Resurrection Men

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Ian Rankin

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Pages: 496 (Paperback)

ISBN: 0752877216

Pub: Orion

Pub date: 2005-09-22

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 7710

Editorial Review:

Rebus is back. Resurrection Men, the 13th DI Rebus novel, finds Ian Rankin's doughty detective off the case. He explodes at his superior DCS Gill Templar over the increasingly frustrating murder inquiry into the savage killing of an Edinburgh art dealer and his punishment is a spell cooling his heels at the Scottish Police College in central Scotland. Rebus balks at his "retraining" but he's not alone: he's part of an ill-assorted group of similar officers--all with an attitude problem and a dislike of the institution they find themselves in. Given an old unsolved case to work on the group is obliged to polish up their teamwork while supervisors assess the reprobates. But some of the team have secrets not unconnected to the case they've been handed and Rebus finds that anything goes when it comes to keeping the past obscured.

This is Rankin in top form with Rebus rejuvenated by the edgy new milieu he's dropped into. Complicating things, the Scottish Crime Squad asks Rebus to act as a link to someone who can deliver the inside dirt on an old nemesis, gangster "Big Ger" Cafferty. In Edinburgh, Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke has to take over the case of the murdered art dealer and, like Rebus, finds herself getting closer to the unpleasant Mr Cafferty. Forget the miscast John Hannah in the TV movies, this is the real Rebus: gritty, idiomatic and etched in prose that wastes nae a word in its redefining of the crime novel. --Barry Forshaw

Reader Reviews:

Not for New Readers (0/0 people found this helpful)

A mug full of tea flies through the air just missing the head of the Detective in charge. This time grumpy loner Rebus has gone too far and rather than being given early retirement he is sent on a refresher course to retrain alongside several other fallen coppers. When he arrives they are given a cold case to try and solve that Rebus remembers all too well. Is there more to his retraining than first meets the eye? Meanwhile Siobhan, Rebus' police partner, has been left on a case investigating the death of an art dealer. Does the cold case and this new case have any reflection on one another and why does Rebus' nemesis' name keep popping up?

`Resurrection Men' is the first Ian Rankin novel that I have read and perhaps reading them out of sequence is a mistake. The story is a slow burn and is reliant more on the characters and their motives that an actual story. The relations ship between Rebus and Cafferty keeps reoccurring and as someone who has no prior knowledge of their interaction it left me cold. However, I can imagine that fans will enjoy their to and fro. The mystery itself is reasonable, but a little slow for my liking, a lot of the book follows British police procedure to the letter and that can be a little dull. I will aim to read the rest of the books in order so that I can develop a closer link with the characters. However, for new readers I do not think this is a good introduction to the Rebus books.

Can't see what all the fuss is about (1/8 people found this helpful)

This is my first foray into the world of Rebus and I wasn't very impressed. Maybe this wasn't the best place to start , but I found the book a tedious read. Somehow Rankin has stretched a thin plot to over 480 pages. It's as if somebody has tried to write an episode of the Bill as a novel. The book builds no momentum, and the last 100 pages drag on as slow as the first 380 pages.

Rankin seems keen to avoid using the words "he said" or "she said" in dialogue so you get lots of "she snarled" or "Gray hissed". He also likes to describe every action the character is undertaking once talking so if a character is picking his nose he'll probably tell you.

On describing a bar: "The place carried an aroma like soured dreams"

Maybe I'm being picky but all the above annoys the hell out of me. I find it hard to believe people can rate this a 5 star book. But hey what do I know, the guys a best selling author so he must be doing something right.

Excellent Read (3/5 people found this helpful)

Ian Rankin has shone again. I found this book completely compelling - i quite literally couldn't put it down! i would recommend this to any Rebus fan, and if you're not a Rebus fan, why not? Excellent read!!

Rebus Redux (1/8 people found this helpful)

The Rebus Seminar votes .82 red -- John Rebus lives! You only live twice - and Rebus here follows Commander Bond into the deepest cover, as reports of his death prove ...expedient. There is something rotting in the royal Scottish city, and it takes a maverick bloodhound like JR to stay on the trail, and sniff out the quarry. Big Ger makes his appearance, of course -- the question is, what is a retired, hot-tubbing crime kingpin have to do with this affair?

Superb - back in the right frame (3/5 people found this helpful)

This was a joy to read - The Rankin style back to its best

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