Mr. Cornflower writes:-
John Rebus, the gritty Edinburgh detective hero of Ian Rankin's superb series of crime novels, has been ageing 'in real time' ever since the first book appeared in 1987. As a lifetime of cigarettes, booze and Scottish junk food take an increasing toll on his raddled body, Rankin has had to show a great deal of ingenuity in explaining how the grizzled old soak, against all the odds, has managed to cling on in various shady corners of a police force increasingly intolerant of the old ways.
The latest book, Saints of the Shadow Bible, plays deftly with the theme of old against new, as Rebus finds himself fighting two battles: to solve a series of crimes involving leading figures on both sides of 2014's independence vote, while at the same time playing a double role as part of an investigation into police brutality and corruption in the early 1980s, in which he was - and is - uncomfortably implicated. As always the pace is sharp, the plotting deft, and the evocation of place and atmosphere brilliant.
Comments