Review of 'Hide And Seek A Detective John Rebus Mystery' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Heard a great interview on NPR's "Fresh Air" with Ian Rankin a couple of months back, when his new novel The Complaints, came out. Rankin's "guy" is John Rebus, a police detective in Edinburgh. I couldn't get Knots and Crosses, his first Rebus novel, for my Nook, so I got this one (the second), and picked up the hardcopy of the first for my flights to UK next week.
John Rebus is a Detective Sergeant in Edinburgh in the first novel, and the case gets him promoted to Detective Inspector for this one. It's very odd in some ways to read a novel from 1989 now, but it was still quite entertaining. I'd like to think the police would be more sophisticated about running down "occult"-related leads now, but part of me says maybe the lack of background and training is still there.
Anyway, I like Rebus and …
Heard a great interview on NPR's "Fresh Air" with Ian Rankin a couple of months back, when his new novel The Complaints, came out. Rankin's "guy" is John Rebus, a police detective in Edinburgh. I couldn't get Knots and Crosses, his first Rebus novel, for my Nook, so I got this one (the second), and picked up the hardcopy of the first for my flights to UK next week.
John Rebus is a Detective Sergeant in Edinburgh in the first novel, and the case gets him promoted to Detective Inspector for this one. It's very odd in some ways to read a novel from 1989 now, but it was still quite entertaining. I'd like to think the police would be more sophisticated about running down "occult"-related leads now, but part of me says maybe the lack of background and training is still there.
Anyway, I like Rebus and his style of police work. Being an Inspector, he's got seniority but not rank. He gets to utilize (and terrorize) the PCs (Police Constables) that work at the station, but it's not as if he's supervising a squad, such as Lt. Fancy on "NYPD Blue."
The story of this case is good and unpredictable, which is essential in a murder mystery. It's also incredibly cynical, much more so than what most American writers are capable of.
