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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I picked this up because I was in Edinburgh, Scotland and had been on a Literary Walking Tour of the city's most famous writers and Rankin's name kept coming up. We passed places he hung out, locations from his books, and heard stories about his life. So when I had the opportunity to grab one of his Rebus thrillers I took it, feeling like it's a good thing to read local writers.
I can say this: He knows his city. Edinburgh is very well drawn and really comes alive in The Black Book, which is my first, but the 5th Rebus in what is, as of this writing, an 18 book series. The back cover sports a quote from James Ellroy, proclaiming Rankin "the Scottish James Ellroy" which is pretty funny, except for one thing: He's not.
Ellroy's writing is gritty and hard. There's a scene in Black Dahlia where, after reading it, you want to take a shower. Rankin doesn't even come close. While the city is nicely drawn, the characters are rather flat and the writing is repetitive and pedantic. Even worse, and this is something which bugs me to no end when reading thrillers, we shouldn't be able to figure it out very far ahead of the detective. If you get it a few lines before the detective pieces it together, that's okay. But to have major clues staring the detective in the face for half the book and we, as readers, saying "how do you not see this?" is an unpardonable crime in detective fiction. And at the same time, Rankin, in order not to give anything away, falls back on the old standby of telling us something is going on but not what. All in all, at least with this book, it feels like Rankin isn't playing fair with his readers.
It says in the author's note that this is the book where Rankin realized he was writing a series (how it takes you 5 books to figure this out says more about him than it does about the books, but okay) so maybe that's part of the problem. Maybe because he now felt he was writing a series, he thought he should do things differently. I don't know. But I do know that at the end of the day, this wasn't a terribly satisfying read and I probably won't be picking up any more of the Rebus books, even if I do miss Edinburgh.
I can say this: He knows his city. Edinburgh is very well drawn and really comes alive in The Black Book, which is my first, but the 5th Rebus in what is, as of this writing, an 18 book series. The back cover sports a quote from James Ellroy, proclaiming Rankin "the Scottish James Ellroy" which is pretty funny, except for one thing: He's not.
Ellroy's writing is gritty and hard. There's a scene in Black Dahlia where, after reading it, you want to take a shower. Rankin doesn't even come close. While the city is nicely drawn, the characters are rather flat and the writing is repetitive and pedantic. Even worse, and this is something which bugs me to no end when reading thrillers, we shouldn't be able to figure it out very far ahead of the detective. If you get it a few lines before the detective pieces it together, that's okay. But to have major clues staring the detective in the face for half the book and we, as readers, saying "how do you not see this?" is an unpardonable crime in detective fiction. And at the same time, Rankin, in order not to give anything away, falls back on the old standby of telling us something is going on but not what. All in all, at least with this book, it feels like Rankin isn't playing fair with his readers.
It says in the author's note that this is the book where Rankin realized he was writing a series (how it takes you 5 books to figure this out says more about him than it does about the books, but okay) so maybe that's part of the problem. Maybe because he now felt he was writing a series, he thought he should do things differently. I don't know. But I do know that at the end of the day, this wasn't a terribly satisfying read and I probably won't be picking up any more of the Rebus books, even if I do miss Edinburgh.
I confirm, I am obsessed with Rebus now. It's nice to get into a series late and know there's another 15 or so books to get stuck into.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rankin's most ambitious Rebus story so far. There are millions of threads, characters introduced by the truckload, McPhail, Cafferty, Gibson, Clarke, Ringan, Calder etc etc. Add these to characters from previous books, the whole police team, Vanderhyde, Michael, Gregor Jack merits a mention and you've got quite a lot to take in. Thankfully Rebus is on the case and even if you are losing track of everyone he's like a bloodhound following the scent.
I'd say Rankin has done well dumping his own reading fetish as a character trait for Rebus. The music taste is believable but Rebus' pseudo-bookworm thing wasn't. The puns still hit like flaccid dad jokes which is how they should. Rebus' romance on the rocks which is where I imagine it will remain permanently and if anything I'm hoping Rankin will just sever all romantic connections for Rebus. Frankly, I've lost patience with his current fling (boom! dad joke).
I'm fascinated by how Rebus' daughter essentially no longer exists.
Rebus' antagonism towards everyone on the police force is a bit annoying and it was nice to see him get along better with Farmer Watson. His rivalry with Flower and Lauderdale are laughable and I hope it either develops into something more substantial and believable or stops.
Siobhan Clarke is a good addition though I feel she's going to eclipse Brian Holmes because she's a stronger character and a better foil. Plus she's got a "photographic" memory of sorts which is a perfect deus ex machina waiting for every case, handy for both Rebus and Rankin.
Cafferty as the big bad guy was a good counter to Rebus' character and I think maybe Rankin will realise from this book that he needs a bit of a Moriarty to his Sherlock. He's got his Watson (albeit more competent) in Clarke, now just for a good long-standing villain.
Overall, good read. The stories are getting better. You can actually sense Rankin improving as a writer. I'm not sure I'd read this if I hadn't read the others though.
I'd say Rankin has done well dumping his own reading fetish as a character trait for Rebus. The music taste is believable but Rebus' pseudo-bookworm thing wasn't. The puns still hit like flaccid dad jokes which is how they should. Rebus' romance on the rocks which is where I imagine it will remain permanently and if anything I'm hoping Rankin will just sever all romantic connections for Rebus. Frankly, I've lost patience with his current fling (boom! dad joke).
I'm fascinated by how Rebus' daughter essentially no longer exists.
Rebus' antagonism towards everyone on the police force is a bit annoying and it was nice to see him get along better with Farmer Watson. His rivalry with Flower and Lauderdale are laughable and I hope it either develops into something more substantial and believable or stops.
Siobhan Clarke is a good addition though I feel she's going to eclipse Brian Holmes because she's a stronger character and a better foil. Plus she's got a "photographic" memory of sorts which is a perfect deus ex machina waiting for every case, handy for both Rebus and Rankin.
Cafferty as the big bad guy was a good counter to Rebus' character and I think maybe Rankin will realise from this book that he needs a bit of a Moriarty to his Sherlock. He's got his Watson (albeit more competent) in Clarke, now just for a good long-standing villain.
Overall, good read. The stories are getting better. You can actually sense Rankin improving as a writer. I'm not sure I'd read this if I hadn't read the others though.
The Inspector Rebus books continue to be solid police procedurals. This one really only picked up towards the end, but it was enjoyable.
Disappointing after Strip Jack which really blew me away. This took half the book to really get moving. Honestly I'd say the first half was a 2 star read and the second half a 4 star so here we are with an average of 3.
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another great entry in the Rebus series. Certain plot points were a bit obvious, but the characterization of Rebus and pretty much everyone else is so good that I am happy to keep reading my way through the books.