Archive for the ‘Ian Rankin’ Category
Tool and Nail by Ian Rankin
Posted on: August 10, 2014
Tooth and Nail by Ian RankinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Inspector Rebus in London. A series of murders have been rocking London and the London police approach the Lothian and Borders for help. They specifically request for Rebus stating that he is an expert in serial murderers and would help them crack the case. His reputation precedes him and he kept under vigilance of one of the officers who also believes that what Rebus does makes sense.
Rebus elicits enough snickers amongst the London police not least for the way he speaks, which many do not even understand.
In his inimitable way he goes about rubbing everybody the wrong way, plays a truant and runs off to Glasgow leaving the London police fuming.
Finally using his intuition Rebus cracks the case and catches the murderer to the relief of one and all, except the murderer himself.
Another good read from Ian Rankin.
Strip Jack by Ian Rankin
Posted on: June 12, 2014
Strip Jack by Ian RankinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
An MP named Jack is caught in a brothel, but fortunately with his pants up. Rebus is in the team that storms the brothel. The news comes to media and the MP finds his life becoming difficult as the media labels him Strip Jack.
Rebus has full trust in the MP and wishes to unearth the reason for the MP’s presence in the brothel. In the meantime two bodies turn up in the river. Both seem to have been killed by the same means. A vagrant claims to have killed both the women, but Rebus is not convinced.
He digs deep, irritates everybody and solves the case. Definitely a good read.
Exit Music by Ian Rankin
Posted on: June 12, 2014
Exit Music by Ian RankinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rebus retires. This book is based on the last two weeks before Rebus’s retirement. The Russian businessmen are in town trying to win business deals with Scotland. A dissident Russian poet is found murdered and Rebus and Siobhan come into picture.
Soon the audio recordist who had a penchant to record things in public and who recorded the last book reading of the Russian poet is also found dead.
Siobhan leads the investigation with Rebus as a team member. Rebus ends up rubbing everybody the wrong way. Rebus gets himself suspended, but this does not deter him from pursuing the truth.
The book is all about how he solves his last case before he retires. A fitting end to a glorious career.
The Flood by Ian Rankin
Posted on: June 12, 2014
The Flood by Ian RankinMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Probably the first book of Ian Rankin that gets such a low rating from me. This was the first book of Ian Rankin. This time there is no Rebus (probably the reason why it got such a low ranking). The story still revolves around the outskirts of Edinburgh. The location is Carsden. The book traces the life of a girl, Mary, who gets pushed into a polluted river. Her hair turns fully white, overnight, either due to the shock or due to the chemicals in the river. She gets branded as a witch. Mary’s father thrashes the boy who pushed Mary into the river the first day he joins the coal mines. The next day the boy dies due to a fire in the coal mines. Mary’s father is saved because of the boy who takes full brunt of the fire due to his inexperience. The boy’s father nurses a grudge against Mary’s family.
The coal mining industry is coming to a standstill in the thus far thriving town and her father loses his job and becomes a drunkard. She becomes pregnant before she is married and her brother leaves for Canada looking for better opportunities. The town suspects that the brother has impregnated her and has hence runaway or has been sent away. Soon her father dies in an accident as he is walking back home with one of his friends.
A son is born to her and he is branded a witch’s son and has to withstand the taunts of the townsfolk. He still manages to build his set of friends and tries to lead a normal life. His mother starts seeing a school teacher who also teaches him. He falls in love with a gypsy girl of ill reputation. This disrupts the peace between his mother and him. His grandfather’s friend who was with him when he met with the accident also commits suicide. Towards the end of the book his mother confesses who could be the real father of the child.
The book ends with the boy saving his mother as the disgruntled father of the boy who pushed Mary into the river tries to kill her.
All in all an OK book to read.
Set in Darkness by Ian Rankin
Posted on: January 28, 2014
Set in Darkness by Ian RankinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another of Ian Rankin’s inspector Rebus books. This involves the building of the new Scottish Parliament. The developers discover a body buried in the vaults of an erstwhile hospital which is expected to become a part of the parliament. Rebus who is part of the team that is expected to facilitate the developers maintain security at the building site is bored of the events initially, but this discovery stirs the curiosity in him and he starts investigation on this. He involves Ellen Wylie and Grand Hood in this investigation.
Soon there is a second murder in the premises of the same hospital where the earlier body was found. This person in question was one who was expected to become a Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP) soon. This high profile investigation is taken over by Rebus, much to the chagrin of Ellen Wylie. In this he has a partner in the form of another Inspector, a blue eyed boy in the force, a lot many years his junior to contend with.
The third is a suicide of a tramp who is found to have close to a half a million pound in saving. This suicide is handled by Siobhan Clarke.
Rebus in his own way ties up the three cases together and manages to rub the nose of his contender in the mud, much to the frustration of the high brass in the police.
Rebus comes close to being suspended before the mystery unfolds itself in the last few pages.
A good read for all the Ian Rankin, Inspector Rebus fans.
A Good Hanging by Ian Rankin
Posted on: January 12, 2014
A Good Hanging by Ian RankinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
A good set of short stories based on Inspector Rebus. In every story the sharp intellect of Rebus comes to the fore. Mysteries are solved in a jiffy and the culprits are put behind bar or ticked off or are left to languish in their guilt for life.
Another good read from Ian Rankin.
The Naming of the Dead by Ian RankinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Looks like one of the last Rebus books. Rebus is on the verge of retirement. The G8 is meeting in Edinburgh. The whole town is in turmoil. The entire police force is busy with managing the security setup for the G8 leaders.
Rebus and Siobhan are pursuing yet another murder. This time the murdered person is a bouncer who worked for big Ger Cafferty. Along the way they discover two additional murders committed along the same lines. They realize that they are now dealing with not one, but three murder cases. They are not about to give up following up on the case although others have closed it down and are busy with the VIP security.
With the usual nonchalance Rebus and Siobhan march on taking head on anybody who tries to bottle them up. Siobhan’s mother and father are there in Edinburgh for a demonstration against the policies of the G8 nations. Siobhan gets some time with them.
Siobhan is saved from the wrath and lust of a boy in the area where Siobhan’s parents are put up by the councilor of the area. Rebus does not have a good opinion about the councilor.
Siobhan’s mother gets smashed on the face, apparently by a police personnel deployed to control the demonstrators and Siobhan is unable to stop herself from trying to find out the person who did this.
Rebus takes help of Ellen Wylie, Siobhan’s rival in the force because he finds that she has posted certain material in a website where the three killed persons, all ex convicts and sexual predators, were mentioned. This riles Siobhan.
Rebus also gets in touch with Ger Cafferty as it is his bouncer who had been killed.
Just before the beginning of the G8 meet the minister for Trade Affairs falls off the ramparts of the Edinburgh fort and Rebus is stopped from investigating it too.
As the book progresses, like other Rebus books, the connections, some tenuous, some not so tenuous, between the various disconnected events emerge.
The book has an intriguing end and leaves the reader with a feeling there is more to come. As Rebus fans let us hope so.
The Black Book by Ian Rankin
Posted on: November 22, 2013
The Black Book by Ian RankinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
One of the earlier Rebus books. Rebus is still establishing himself in the heart of the reader. He has rented out his flat to a bunch of college going kids and has moved in with Dr. Patience. His brother is in jail for drug abuse.
Bodies are being dumped off a cliff at regular intervals and another police man is coshed in the vicinity where the bodies are being dumped.
Rebus’s colleague Holmes being coshed behind a restaurant that he visits.
A man straggles in to a butcher’s (they are related) with his stomach being sliced open. The man refuses to cooperate with the police and refuses to file a police report.
Rebus’ brother comes back and piles into Rebus’ home along with the students.
Rebus is kicked out by Dr. Patience who has had enough of his lack of inattention to her.
Rebus starts looking into a five year old case in which a hotel was burnt down and a body of a person who was shot was found in it.
Rebus’ brother is taken in a van and is suspended from a bridge and he starts suffering from fear.
Rebus takes on all these seemingly disconnected incidents in his typical style, rubbing authorities the wrong way, and manages to bring the perpetrators of crime to book, including one Ger Caferty who runs roost in all the underground activities in Edinburgh. He also manages to send packing a child abuser who has been repatriated to Edinburgh from Canada where he had been incarcerated.
Another charmer from Ian Rankin for the Rebus fans.
Blood Hunt by Ian Rankin
Posted on: September 13, 2013
Blood Hunt by Ian RankinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another one from Ian Rankin under a pseudonym. This time the theme is a personal enmity between two ex SAS personal.
The one Jay has disappeared after a reconnaissance mission in the Malvinas/Falklands islands. Gordon and Jay had been the only ones on this mission and there was lot of bad blood between the two.
Second Gordon Reeve has retired and is not training people the ropes of clandestine operations in the highlands of Scotland. His brother, a journalist, has shifted to America and keeps in touch once in a while. The latest contact has been a gift from him to his nephew, Gordon’s son, a spanking new computer game.
The gift from his brother is followed by the news of his brother’s suicide. He decides to go to the USA to pick up his brother’s remains and plans to bring it back to England for burial. When he reaches there he is met by one local police official who helps him with the formalities. He stumbles upon a person who has been with his brother during his last days. This person says that his brother has been murdered and has not committed suicide.
This sets him thinking and he starts investigating and this leads him to series of information which is startling. In the process he also encounters Jay. Soon he finds himself running away and chasing Jay alternately.
The climax is set in one of the many islands off the coast of Scotland and is a literal cliff hanger like many a Bollywood movies.
Although not bad one does not feel the warmth that one gets when Rebus is present.
Dead Souls by Ian Rankin
Posted on: February 18, 2013
Dead Souls by Ian RankinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another page turner from the master of Scottish thrillers, more specifically Edinburgh thrillers. Book has four threads.
The first one is a missing person which Rebus tries to solve because of personal connects with the parents of the missing person. The mother has been an ex of Rebus during his high school days.
The second thread is about a pedophile who has been released after the period of his incarceration and has been settled among others in the society. Rebus tries to get him hounded out of Edinburgh by notifying the press about his presence and is almost successful.
The third thread is about a criminal whom the States has repatriated to Edinburgh as they are unable to pin most of the crimes against him. This person has a prior record in Edinburgh and nobody is happy about him coming back to Edinburgh, except for the press which wishes to take advantage of the situation and wishes to make a killing. Jim Stevens who has rubbed Rebus the wrong way around in other books is the one to latch on to an exclusive set of interview sessions with the criminal.
The fourth thread is the suicide of a colleague of Rebus.
Rankin manages to weave the four threads, through the common subject Rebus, and manages to keep the reader glued to the pages till the very end when after a series of twists and turns all the four threads converge and a fitting denouement.
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