Ian Rankin is a front rank crime fiction writer, and he has the added advantage that unlike his fellow Edinburgh resident, J.K. Rowling, he sets his stories in the city he knows intimately, completely— his home town. There are many crime novels that are set in London (including the new series by Rowling under a pseudonym), but not many that feature Scotland and Edinburgh. This most recent offering in the John Rebus series of novels finds Rebus back on the force and dealing once more with cold cases, only this time he’s dealing with cold cases that are frankly uncomfortably close to home, too close to home. Malcolm Fox of the Complaints Department is investigating old cases that point to dirty cops doing dirty deeds, including the outfit that Rebus began his career with at the Summerhall station, the outfit that had dubbed themselves the Saints of the Shadow Bible (the latter being the Scottish Law Code book), and had sworn never to ‘grass’ each other out, by which is meant ‘rat’ each other out. Rebus is the only one still on the force of these saints, and he finds himself both among the investigators and the ones being investigated…. it’s a novel twist, and the question is— will he incriminate himself, perhaps to protect his former chums? Inquiring minds want to know.
Once again we have the fraught dynamics of Rebus interacting with Siobham Clarke, only now she’s his superior, but this adds even more fun to the friction and friendship. In the dictionary under friendships with friction and fun it says— see Rebus and Clarke. The dynamics of this particular story are interesting as Rebus revisits his past, and some of the past questionable practices of the saints, trying to sort out whether they in fact crossed too many lines in bring to justice various criminals, including murdering one or two and calling it suicide or an accident. The story raises the question of to what degree should the LAW be above the law, if at all (for instance when I see a cop car speeding down New Circle Four with no siren or light flashing, just speeding somewhere— am I to think this is allowable excess?).
Despite hopes that someday Clarke and Rebus might finally hook up and work out the kinks in their relationship, Rankin refuses to resolve the tension and friction between them, for in the world of crime in Edinburgh things are rarely black and white, and there are few happy endings. Like the weather, things tend toward shades of grey…. or gray…
This particular novel is now available in paperback and is 389 very readable pages. It’s the perfect summer read, if thrillers and crime fiction intrique you.
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