Ian Rankin’s iconic alcohol, nicotine and rock’n’roll-fuelled (ex) detective John Rebus refuses to let retirement get in the way of crime fighting in this characteristically dark and compelling tale from the underside of Edinburgh.
The oddly loveable curmudgeon returns to help discover what (if anything) links a gangland feud with the murder of a top lawyer, especially as his long-term sparring partner, granite-hewn underworld fixture “Big Ger” Cafferty, seems to be involved. UK crime king Rankin borrows heavily from real life in what is, in places, a bleak and harrowing tale even by his standards and, as ever, shines a piercing light into an underside of Scotland’s capital that doesn’t make the Festival brochures or guide books.
Fans will be able to slip into Rebus’ 20th outing like a pair of comfy slippers, while new readers get a taut and satisfying crime thriller that it is hard to put down.
