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kathydavie's review against another edition
4.0
Second in the Malcolm Fox suspenseful police procedural series set in Scotland.
My Take
It's a a cold case that has warmed up and it seems the reason for the warming is unrequited love and a cop who is still operating in the tradition of the old days.
I gotta say. This was an odd one. Intriguing, fascinating, and I couldn't put it down. And very unsettling. Rankin's characters are real. They have their faults, their pluses. Fox, naturally, is the honest, hardworking cop who won't accept being told to let something go and his "defect" is his neglect of family. Although, this is mostly in his hard-done-by sister's eyes. He's the everyman we want to be, beset by his generation's worries about aging parents.
It's old history and family hatreds. Old-time terrorists and a cop who wants the truth. Don't ever try to hide something from Malcolm Fox. He's a terrier digging until his curiosity is satisfied. Mostly I suspect Fox was irritated by the lack of cooperation and simply tried to find a different tack to explore. One that took him down older, other roads. I don't understand why Chris Fox was brought into this unless it was simply to justify looking at old family pictures with dad.
It seems as though Fox, Kaye, and Naysmith have a lot of spare time on their hands. They drive up to Fife for a few hours and then head home. Every day. A lot of convenient vagueness in this. Gotta give 'em points though for uprooting the the truth.
Whoa, what a coldhearted bitch! It'll be interesting to see who is no longer in power when book 3 comes out.
Curiosity may not quite kill the fox, but it comes very close.
The Story
It's straightforward enough. One cop has been convicted of wrongdoing and Fox, Kaye, and Naysmith are simply tidying the case up. Only the original complainant ends up a very questionable suicide and Fox has questions about the death and a bit of research the old guy was doing.
Between the obstructive Cash and the secretive Jackson, Fox gets riled and digs even more, turning up contrary evidence, revealing long-held secrets.
The Characters
Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox, Tony Kaye with his nose for a good cafe and policework, and Joe Naysmith, who needs some seasoning, are the team from Complaints. Mitch Fox is Malcolm's dad and in an old folks' home. Jude is his younger, whining, complaining, bitchy sister. Chris Fox was a cousin who died in a motorbike accident decades ago. Evelyn Mills is a married Complaints cop in Fife with whom Fox had a one-nighter. Bob McEwan is the team's immediate boss.
Chief Constable Jim Byars is escorting Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Jackson from Special Branch about. Chief Constable Alison Pears, of the Central Scotland Constabulary, has worked her way up to a top rank; her husband, Stephen Pears, is a financial whiz. Alison's brother, Andrew Watson, is the Minister of Justice in Scotland.
The uncooperative cops at Fife
Detective Inspector (DI) Ray Scholes, Detective Sergeant (DS) Gary Michaelson, and DS Haldane are Detective Constable (DC) Paul Carter's buddies. Carter is from a family of cops and makes some illegal demands. DCI Peter Laird is Carter's immediate boss. DC Cheryl Forrester may have some background. I did like her approach to being questioned, LOL. Superintendent Isabel Pitkethly is new to Fife, but eager to uphold her men. Alec Robinson is the desk sergeant. Sheriff Colin Cardonald is in charge of which prisoners are released.
A retired cop, Uncle Alan Carter, is the one who filed the initial complaint. Now he runs a security business employing ex-felons, including Tosh Garioch and Mel Stuart. Now-retired Superintendent Robert Hendryson started the ball rolling. Gavin Willis was a DI when Vernal died and led the inquiry into his death; he was also Alan's mentor.
Cops investigating the latest murder
DS Brendan Young and DI Cash are with the Murder Squad and quite full of themselves. They're also uncooperative jerks until Fox plays his trump card. Fiona McFadzean is Fife's ballistics person.
Teresa Collins, Bekka, and Billie all complained of being solicited by Carter. Brian Jamieson is a stringer. Teddy Fraser is Alan Carter's best and oldest friend; it's his testimony that perks everyone up.
The old "suicide"
Francis Vernal was a lawyer, an activist patriot for the Scottish National Party, who handled the finances and roaring rhetoric for the group. Charles Mangold is a senior partner in a firm of solicitors, Mangold Bain, and was a friend of Vernal's. He wants the truth about Vernal's death. Imogen is Vernal's supposedly merry widow. Alice Watts was Vernal's bit on the side and she disappeared immediately after his death. Hawkeye and Donald MacIver were vicious militants. John Elliot is now a TV newscaster. Professor John Martin did his PhD thesis on Scottish militancy in the 1980s.
The Cover
The cover is eerie with its bright daylight sky, a short-cropped field, and its lonely car. It almost appears to be underwater with the haze. There really should have been either a tree or a rickety garage with this.
The title is the dead who refuse to die, The Impossible Dead.
My Take
It's a a cold case that has warmed up and it seems the reason for the warming is unrequited love and a cop who is still operating in the tradition of the old days.
I gotta say. This was an odd one. Intriguing, fascinating, and I couldn't put it down. And very unsettling. Rankin's characters are real. They have their faults, their pluses. Fox, naturally, is the honest, hardworking cop who won't accept being told to let something go and his "defect" is his neglect of family. Although, this is mostly in his hard-done-by sister's eyes. He's the everyman we want to be, beset by his generation's worries about aging parents.
It's old history and family hatreds. Old-time terrorists and a cop who wants the truth. Don't ever try to hide something from Malcolm Fox. He's a terrier digging until his curiosity is satisfied. Mostly I suspect Fox was irritated by the lack of cooperation and simply tried to find a different tack to explore. One that took him down older, other roads. I don't understand why Chris Fox was brought into this unless it was simply to justify looking at old family pictures with dad.
It seems as though Fox, Kaye, and Naysmith have a lot of spare time on their hands. They drive up to Fife for a few hours and then head home. Every day. A lot of convenient vagueness in this. Gotta give 'em points though for uprooting the the truth.
Whoa, what a coldhearted bitch! It'll be interesting to see who is no longer in power when book 3 comes out.
Curiosity may not quite kill the fox, but it comes very close.
The Story
It's straightforward enough. One cop has been convicted of wrongdoing and Fox, Kaye, and Naysmith are simply tidying the case up. Only the original complainant ends up a very questionable suicide and Fox has questions about the death and a bit of research the old guy was doing.
Between the obstructive Cash and the secretive Jackson, Fox gets riled and digs even more, turning up contrary evidence, revealing long-held secrets.
The Characters
Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox, Tony Kaye with his nose for a good cafe and policework, and Joe Naysmith, who needs some seasoning, are the team from Complaints. Mitch Fox is Malcolm's dad and in an old folks' home. Jude is his younger, whining, complaining, bitchy sister. Chris Fox was a cousin who died in a motorbike accident decades ago. Evelyn Mills is a married Complaints cop in Fife with whom Fox had a one-nighter. Bob McEwan is the team's immediate boss.
Chief Constable Jim Byars is escorting Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Jackson from Special Branch about. Chief Constable Alison Pears, of the Central Scotland Constabulary, has worked her way up to a top rank; her husband, Stephen Pears, is a financial whiz. Alison's brother, Andrew Watson, is the Minister of Justice in Scotland.
The uncooperative cops at Fife
Detective Inspector (DI) Ray Scholes, Detective Sergeant (DS) Gary Michaelson, and DS Haldane are Detective Constable (DC) Paul Carter's buddies. Carter is from a family of cops and makes some illegal demands. DCI Peter Laird is Carter's immediate boss. DC Cheryl Forrester may have some background. I did like her approach to being questioned, LOL. Superintendent Isabel Pitkethly is new to Fife, but eager to uphold her men. Alec Robinson is the desk sergeant. Sheriff Colin Cardonald is in charge of which prisoners are released.
A retired cop, Uncle Alan Carter, is the one who filed the initial complaint. Now he runs a security business employing ex-felons, including Tosh Garioch and Mel Stuart. Now-retired Superintendent Robert Hendryson started the ball rolling. Gavin Willis was a DI when Vernal died and led the inquiry into his death; he was also Alan's mentor.
Cops investigating the latest murder
DS Brendan Young and DI Cash are with the Murder Squad and quite full of themselves. They're also uncooperative jerks until Fox plays his trump card. Fiona McFadzean is Fife's ballistics person.
Teresa Collins, Bekka, and Billie all complained of being solicited by Carter. Brian Jamieson is a stringer. Teddy Fraser is Alan Carter's best and oldest friend; it's his testimony that perks everyone up.
The old "suicide"
Francis Vernal was a lawyer, an activist patriot for the Scottish National Party, who handled the finances and roaring rhetoric for the group. Charles Mangold is a senior partner in a firm of solicitors, Mangold Bain, and was a friend of Vernal's. He wants the truth about Vernal's death. Imogen is Vernal's supposedly merry widow. Alice Watts was Vernal's bit on the side and she disappeared immediately after his death. Hawkeye and Donald MacIver were vicious militants. John Elliot is now a TV newscaster. Professor John Martin did his PhD thesis on Scottish militancy in the 1980s.
The Cover
The cover is eerie with its bright daylight sky, a short-cropped field, and its lonely car. It almost appears to be underwater with the haze. There really should have been either a tree or a rickety garage with this.
The title is the dead who refuse to die, The Impossible Dead.
sonicboylee's review against another edition
4.0
Fox is just as compelling as Rebus. Love how Rankin makes them mirror images of each other
debs4jc's review against another edition
3.0
Pros: The main character, Malcolm Fox, is a bit of an enigma, a loner with family troubles who doesn't seem to let many people get close to him. It made me want to find out what really makes him tick.
The crime was enough of a puzzle that it kept me guessing and I didn't figure out who the culprit(s) were until all was revealed at the end.
The setting--Scotland--and the tie in to the historical events of the eighties was intriguing to someone who likes History and all things Scottish/English.
Cons: It takes quite a while for the story to move along--as in, there isn't much action at first. It's more of an intellectual crime solving story. So it takes some patience on the part of the reader.
I'd recommend it to anyone who likes intellectual mysteries, especially in they like them set in the British Isles and if they also like intriguing main characters.
The crime was enough of a puzzle that it kept me guessing and I didn't figure out who the culprit(s) were until all was revealed at the end.
The setting--Scotland--and the tie in to the historical events of the eighties was intriguing to someone who likes History and all things Scottish/English.
Cons: It takes quite a while for the story to move along--as in, there isn't much action at first. It's more of an intellectual crime solving story. So it takes some patience on the part of the reader.
I'd recommend it to anyone who likes intellectual mysteries, especially in they like them set in the British Isles and if they also like intriguing main characters.
katzreads's review against another edition
4.0
I don't believe that I had read any of the books in this series, but it was quite good and I will look for more by this author. Great characters, interesting situations, good descriptions.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
I really like Malcolm Fox, the protagonist of Ian Rankin's new detective series. In the second book, Fox and his partners have been sent to Fife, where a police officer's misconduct has led to an investigation as to whether his fellow officers covered for him. They're not greeted warmly; not only are they "the Complaints", who investigate allegations against the police, but they're from out of town as well.
Their investigation begins to spread out, as they look back at the actions of the convicted officer and then Fox is drawn farther back in time, to the 1980's, when Scottish nationalism took a violent and anarchic turn and a nationalist is found dead.
Fox is a fantastic character and if I weren't worried about possibility of an outcry, I might even say that I'm beginning to like him more than Rebus, at least the later, angrier Rebus. He doesn't have Rebus's style, connections or in-your-face working methods, but he does have a problematic family; a father whose health is declining and a difficult and prickly sister. He's fought his own demons and does what he can to keep the peace. The rest of his small team are also interesting. Tony Kaye is burly and prone to belligerence, but deeply loyal to and concerned about Fox's well-being. Joe Naysmith is the new guy, the tech guy, fielding Kaye's constant needling and eager to learn. I'm eagerly waiting to find out what they'll be up to next.
Their investigation begins to spread out, as they look back at the actions of the convicted officer and then Fox is drawn farther back in time, to the 1980's, when Scottish nationalism took a violent and anarchic turn and a nationalist is found dead.
Fox is a fantastic character and if I weren't worried about possibility of an outcry, I might even say that I'm beginning to like him more than Rebus, at least the later, angrier Rebus. He doesn't have Rebus's style, connections or in-your-face working methods, but he does have a problematic family; a father whose health is declining and a difficult and prickly sister. He's fought his own demons and does what he can to keep the peace. The rest of his small team are also interesting. Tony Kaye is burly and prone to belligerence, but deeply loyal to and concerned about Fox's well-being. Joe Naysmith is the new guy, the tech guy, fielding Kaye's constant needling and eager to learn. I'm eagerly waiting to find out what they'll be up to next.
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
5.0
If you, like me, have been more than a bit concerned about regular reading habits with the retirement of Rebus, I'm happy to report that at least I'm no longer fearful. Well about the loss of a fictional companion anyway. Now I can spend long periods of time worrying about Ian Rankin's health and hoping that all is going well with his writing. Because I'd really like to think there's more than a few Malcolm Fox books in the future, as this new series shapes up to be something well worth following.
It's probably not surprising that there are some aspects between the two series that are similar. There is a central character with a difficult back story, albeit with differences between Fox and Rebus. Fox isn't as comfortable in his flaws, he's taking steps to try to get his act together. It makes sense that a flawed man is working for The Complaints. It's not surprising that a man who has done the best and the worst can cope with the best and the worst in others.
Another similarity is the way that the books are perfectly balanced between a character study and a good, solid plot. In THE IMPOSSIBLE DEAD The Complaints are investigating allegations about a single individual - ex-Detective Paul Carter and what looks like a cover-up by his fellow officers. Fox and his small team are forced closer together simply by being outsiders, but this book gives Rankin the chance to strengthen that team feeling, whilst also allowing them to rise as individuals - again not unlike the Rebus / Siobhan pairing.
Whilst Fox, his ailing father and his bitter and twisted sister remain the focus of the personal aspects of the book, there is a back story for all of the team building, just as the resentment of the cops that investigate other cops is growing. I must admit I'm finding that aspect - cops investigating other cops, and the things that are being hidden and why - part of what's particularly interesting about this series. Obviously because it is something different, but also because in Rankin's hands, it's not one-dimensional, and the mechanics of "investigation" of a crime remain forefront.
Whilst I'm happy that the occasional Rebus outing is still in the offing, I've also developed quite a liking for this new direction in a big hurry. Of course, there is always the fact that if Rankin published his to do list, I'd read that as well, but THE IMPOSSIBLE DEAD is really a very good entry in this excellent new series.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/impossible-dead-ian-rankin
It's probably not surprising that there are some aspects between the two series that are similar. There is a central character with a difficult back story, albeit with differences between Fox and Rebus. Fox isn't as comfortable in his flaws, he's taking steps to try to get his act together. It makes sense that a flawed man is working for The Complaints. It's not surprising that a man who has done the best and the worst can cope with the best and the worst in others.
Another similarity is the way that the books are perfectly balanced between a character study and a good, solid plot. In THE IMPOSSIBLE DEAD The Complaints are investigating allegations about a single individual - ex-Detective Paul Carter and what looks like a cover-up by his fellow officers. Fox and his small team are forced closer together simply by being outsiders, but this book gives Rankin the chance to strengthen that team feeling, whilst also allowing them to rise as individuals - again not unlike the Rebus / Siobhan pairing.
Whilst Fox, his ailing father and his bitter and twisted sister remain the focus of the personal aspects of the book, there is a back story for all of the team building, just as the resentment of the cops that investigate other cops is growing. I must admit I'm finding that aspect - cops investigating other cops, and the things that are being hidden and why - part of what's particularly interesting about this series. Obviously because it is something different, but also because in Rankin's hands, it's not one-dimensional, and the mechanics of "investigation" of a crime remain forefront.
Whilst I'm happy that the occasional Rebus outing is still in the offing, I've also developed quite a liking for this new direction in a big hurry. Of course, there is always the fact that if Rankin published his to do list, I'd read that as well, but THE IMPOSSIBLE DEAD is really a very good entry in this excellent new series.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/impossible-dead-ian-rankin
blairconrad's review against another edition
3.0
An entertaining read, but not among Rankin's best. I generally enjoy Fox's character, and those of his sidekicks, Naysmith and Kaye (who for some reason look just like Ray Carling and Chris Skelton respectively). But the story didn't suck me in as much as some. I like the Complaints bits, but I thought the "regular police don't like The Complaints" message was driven home a little too hard. Oh! The
"old sorta flame" storyline was fun for me too. But in the end, the sheer weight of the coincidences and plot holes that we have to pile up in order to get the end drags on me a little. Hopefully the writing will be a little tighter in the next one…
"old sorta flame" storyline was fun for me too. But in the end, the sheer weight of the coincidences and plot holes that we have to pile up in order to get the end drags on me a little. Hopefully the writing will be a little tighter in the next one…
benbacardi's review against another edition
3.0
For somebody who supposedly spends his life trying to catch cops who step beyond the line, it seems that Fox disobeys a few orders too many in this book. This isn't a book about the Complaints, as the main mystery is one far more suited to CID. The original Fox novel was more interesting, and more closely tied to his actual job, than this - but it was still a good read.
It brought a smile to my face to see a subtle reference to John Rebus - and I'm much looking forward to reading when Rebus and Fox collide in Standing in Another Man's Grave.
It brought a smile to my face to see a subtle reference to John Rebus - and I'm much looking forward to reading when Rebus and Fox collide in Standing in Another Man's Grave.
dad_bro_39's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
writer595's review
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0