Knots and Crosses (also written Knots & Crosses) is a 1987 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the first of the Inspector Rebus novels. It was written while Rankin was a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh. In the introduction to this novel, Rankin states that Rebus lives directly opposite the window in Marchmont that he looked out of while writing the book.
Review of 'Knots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus, #1)' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This was fine. Not great, not terrible. I have a suspicion that later books in this series are better as Ian Rankin settles into the character of Rebus and gets a little more skillful at building a mystery. Maybe Rebus will actually get to do some detective work in the later books? But this serves as a good introduction to the character--PTSD, hard drinking, hard smoking, misanthropic, self-loathing.
Review of 'Knots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus, #1)' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
I tried this, wanting something similar to Cormoran Strike in The Silkworm. I learned that Cormoran Strike is a literary cliché, and that I am willing to entertain the idea of only one salty inspector.
Review of 'Knots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus, #1)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Got into Rankin thanks to an interview he did on NPR, promoting his latest book, The Complaints. That novel is a story about the Edinburgh equivalent to Internal Affairs, but naturally the chat turned to the subject of Rankin's main character, Detective Inspector John Rebus. The man and his work sounded interesting, so off I went to check him out. I found his second Rebus novel, Hide and Seek as a "nook book," so I read that before this one, Rebus' first appearance.
Rebus is just a Detective Sergeant in Knots and Crosses which has him tracking a serial killer in Edinburgh. Rankin does a great job doing character exposition while keeping the plot moving. It's kind of interesting to go back and read a novel set 20 years ago, to see how police work has grown since then. Bottom line, though, is that tracking a serial killer is …
Got into Rankin thanks to an interview he did on NPR, promoting his latest book, The Complaints. That novel is a story about the Edinburgh equivalent to Internal Affairs, but naturally the chat turned to the subject of Rankin's main character, Detective Inspector John Rebus. The man and his work sounded interesting, so off I went to check him out. I found his second Rebus novel, Hide and Seek as a "nook book," so I read that before this one, Rebus' first appearance.
Rebus is just a Detective Sergeant in Knots and Crosses which has him tracking a serial killer in Edinburgh. Rankin does a great job doing character exposition while keeping the plot moving. It's kind of interesting to go back and read a novel set 20 years ago, to see how police work has grown since then. Bottom line, though, is that tracking a serial killer is basically similar, and no doubt much of the internal politics that comes with being a cop in Edinburgh is the same. It's sort of sad that military references also apply today.
In any case, no regrets with going back to the beginning to read Rebus in canonical order. Looking forward to seeing his career progress.
