"The Naming of the Dead" by Ian Rankin

Inspector John Rebus and sidekick DS Siobhan Clarke seek a serial killer after the possessions of three victims of unsolved murders turn up near Gleneagles on the eve of the G8 Summit there in July 2005.

The week of the G8 Summit was momentous. Scotland was under siege from 'Make Poverty History' marchers and the anarchists and rioters who went with it. Siobhan's parents are on the march and Siobhan suffers from the split loyalties between police trying to keep order and the protesters, especially when her mother is hit over the head while demonstrating. Was it a rogue policeman? Throughout this multi-layered novel the thin divide between goodies and baddies is shown to be blurred: Rebus has often crossed this line before but will Siobhan? Is the charismatic local councillor a good guy or does he run the gang of local hooligans and is he angling to replace gangster Ger Cafferty as Edinburgh's Mr Big? Is the Special Branch detective who repeatedly impedes the investigation doing this for good 'security' reasons or is he in the pocket of an arms dealer? Have the undercover cops gone native?

As well as G8, protests and rock concerts, this is the week in which London won the 2012 Olympics. The next day came the London 7/7 tube and bus bombings. This fantastic book, so much more than a genre whodunnit, weaves all these together in a general question about morality today. It has a strong plot which kept me reading, a large cast of brilliant multi-faceted characters and as many layers as an oil painting.

July 2014; 515 pages

Other Inspector Rebus books reviewed in this blog include:

• A Question of Blood
• The Naming of the Dead
• Strip Jack
• Tooth and Nail: Rebus in London: poor stuff
• Standing in Another Man's Grave
• In a House of Lies

This review was written by the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

"Standing in another man's grave" by Ian Rankin

Rebus is back.

I have read very few Rebus novels. I ought to read some more. These are well-written, thoughtful whodunnits (although I wasn't impressed with the last one I read, Tooth and Nail). Granted, the Inspector (in this book retired) is the usual maverick, verging on alcoholism, unshaven, unkempt, living alone, mingling with low-lifes and bending every rule he possibly can but the character is convincing and the locational detail (I was following the story on Google Maps) is stunning.

And even though I guessed wrong (and even though my answer was considerably better than the final answer) I kept turning the pages desperately. This book really sucked me in. DON'T read it unless you have the ability to kill a couple of days without your wife getting angry, your work standing unfinished and your chores left alone.

Fantastic. January 2013 356 pages

Other Inspector Rebus books reviewed in this blog include:

• A Question of Blood
• The Naming of the Dead
• Strip Jack
• Tooth and Nail: Rebus in London: poor stuff
• Standing in Another Man's Grave
• In a House of Lies

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

Tooth and Nail" by Ian Rankin

An Inspector Rebus book.

Rebus comes down from Edinburgh to help the Metropolitan Police investigate a serial killer. There are some brilliant descriptions of police procedure and some naive touristic impressions of London (mostly the traffic jams). There are some nice character descriptions of the tensions between the London and the Scottish policemen and there is some cliched denouements. Rebus, using hunches and very little evidence, eventually gets the killer after a high speed chase which ends in Trafalgar Square.

Poor stuff; extraordinarily disappointing. Rebus is so much better than this.

Other Inspector Rebus books reviewed in this blog include:

• A Question of Blood
• The Naming of the Dead
• Strip Jack
• Tooth and Nail: Rebus in London: poor stuff
• Standing in Another Man's Grave
• In a House of Lies

June 2010; 275 pages.

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God