RESURRECTION MEN (1995) ****
by Ian Rankin
First published by Orion 2001
This edition published by Orion, 2011, 512pp (484pp)
ISBN: 978-0-7528-8365-6
includes an introduction by Ian Rankin and Reading Group Notes.
Blurb: Rebus is off the case – literally. A few days into the murder inquiry of an Edinburgh art dealer, Rebus blows up at a colleague. He is sent to the Scottish Police College for ‘retraining’ – in other words, he’s in the Last Chance Saloon. Rebus is assigned to an old, unsolved case, but there are those in his team who have their own secrets – and they’ll stop at nothing to protect them. Rebus is also asked to act as a go-between for gangster ‘Big Ger’ Cafferty. And as newly promoted DS Siobhan Clarke works the case of the murdered art dealer, she is brought closer to Cafferty than she could ever have anticipated…
Comment: Ian Rankin leaves Rebus out in the cold and takes him into darker territory than ever before in this long, but expertly written crime mystery thriller. Rankin weaves two distinct investigations together with great skill giving a much more prominent role for DS Siobhan Clark, enabling him to draw parallels between the two detectives. Rebus, working undercover for the Chief Constable to expose a group of corrupt cops, is as dogged and avuncular as ever. The separate cases become connected as Rankin gradually unveils the hidden secrets of the so-called “Wild Bunch” of detectives in the last-chance saloon. The story only really falters during its finale, where a plot twist feels a little too convenient but otherwise, this is a very satisfying and first-class example of crime fiction writing.
This completes my reading of Ian Rankin’s Rebus series and it is one of my favourites. Rankin relly hit his straps with Let if Bleed and then Black & Blue and from there the series reamined of a consistently high standard up until Rebus’ retirement in 2007’s Exit Music. That he returnede again five years later as a retired cop working cold cases was very welcome, but those books, whilst all well-written, lack the bite of the core series. I still hope there is more to come and look forward to seeing where Rankin takes Rebus next.
The Rebus Series:
Knots and Crosses (1987) ***
Hide and Seek (1991) ***
Tooth and Nail (original title Wolfman) (1992) ***
Strip Jack (1992) ***½
The Black Book (1993) ***
Mortal Causes (1994) ***
Let it Bleed (1996) ****
Black and Blue (1997) ****½
The Hanging Garden (1998) ****
Dead Souls (1999) ****
Set in Darkness (2000) ****
The Falls (2001) ****
Resurrection Men (2002) ****
A Question of Blood (2003) ****
Fleshmarket Close (2004) ****
The Naming of the Dead (2006) ****½
Exit Music (2007) ****
Standing in Another Man’s Grave (2012) ***½
Saints of the Shadow Bible (2013) ***
Even Dogs in the Wild (2015) ****
Rather Be the Devil (2016) ***½
In a House of Lies (2018) ***½