Mortal Causes

This is my first Rankin novel. I've read his collections of short crime stories, and have found them excellent, so I decided to give this a go.

The first thing that strikes me about Rankin is his excellence as a stylist - the prose is sharp, clean, and everything means something. Too many crime novels just use lots of padding until the next plot movement. With Rankin, something is always going on, whether he's layering up his subplots, deepening characters etc. In essence, everything that a good short story writer does - just goes to show you that writing shorts is excellent practice for novel writing....

Rebus as a character is decent enough - Rankin manages to avoid the stereotypical flaws that pervade a lot of `bad' crime fiction. Rebus is just a normal kind of copper, a bit cynical, but not cartoonishly so. He has normal relationships with women, drinks a bit but not too much. His normalness is refreshing, although he's deep enough to still feel some attachment to. It's a nice balance that Rankin carries off well.

Anyway, plot wise, this novel develops nicely. Rebus starts investigating the death of a young man, and finds himself getting embroiled in various dark and dirty things that are bubbling away under the surface. A minor niggle with this plot is that, while not complicated in itself, there are a lot of bad guys in the mix, and sometimes it's difficult to separate them, given that some are on the same side and some belong somewhere else and some overlap, and it's not really clear until right at the end who plays what role, when it gets explained to us. I think I would have like to be a bit clearer about everyone's roles a bit earlier. By the same token, it's not really a whodunnit, given that it's fairly obvious which organization dunnit so that which particular individual pulled the trigger doesn't really matter.

So, style wise, Rankin is about as a good as any crime writer as there is. Plot wise, I think this particular effort was a bit jumbled, although it moved along nicely and did develop logically. I can't bring myself to award five stars on merit, but four stars seem harsh, so he gets a full house by default. Five it is.

Thrilling and Gripping With An Ending So Hidden I Collapsed! (0/3 people found this helpful)

A great book again from Rankin.

His mate and Colleague Holmes is attacked outside a bar one night after having an argument with his wife.

The tail starts with Holmes been in hospital and Rebus's typical nose getting pulled into something he shouldnt. Rebus also has his brother back with him and Rbus is back at his flat after a fall out with Patience.

This book was better than the last but had something a little lacking in the middle, but the ending was great, totally didnt see it coming, a great read as always!

A accurate portrayal (3/3 people found this helpful)

This is the 8th novel of Ian Rankin's featuring Insp Rebus I've read, and I was suitably impressed with his portrayal of the situation in Northern Ireland. Having been born in Londonderry and grown up in the Province, it was refreshing to read an accurate account of day-to-day life there, the RUC and the mindset of the locals. I take my hat off to Mr Rankin, its unusual for someone not from the North of Ireland, to reflect the "troubles" with accuracy and not "beef" them up to make it look like you can't get off the plane without being lined up in front of a firing squad! which I have found to be the case with someone who thinks thats what its like to live there or even when visiting there. He's obviously done his research well. Thank you.

Fantastic! (3/3 people found this helpful)

The sixth novel in the Rebus series, and possibly the best.
When a brutally tortured body is found in Mary Kings Close in the height of the festival sporting Sectarian markings, Rebus is sent to work with the Scottish Crime Squad on the case. As the body count grows Rebus is forced to enter the deadly and twisted world of extreme Loyalist terrorists, and a case that takes him from Belfast to the remotest Scottish islands. As well as this Big Ger Cafferty has escaped from prison and is looking for Rebus, and he also has to deal with a rejected lover out for revenge.
This enthralling book will have you hooked from the first page to last, a brilliant read and the best so far. Buy it and you won't be dissapointed!

Troubles In Edinburgh (14/14 people found this helpful)

After a particularly gruesome murder is discovered during Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival, Inspector John Rebus is seconded to the elite Scottish Crime Squad. The reason for this is that aspects of the murder make it appear that a terrorist group was responsible and Rebus’s previous SAS experience would come in handy. The investigation takes him from his home base to the villages of rural Scotland and across to Belfast and back again.

Throughout the book, the Catholic versus Protestant problem is continually raised, comparing Scotland to the Troubles in Northern Ireland and suggesting that the same uprising could be imminent. While the characters were discussing terrorist organisations there were enough three letter acronyms being bandied about to make me think I might have stumbled into a Microsoft manual.

Once again we are treated to the bare bones of Edinburgh’s back streets and dingy estates that have fallen into ruin. Rebus is as inscrutable and removed from his fellow officers as ever, yet, at least for me, he is becoming more and more likable. I feel this series is getting more and more enjoyable with every book I read, this one is no exception.

Ian Rankin

Reader Reviews:

Classic how-to-write-crime novel. (1/1 people found this helpful)

Thrilling and Gripping With An Ending So Hidden I Collapsed! (0/3 people found this helpful)

A accurate portrayal (3/3 people found this helpful)

Fantastic! (3/3 people found this helpful)

Troubles In Edinburgh (14/14 people found this helpful)

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