Well, it was almost inevitable. After blurring the lines between policing by the letter of the law and bending those same laws to suit, 70-year-old John Rebus is in prison in Edinburgh serving a life sentence for the attempted murder of his arch-nemesis, Big Ger Cafferty. An ex-cop in prison should be in constant danger, but Rebus (mostly) has the protection of Darryl Christie, who believes Rebus – despite his protestations – killed Cafferty. Now that Cafferty is no longer a threat, Christie expands his drug ring. The murder of a prisoner with links to Christie sees Rebus in a perfect position to investigate.
Meanwhile, Rebus’s former colleague, Siobhan Clarke, is back at St Leonards station after a stint with Malcolm Fox in ‘the Complaints’ and is investigating the disappearance of a schoolgirl, Jasmine Andrews. As per convention, these two narrative threads are linked. The prisoner’s murder is being investigated by another of Rebus’s erstwhile colleagues, Christine Esson, who’s then seconded to help Clarke with both investigations. On the sidelines, Fox is conniving, withholding information about the murder victim to further his own interests. A prison officer seems to be the likely murderer, but Rebus isn’t so sure.
As always, Rankin has complete control of the narrative and, despite the Edinburgh he describes being confined within prison walls, his command of place is superb. As Rebus ages, Siobhan Clarke and Christine Esson take centre stage. This particular narrative isn’t diminished, nor will any future novels, if (God forbid) Rebus is permanently retired.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature.
After university and before his success with his Rebus novels, Ian had a number of jobs including working as a grape-picker, a swineherd, a journalist for a hi-fi magazine, and a taxman. Following his marriage in 1986, he lived briefly in London where he worked at the National Folktale Centre, followed by a short time living in France, before returning to Edinburgh.
Ian’s first novel Summer Rites remains in his bottom drawer, but his second novel, The Flood, was published in 1986, while his first ‘Rebus’ novel, Knots & Crosses, was published in 1987. The Rebus series is now translated into twenty-two languages and the books are bestsellers on several continents. In addition to his Rebus and Malcolm Fox novels, he has also written standalone novels including Doors Open, which was televised in 2012, short stories, a graphic novel – Dark Entries – and a play (with Mark Thomson, the Royal Lyceum Theatre’s Artistic Director) Dark Road, which premiered at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in September 2013. A second play, Long Shadows, starring John Rebus, was co-written with Rona Munro and staged in 2018. There are also a number of novels under the pseudonym ‘Jack Harvey’ and in 2005 he collaborated with singer Jackie Leven on a CD. His non-fiction book Rebus’s Scotland was published in 2005.
Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005. In 2004, Ian won America’s celebrated Edgar Award for Resurrection Men. He has also been shortlisted for the Edgar and Anthony Awards in the USA, and won Denmark’s Palle Rosenkrantz prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir and Germany’s Deutscher Krimipreis.
Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Hull, Abertay, St Andrews and Edinburgh as well as The Open University. In 2019, he donated his archive of over 50 boxes of manuscripts, letters and paperwork to the National Library of Scotland.
Ian has received an OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his wife and two sons.
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