sure how. It dawned on him suddenly unexpectedly that it was bad"(114). This shows that he saved someone from the crash without even thinking about his own pain. After a while however he realizes that this injury could be fatal. Jackson is very brave, I can tell that he was probably a good fighter in the war and he probably saved many people. I think that Jackson was Johanna's dad that left her mom to fight in the war. At the end of the section as Jackson feels as though he is about to die it says, "A nagging little voice in his head was trying to remind him that if he went to sleep now, it would be the gig one, the last one. He debated this idea briefly and decided he didn't mind if he never woke up again"(115). It is surprising that he wouldn't fight to the end. Jackson seems like a courageous warrior so when he decides not to fight off death it is very surprising. It makes me mad to think that Jackson would just give up on life.

In this section I also read more about Reggie and Ms. MacDonald. Ms. MacDonald is dying of a brain tumor and tutors Reggie. This book describes Ms. MacDonald as, "In her fifties, but she had never been young. . . not only had she embraced a crazy religion but she dressed as if she were one step away from being a bag lady, and her house was two steps beyond squalid. She was, she said, preparing for the end of the world"(97). This description makes the reader think that this woman is crazy. Because Ms. MacDonald is nearing the end of her life, I think that she is only focused on things that matter. She doesn't care about her image and what others think of her. She is starting to take advantage of her life while she has it. I think she is a good influence on Reggie, because Reggie seems to only really pay attention to important things in life. Later Reggie starts to talk about the death of her mom. She explains that her mother went on a vacation with her boyfriend, Gary, to Spain. In Spain she was swimming in the pool and her hair got caught on the drain and she drowned. After her mother had died the only time Reggie saw her father was, "in the supermarket, where he was browsing the tinned soup aisle in the company of a woman. . . it was the same supermarket Mum used to work in, and it seemed disrespectful to be in it with another woman"(106). Gary seems to be a sleaze because a few weeks after her death he is already with another woman. Reggie seems to have a hunch that Gary is somehow guilty. Sometimes it is easier to handle with a death if you can blame it on someone. In this case Reggie thinks that Gary is guilty even though police reports say that she died accidentally. I think that this book is going to get very interesting soon.

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In this section, many different pieces of information come together. Dr. Hunter's first name is revealed, Joanna. This is when the reader makes the connection to the beginning of the story with the young girl whose mother and siblings died. Joanna is now in her thirties and the mystery of the killer is still unsolved. Louise is a detective that is trying to find more information on Mr. Hunter. Up until this point Neil Hunter has been a shady guy. We don't really hear about where he goes, all we know is that he gets back late every night. I am surprised that Joanna is such a kind well rounded person. Oftentimes when someone goes through something hard as a child, it never leaves them. A death could really scar a child's memory. On the outside Joanna seems like she has a perfect life. When Louise pays a visit to the Hunter's house she wonders why Joanna is married to a guy like Neil, "Just what the lovely Dr. Hunter was doing being married to someone with business interests in the public triangle of Bread Street, with its strip joints, dodgy pubs and show bars, was any one's guess. Shouldn't she be married to somebody more respectable -- and orthopedic surgeon, for example"(71). This is when we learn that Mr. Hunter is up to no good wherever he works. It also brings up the question of why Joanna and Neil are married. They seems like totally different people. This fact starts to make one wonder that maybe there is something different behind Joanna Hunter, maybe there is something that the reader doesn't know.

Later in the section that I read, Reggie is on her way home when she is confronted by someone. She feels a hand grip the back of her neck and something jabbed into her lower back a man then whispered, "Don't make a sound, I've got a gun"(81). When she turns around she sees her brother with a grin on his face. This is only one example of how violent her brother is. He seems to always be into trouble. Although her brother, Billy is nineteen, three years older than Reggie, she still feels the need to look after her brother. Reggie is very embarrassed of her brother, Billy. "Reggie worried that one day Billy would drive by Dr. Hunter's house and offer Reggie a lift home and she would have to introduce him to Dr. Hunter. She could just imagine how this pinched, ferrety features would light up at the sight of all the lovely things in the Hunter's home. . . Reggie thought she would have to deny him. ("He's not my brother. I don't know who he is.")"(83). From this quote, one can tell that Reggie and her brother don't have a very good relationship. Reggie is ashamed of her brother and doesn't trust him. If Reggie would go so far as to pretend to not know her brother! I think there is more to Billy, there must be a bigger reason for Reggie's mistrust.

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This next section cuts to a whole new story. A man named Jackson is sitting in his car lost in the middle of nowhere. "He was alone. Not another car in sight. no tractors or Land rovers, no other drifters on the high plains, no fellow travelers at all. No farmhouses or sheep barns either, only grass and barren limestone and a dead December sky. He was on the road to nowhere"(52). When one can get alone time memories usually come back. This quote is describing how alone he is. He could see nothing. The author does a very good job of describing what the setting looks like, after reading this passage I could really imagine the emptiness. This emptiness makes the reader start to wonder what Jackson is doing the in middle of nowhere. As he sits there he thinks back about his past life because he has nothing better to do. First it flashes back to his ex-wife Josie. Then later he drifts to thinking about his daughter, Marlee. This section really tells the reader a lot about the character Jackson. His memories are mostly about his old life and family so one can tell that his family means a lot to him.
Later in this section a figure appears in the distance, which seems crazy because earlier the author describes the emptiness of where Jackson is. When a human appears is says, "There was someone else ahead, on foot, walking towards him. The sight was so unexpected that for a moment he wondered if it was a kind of mirage brought on by staring for too long at the road, but no, it wasn't a phantom, it was definitely a human being, a woman even"(57). This sight is so unexpected he thinks its almost a miracle. Jackson is lost and when he sees a person it surprises him. This again makes the reader wonder why he is in the middle of nowhere. The book then goes on to describe Jackson, "He was a man on the road, a man trying to get home. It was about the destination, not the journey. Everyone was trying to get home. Everyone, everywhere, all the time"(59). This quote describes Jackson as a man trying to get home. This implies that he is looking for a place to be, a home to live at, most likely a family.

When Will There Be Good News

In the beginning of this book, Johanna and her family are walking home when suddenly a strange man appears and stabs her mother, brother and sister. Johanna is the only one that survives because she runs into the corn fields. Then the book shifts to a whole new scene. Reggie, a sixteen year old girl who's mother died many years ago, Nanny's for Dr. Hunter. While Dr. Hunter is at work, Reggie watches her son. Judging from the beginning of the book, I think that it will jump around a lot and move from different scenes very fast. I think that in the end of the book, these two stories will intertwine. Reggie dropped out of school this year and now Dr. Hunter tutors her. Dr. Hunter asks Reggie, "Shouldn't you have stayed on at school, Reggie"(44)? and Reggie replies, "Yes, I should have"(44). Dr. Hunter is implying that it would have been better if Reggie had stayed in school, then Reggie agrees with her. I think that Reggie is happier with Dr. Hunter than at school. With her mother gone, Reggie believed that there was no point in going to school, "Mum had been so proud when Reggie got her scholarship place, but once she was gone, there didn't seem much point, and it was bad enough leaving for school in the morning with no one to say good-bye to her, but coming home to an empty house with no one to say hello was even worse"(30). This quote is a glimpse at what Reggie's life was like before she started working for Dr. Hunter. It also shows how hard it is to live without anyone, living alone. I think that its a good thing that Reggie quit school. She is still learning the material, she is just in a happier environment.

Dr. Hunter is a very intelligent character. One can realize this because of all of the books in her house and how she speaks. Dr. Hunter is always referring back to books she has read in the past. She tells Reggie that she has read every book there is to read. Also, Dr. Hunter is always giving Reggie good advice. She says, "Knowing that when light is gone, love remains for shining"(50). This quote is very interesting. When Dr. Hunter says this I believe that she is trying to give Reggie advice and knowledge. I think Dr. Hunter knows that Reggie has a hard life and she is trying to tell her that even though things may look hard, she will always love her. The reader is never informed about how Reggie's mother died. This makes me want to keep reading to find out. One day Reggie randomly asks Dr. Hunter, " How long does it take to die from drowning"(46)? This makes me think that Reggie's mother died from drowning. Reggie doesn't bring up how her mother died again. I this this book is really good and I am interested in what will happen.


Atkinson, Kate. When Will There Be Good News? Boston: Little Brown & Company, 2008.