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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
dark
funny
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Rebus in a deerstalker?
Siobhan Clarke has been called in to investigate the murder of David Minton, a former Lord Advocate (chief legal officer of the Scottish Government). At first, it looks like a robbery gone wrong, until a note is found on Lord Minton's body – I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID. That evening, as Siobhan and Malcolm Fox share dinner, they are told of a shooting in the city – the target Big Ger Cafferty, retired gangster and long-time Moriarty to Rebus' Holmes. The shooter missed, and Cafferty is refusing to talk to the police about it, so Siobhan suggests bringing Rebus in on it as the one man to whom Cafferty is likely to open up. Problem is Rebus is now retired (again) – and so begins his new career as a 'consulting detective'. Fox meantime has been seconded to a team through from Glasgow who are carrying out surveillance on a Glasgow gangster and his son, in Edinburgh looking for one of their employees who has betrayed them and run off with a truck-load of drugs.
The book gets off to a great start with a short prologue where two gangsters are in a forest to bury a body. But things don't go quite to plan. It takes quite a long time for all the various strands of the book to come together, but as always Rankin handles the plotting with sure skill, meting out the information with perfect timing to keep the reader's interest from flagging at any point. This book is more noir in feel than some of Rebus' recent outings, being very much about the gangsters of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The thing I love most about Rankin is that his books and characters are set very much in the real, recognisable world of present-day Scotland, and that shows through in his treatment of the gangsters here. He portrays them as less relevant than they used to be, with so many of their old fields of activity having become either legalised – money-lenders now advertise their exorbitant interest rates on TV, and gambling has become brightly lit, family fun – or less lucrative, with the police more successful in preventing protection rackets, for instance. Much organised crime is now carried out via the darknet rather than on the streets. Cafferty and his Glasgow counterpart, Joe Stark, are rather outdated dinosaurs – still dangerous in the parts of society in which they operate, but not universally feared or admired as the old-time gangsters once were. Gun crime is shown as it truly is – extremely rare and not a major issue in Scottish society. (There was 1 – yes, one – gun murder in the whole of Scotland in 2014. Sorry to be a killjoy.) It's very refreshing to get such a true picture, rather than the nonsense that fills so many books in the 'Tartan Noir' genre, most of which describe a society that is as realistic as Hobbiton, or as outdated as Dickens' London.
However, the book isn't only about the warring gangsters. There is another strand that touches on a subject very much in the current news – the historical abuse of children in care homes. Again Rankin handles this with all his usual skill and sensitivity, showing not only how it affected the children at the time but how the after-effects of abuse can cascade down through generations. And he does it without resorting to shock horror tactics, voyeuristically salacious details or crocodile tears. As a result, the story feels both authentic and credible.
There is perhaps a little less reference to the political side of Scottish life than there has been in the more recent books, but I think this is a good reflection of post-referendum life, where the close result has somewhat left the nation feeling that it's in political limbo. But the storyline touches on the power structures of both police and government, and especially on the abuse of power at the top.
This wouldn't be one I would necessarily recommend as a starting point for newcomers to Rebus. There are so many characters from previous books in it that I think it will work best for existing fans, who understand how the relationship between Rebus and Big Ger has developed over the years. But for me, a new Rebus is always a huge treat – Rankin is so in control of his writing and plotting that reading his books is an effortless joy. Another strong entry in the series that I'm sure fans will enjoy, and great to have Rebus back in action after the long two years since the last book. Here's hoping his 'consulting detective' days are not over...
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Orion.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Siobhan Clarke has been called in to investigate the murder of David Minton, a former Lord Advocate (chief legal officer of the Scottish Government). At first, it looks like a robbery gone wrong, until a note is found on Lord Minton's body – I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID. That evening, as Siobhan and Malcolm Fox share dinner, they are told of a shooting in the city – the target Big Ger Cafferty, retired gangster and long-time Moriarty to Rebus' Holmes. The shooter missed, and Cafferty is refusing to talk to the police about it, so Siobhan suggests bringing Rebus in on it as the one man to whom Cafferty is likely to open up. Problem is Rebus is now retired (again) – and so begins his new career as a 'consulting detective'. Fox meantime has been seconded to a team through from Glasgow who are carrying out surveillance on a Glasgow gangster and his son, in Edinburgh looking for one of their employees who has betrayed them and run off with a truck-load of drugs.
The book gets off to a great start with a short prologue where two gangsters are in a forest to bury a body. But things don't go quite to plan. It takes quite a long time for all the various strands of the book to come together, but as always Rankin handles the plotting with sure skill, meting out the information with perfect timing to keep the reader's interest from flagging at any point. This book is more noir in feel than some of Rebus' recent outings, being very much about the gangsters of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The thing I love most about Rankin is that his books and characters are set very much in the real, recognisable world of present-day Scotland, and that shows through in his treatment of the gangsters here. He portrays them as less relevant than they used to be, with so many of their old fields of activity having become either legalised – money-lenders now advertise their exorbitant interest rates on TV, and gambling has become brightly lit, family fun – or less lucrative, with the police more successful in preventing protection rackets, for instance. Much organised crime is now carried out via the darknet rather than on the streets. Cafferty and his Glasgow counterpart, Joe Stark, are rather outdated dinosaurs – still dangerous in the parts of society in which they operate, but not universally feared or admired as the old-time gangsters once were. Gun crime is shown as it truly is – extremely rare and not a major issue in Scottish society. (There was 1 – yes, one – gun murder in the whole of Scotland in 2014. Sorry to be a killjoy.) It's very refreshing to get such a true picture, rather than the nonsense that fills so many books in the 'Tartan Noir' genre, most of which describe a society that is as realistic as Hobbiton, or as outdated as Dickens' London.
However, the book isn't only about the warring gangsters. There is another strand that touches on a subject very much in the current news – the historical abuse of children in care homes. Again Rankin handles this with all his usual skill and sensitivity, showing not only how it affected the children at the time but how the after-effects of abuse can cascade down through generations. And he does it without resorting to shock horror tactics, voyeuristically salacious details or crocodile tears. As a result, the story feels both authentic and credible.
There is perhaps a little less reference to the political side of Scottish life than there has been in the more recent books, but I think this is a good reflection of post-referendum life, where the close result has somewhat left the nation feeling that it's in political limbo. But the storyline touches on the power structures of both police and government, and especially on the abuse of power at the top.
This wouldn't be one I would necessarily recommend as a starting point for newcomers to Rebus. There are so many characters from previous books in it that I think it will work best for existing fans, who understand how the relationship between Rebus and Big Ger has developed over the years. But for me, a new Rebus is always a huge treat – Rankin is so in control of his writing and plotting that reading his books is an effortless joy. Another strong entry in the series that I'm sure fans will enjoy, and great to have Rebus back in action after the long two years since the last book. Here's hoping his 'consulting detective' days are not over...
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Orion.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
I read this before but I think I missed something in the passage of time because I now see it as one of the easiest to understand and the grip of Rebus is slackening. Keeping the Fox character in the loop and the hard realization of the past following us all even Fox's past.
Old dogs, old tricks.....
The hero, John Rebus is old and retired, the villain, Big Ger Cafferty, is old and on his way out, and unfortunately, Rankin’s writing is old, repetitive, and cliche. Having read all of the Rebus mysteries to date, I was looking forward to another good read. Sadly, I was disappointed.
This book focuses more on Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox, both of whom are not very dynamic characters and were better as sidekicks. The plot has a few twists and turns but relies on worn out story lines to plod through. Rankin falls into the Michael Connelly trap of spending too much time giving us turn by turn directions as the characters drive from point A to point B.
The previous Rankin novels had a compelling story and kept me turning pages, this one lost me almost from the beginning, but I kept reading thinking it would get better. There were too many characters and nothing about most of them held my interest.
I can only hope this was a dip in the normal great writing of Ian Rankin and he is not following writers like Connelly, Child, and Patterson who will never darken my bookshelf again.
This one gets two stars with a wish on both.
The hero, John Rebus is old and retired, the villain, Big Ger Cafferty, is old and on his way out, and unfortunately, Rankin’s writing is old, repetitive, and cliche. Having read all of the Rebus mysteries to date, I was looking forward to another good read. Sadly, I was disappointed.
This book focuses more on Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox, both of whom are not very dynamic characters and were better as sidekicks. The plot has a few twists and turns but relies on worn out story lines to plod through. Rankin falls into the Michael Connelly trap of spending too much time giving us turn by turn directions as the characters drive from point A to point B.
The previous Rankin novels had a compelling story and kept me turning pages, this one lost me almost from the beginning, but I kept reading thinking it would get better. There were too many characters and nothing about most of them held my interest.
I can only hope this was a dip in the normal great writing of Ian Rankin and he is not following writers like Connelly, Child, and Patterson who will never darken my bookshelf again.
This one gets two stars with a wish on both.
Another enjoyable entry in the Rebus series. Rebus, now retired, is asked to consult when somebody takes a shot at old gangster. Turns out that shot could be connected with a murder, or a series of murders that and a turf war among rival criminals makes things interesting.
Aaah, Rebus comes back into the life of the police in Edinburgh when he is the only one who can get Cafferty, his old nemesis, to talk about the shattered window in his house. Turns out that it is connected to Siobhan's case in which a high level magistrate is murdered in his own home. Malcolm Fox manages to get seconded to the team and we have a full house of investigators, with the complication of an undercover operation tailing particularly violent crime family comes to town. Mayhem ensues and it's really well plotted and touches on many areas both past and present.
Quality work that emphasises the seriality and change of focus in late stage Rebus; more detail will be expounded upon in my take on Rather Be The Devil, which embodies the true flavour of the character’s return.
Another great Ian Rankin and once again Rebus wins in the end. Masterful.