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I've never read any of the Rebus novels, nor have I seen the John Hannah or Ken Stott version (a difference in acting style that is nearly as extreme as Hale and Pace and Clarke and Buchanon for Dalziel and Pascoe), although I've had the first since ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
abrinsky gave me a copy some years back. I knew he was based in Edinburgh, dour, alcoholic (casting Stott suggests as much) and a bit of a safety valve for Rankin. Aside from that, nada. There were a pile of these cheap in Oxfam the other week, so time to start the sequence.
XVIII:Ian Rankin, Knots and Crosses
Sergeant Rebus is investigating a series of murders of young girls in Edinburgh, determined to find the link, in particular because he is being sent clues as each murder happens. Quite why he sits on these details is mere narrative convenience - as is the English professor who phones out of the blue to point out the acrostic that unites the deaths. I'd figured out who the ultimate target of the murders would be - and I wonder if Rankin had known he was writing a series he might have gone for it.
Rebus's flashbacks to SAS training are part of a thread of Jekyll and Hyde references through the book, half suggesting he is the murderer - certainly that he is responsible. An impressive debut - more so than Robinson's.
XIX: Ian Rankin, Hide & Seek
Ah, so the Stevenson references are clearly deliberate, with a sprinkling of quotations through the chapters as well as explicit reference to the two faces of Edinburgh society. The presence of Holmes and Watson should not elude us either.
Robbie, a junkie, is found dead of a overdose, but Rebus (now Inspector Rebus) is convinced it's murder. It becomes clear that Robbie has been killed for something he knows, and Rebus must found out what even as his own reputation is being muddied. Has the classic Reginald Hill downbeat ending - the class warfare goes on. Very readable, but I find the number of viewpoint characters a bit unwieldy. I think I prefer a more streamlined detective form.
Oxfam have Tooth and Claw - more to the point I have - so that's next.
abrinsky gave me a copy some years back. I knew he was based in Edinburgh, dour, alcoholic (casting Stott suggests as much) and a bit of a safety valve for Rankin. Aside from that, nada. There were a pile of these cheap in Oxfam the other week, so time to start the sequence.XVIII:Ian Rankin, Knots and Crosses
Sergeant Rebus is investigating a series of murders of young girls in Edinburgh, determined to find the link, in particular because he is being sent clues as each murder happens. Quite why he sits on these details is mere narrative convenience - as is the English professor who phones out of the blue to point out the acrostic that unites the deaths. I'd figured out who the ultimate target of the murders would be - and I wonder if Rankin had known he was writing a series he might have gone for it.
Rebus's flashbacks to SAS training are part of a thread of Jekyll and Hyde references through the book, half suggesting he is the murderer - certainly that he is responsible. An impressive debut - more so than Robinson's.
XIX: Ian Rankin, Hide & Seek
Ah, so the Stevenson references are clearly deliberate, with a sprinkling of quotations through the chapters as well as explicit reference to the two faces of Edinburgh society. The presence of Holmes and Watson should not elude us either.
Robbie, a junkie, is found dead of a overdose, but Rebus (now Inspector Rebus) is convinced it's murder. It becomes clear that Robbie has been killed for something he knows, and Rebus must found out what even as his own reputation is being muddied. Has the classic Reginald Hill downbeat ending - the class warfare goes on. Very readable, but I find the number of viewpoint characters a bit unwieldy. I think I prefer a more streamlined detective form.
Oxfam have Tooth and Claw - more to the point I have - so that's next.
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