This is Ian Rankin at his finest. John Rebus is so perfectly written it is hard at the end of each book to come back to the realisation that he is a character in a novel and not a real, live person!
Rebus has retired from the police force although he keeps in touch with Siobhan Clarke into whose capable hands have fallen the cases which once would have come his way. Advancing years and health problems have slowed him down physically somewhat but mentally he remains as sharp, and as dogged, as ever.
In this book Rebus’s daughter, Samantha, calls on him when a tragic event takes place in her life. Rebus finds himself in the village of Naver where Samantha lives carrying out a murder investigation although he is constantly having to be asked to leave it to the local police force and he also becomes involved in searching into events which took place during the Second World War in a prisoner of war camp which is situated near the village.
Meanwhile, Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox are carrying out their own murder investigation in Edinburgh and coincidentally there is a possible connection with the murder in Naver. Obviously Siobhan will become the focus of the Rebus books over time, which echoes Quintin Jardine’s Bob Skinner series where Bob’s daughter, Alex, is starting to take the central role with Bob still an important figure in the background.
There is still much enjoyment to be had from reading a Rebus novel. Ian Rankin is keeping them as fresh and exciting, and real, as ever. Definitely 5 out of 5.
Published by Orion.
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