Book Review

A fantastic second outing with Rebus

I quickly followed on my listening of the first book with the second. Set about 6 years after the first, Inspector John Rebus has worked his way up the ranks of the police. I love Rankin's writing style and you can feel the grittiness of the life as he describes it.

I've only been to Edinburgh once, and of course only really saw the touristy parts... but I walked around enough to know many of the places described, having visited a number of them. Rankin and the narrator James Macpherson do a great job bringing those memories back.

Quite a few more threads in this one for Rebus to follow, at every turn it's like he runs into another lead... or are they? So many little hints and clues pile up on him, he doesn't know if he's just wasting his time or really on to something.

Ignoring the request from his superior officer, Rebus plods along like an unstoppable force. He's the only one who seems to care about the dead boy.

Meanwhile the city elites are trying to woo him, to get him to join their anti-drug cause. If you've read the first book you'll understand why Rebus isn't too keen on this.

Another great story from the master of Scottish crime. I've so many more still to go, but I also don't want to burn myself out on them. Time to take a little break from murder mysteries, but the next Rebus books will definitely get a spot in the playlist in the coming weeks.