Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2445405 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-16
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 341 pages

Review
A compelling first novel sent in Edinburgh, where a series of killings of young girls has the city in a panic. Ex-army police detective John Rebus is in the thick of the investigation. Scarred by his elite-corps army training, a nervous breakdown and a divorce, father of teen-age Samantha, Rebus is a dogged but not too sharp investigator. The anonymous letters he starts to receive after the first murder are shrugged off as the work of a crank; he never questions the affluence of his rarely seen hypnotist brother Michael; and he never figures out the one factor common to all the victims. In the meantime, his girlfriend Gill Templet, a press liason policewoman, and hard-bitten, hard-drinking reporter Jim Stevens are smarter. It slowly becomes clear that the killer's focus is Rebus himself, who must finally confront an implacable enemy and hie own long-repressed traumatic memories. Solidly drawn characters, keen psychological insights and an intriguing, well-knit plot - along with a rather florid but individual writing style - make Rankin a newcomer to watch. (Kirkus Reviews)

As murders go on happening right under his nose, Rebus can no longer ignore the presence of a serial killer stalking the Edinburgh streets. He isn't the only detective working the case, but he is the only man with all pieces to the puzzle. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Twisted minds and the dark secrets of Edinburgh's other side
He had wanted to update Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" for modern times, Ian Rankin writes about his first Inspector Rebus novel, "Knots and Crosses" in the introduction to the British compilation "Rebus: The Early Years" (unfortunately, not available in the U.S.), which contains the first three installments of the series. Oblivious to the mere existence of such a thing as the mystery genre - or so Rankin says - he was stunned to soon hear his book described first and foremost as a crime novel. But eventually this characterization prompted him to have a closer look at the work of other mystery writers, and he found that the form suited his purposes just fine; that in fact he "could say everything [he] wanted to say about the world, and still give readers a pacy, gripping narrative."

Bearing in mind the original duality of Jekyll and Hyde, however, Rankin's tales are not dominated by a contrast painted in black and white. While the villains Inspector Rebus faces are certainly every bit as evil as Stevenson's Mr. Hyde, Rebus himself is far from a clean-slated "good guy:" Divorced, cynical, hard-drinking and a former member of the SAS, he is a brother in spirit to every noir detective from Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe to Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, James Ellroy's squad of crooked cops and Peter Robinson's Alan Banks. Nor is Rebus's Edinburgh the touristy town of Calton Hill, castle and Summer Festival (although the series has meanwhile sparked real-life guided tours to its most famous locations, too) - as befitting a true detective of his ilk, Rankin's antihero moves primarily in the city's dark and dirty underbelly, which is populated by society's losers and where those who have "made it," those with money in their pockets, only show up if they have shady deals to conduct as well.

In a similar fashion to Michael Connelly's first Harry Bosch novel "The Black Echo," where Bosch is forced to revisit the experiences he made as a Vietnam "tunnel rat," in "Knots and Crosses" Rebus must uncover long-buried memories of his SAS past. For hunting a serial killer whom the tabloids quickly dub "The Edinburgh Strangler," and whose headline-gathering murders at first seem totally unrelated, Rebus eventually makes the connection between those crimes and a series of anonymous letters he receives, and realizes that it is he himself who is the killer's true target, and that the murderer's crimes are based on such a cruel scheme - and executed with such inhuman skill and precision - that only one particular man's thoroughly disturbed mind can have come up with them. And at the same time, Rebus is trying to work out his difficult relationship with his brother Michael, whose life is so different from his own - financially successful and ostensibly happily married and squeaky clean throughout, Michael seems to be on the sunny side of life in every respect labeled a failure in Rebus's own life story - but he soon discovers that even Michael has secrets he is trying hard to keep from coming to light.

While this series had a terrific start already in its first novel, published in 1987, Rebus's character - and Rankin's writing - has evolved significantly over time. Thus, it is probably wise to read it in the order of publication. Contrary to the novels he wrote under the pseudonym Jack Harvey, however, and which he views much more critically in hindsight, Ian Rankin overall still seems to be very happy with his early Rebus books, commenting almost nostalgically: "I can't read them without thinking back to my own early years, my apprenticeship as a crime writer. Read and enjoy." I have nothing to add to that ...

Also recommended:
Rebus: The Early Years (Knots & Crosses / Hide & Seek / Tooth & Nail)
Rebus - The St Leonard's Years
Rebus: The Lost Years (Let It Bleed / Black & Blue / The Hanging Garden)
Rebus: Capital Crimes (Dead Souls / Set in Darkness / The Falls)
Ian Rankin Inspector Rebus CD Collection: Resurrection Men, A Question of Blood, Fleshmarket Alley (Inspector Rebus) (Inspector Rebus)
Exit Music
Rebus's Scotland
Rebus
The Jack Harvey Novels
Rebus: The Complete Short Stories~Ian Rankin

Knotty problems from Ian Rankin
What a pleasure it is to discover an untapped mystery series. It was almost purely by chance that I picked up Ian Rankin's Knots and Crosses, but it will be with eagerness that I pursue the other books about John Rebus of the Edinburgh police force.

Knots and Crosses is in part a classic police procedural that takes place in the seamy side of Edinburgh that guidebooks never show and that tourists never suspect. The hunted criminal is a serial killer - "But here, in Edinburgh. It's intolerable." The book is also a fascinating psychological mystery with the events of the present rooted in the past and shaped by the meetings of minds. The intricate but never stretched plot is full of unexpected interconnections among the cast of characters.

The chief joy in reading the novel comes from the writing itself. As the title and the detective's name hint, we're in for word play and words loaded with meaning. Thrown in is some hypnotism, excesses of tobacco, sex, and alcohol, a love of books and literature, and love.

As the investigation heats and the killer has the "police force tied in knots," Rebus "was feeling like the detective in a cheap thriller and wished that he could turn to the last page." We are lucky; this is not a cheap thriller and we enjoy every page up to the very satisfying last.

Getting To Know The Inspector
Oh the pain of trudging through a bad detective mystery! Ouch! Ugh! Grrr! I recently finished reading some horrifically bad novels by a few American authors and then (happily) stumbled upon this weird guy's books, known collectively as the Inspector Rebus series. Ian Rankin, a Scottish writer, is the creator of this series . . . and I'm REALLY glad I found him!

Like a jigsaw puzzle, Mr. Rankin overlaps every vital piece of information into the vibrant plot, from the military and Rebus' family, to excessive smoking and drinking. Add to this fact that the author makes me feel right at home in a country (Scotland) I've never visited, and you've got me hooked.

The story revolves around the life of Detective John Rebus, a hard-living, fast-drinking, oft-womanizing cop whom the author ultimately makes you care about. Rebus has plenty of problems, too: he's divorced, has a young daughter approaching teenhood, has terrible nightmares about his time in the British special forces (SAS), and wants desperately to be left alone. But a murderer is on the loose, and our flawed detective has to work the case . . . and he is soon drawn into the killer's web of murder. The brutality of Edinburgh (showing an underbelly that most tourists never see, nor want to hear about) comes slithering off the pages. (Example from Chapter 1: "The girl screamed once, only the once. Even that, however, was a minor slip on his part. That might have been the end of everything, almost before it had begun. Neighbours inquisitive, the police called in to investigate. No, that would not do at all. Next time he would tie the gag a little tighter, just a little tighter, just that little bit more secure.").

Detective John Rebus was introduced to the world in this first novel back in 1987, and Mr. Rankin hasn't let up over the intervening years. The London Times and other British periodicals have lavished him with stunning reviews ever since, but the true test is whether or not his books can withstand rigorous readings from those of us on the other side of the Atlantic.

Ian Rankin's Detective Rebus, I'm happy to say, has found a comfy home on my shelves (and many others from what I've read online and in the papers). Kirkus, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and many others, have given this book - and the remainder of his series - a very appropriate welcome into the States. An added bonus, too, is that Rebus, an appropriately dark (in tone) television series, was shot on location in Edinburgh, produced by the BBC, and can be seen from time to time on cable station BBC America.

Although this is only the first of the seventeen Rebus novels, I intend to read them all. In fact, I've already started on my next dose of Rebus. Congratulations, Mr. Rankin. You've found yourself another reader of your excellent novels.