Scan barcode
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
3.0
Ian Rankin has collected the short stories that he's written about John Rebus, his curmudgeonly Scottish detective, in to one book. I took my time working my way through the book, which is arranged chronologically in Rebus's life, and along the way rekindled my love of him. In the later books, he has sometimes veered from charmingly grumpy and old school, into a depressed misanthropist and I was happy when he retired. I liked Malcolm Fox, a character as far from Rebus as possible, and I wasn't thrilled when Rankin brought Rebus back (I realize that this is a minority view). But reading stories set all along Rebus's career was useful in reminding me how very good the character is, and how enjoyable it can be to see Rebus steamrolling along, ignoring protocol and getting the job done.
In each story, Rebus solves some mystery, bringing the perpetrators to justice and drinking a few whiskies or IPAs along the way. We see his partner change from Holmes to Siobhan and how he ends up being slightly less of a loner by the end of the book. While I recognized a few of the stories from previous collections, it was still worthwhile to read a sort of survey of Rebus's professional life. I'm looking forward to the next installment, Even Dogs in the Wild, due out in November.
In each story, Rebus solves some mystery, bringing the perpetrators to justice and drinking a few whiskies or IPAs along the way. We see his partner change from Holmes to Siobhan and how he ends up being slightly less of a loner by the end of the book. While I recognized a few of the stories from previous collections, it was still worthwhile to read a sort of survey of Rebus's professional life. I'm looking forward to the next installment, Even Dogs in the Wild, due out in November.
aoosterwyk's review against another edition
3.0
I did like it, but not as much as novel length mysteries. It is difficult to immerse oneself into a mystery and have it resolved so quickly. Also, I think so much of what I enjoy about Rankin's stories are his plot and character development. This is less likely to happen in the short story format. It felt like these were ideas that didn't make it into his novels.
smitchy's review against another edition
5.0
This is the first Ian Rankin book I have read. The stories varied in length from 2-3 pages to 50. Overall a good collection of short stories. And since I spent 18 months living in Edinburgh I had a good idea of the various locations.
josephinebean's review against another edition
3.0
rated: 3 stars
2022 Advent Calendar Day 1
if i wasn't gifted this book i would have never picked it up, and being thrown into the deep end with short stories about a character which i knew nothing about was very interesting. the stories ranged from just okay to decent, with none of them really standing out as shocking or with insane twists. the author did try to put a twist in most of them, which i think would have worked better if they were read individually instead of altogether in this compilation novel. it was also really hard to keep track of what year the story was set in, because the book was supposed to chronicle the rise through the ranks of the detective mc all the way until his retirement in the final story, but they all just kind of blurred together into one long cop story. the short story format also meant that there was 0 character development, which i guess is because there are more than 25 full length novels that are meant for the development, but it made it very slow going to read the book anyway.
2022 Advent Calendar Day 1
if i wasn't gifted this book i would have never picked it up, and being thrown into the deep end with short stories about a character which i knew nothing about was very interesting. the stories ranged from just okay to decent, with none of them really standing out as shocking or with insane twists. the author did try to put a twist in most of them, which i think would have worked better if they were read individually instead of altogether in this compilation novel. it was also really hard to keep track of what year the story was set in, because the book was supposed to chronicle the rise through the ranks of the detective mc all the way until his retirement in the final story, but they all just kind of blurred together into one long cop story. the short story format also meant that there was 0 character development, which i guess is because there are more than 25 full length novels that are meant for the development, but it made it very slow going to read the book anyway.
berlinbibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book of Rebus short stories, maybe even more than some of the full-length books. I think it's because the short-story format prevents the author from the philosophical navel-gazing that can sometimes clog up some of the other Rebus books. In the case of short stories, he has to keep it short and snappy, and that's where his entertaining plots and side-characters shine. It was cool to see Rebus on some of his less-protracted, more ordinaty cases, and some of them were really innovative.
ghutchy's review
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
glumpanda's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this! I know some people have pointed out it's not the complete collection of short stories as there are a couple missing but I love Rebus and hadn't read any of the short stories previously so this was a good starting point for me.
I love Rankin's writing style as ever in these shortened accounts of Rebus' adventures. Not to mention the way he can pack so many twists in to a short story!
I love Rankin's writing style as ever in these shortened accounts of Rebus' adventures. Not to mention the way he can pack so many twists in to a short story!
annebrooke's review against another edition
3.0
I have to admit I'm not a Rebus reader so thought I'd try these short stories to see if it was worth getting the novels. On the evidence of this collection, I don't think I'll be starting the series. They're written in a rather old-fashioned way, and none of the characters really jump from the page at all. Some of the plots are very cliched and Rebus just seems to solve them without showing his workings and often on simple guesswork. So a bit disappointing, all in all. That said, the descriptions of Edinburgh are very good.
infernal's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0