The Hanging Garden

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Ian Rankin

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Pages: 448 (Paperback)

ISBN: 0752877267

Pub: Orion

Pub date: 2005-09-22

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 8795

Editorial Review:

Ian Rankin's ninth book about Inspector John Rebus of the Edinburgh police is so full of story that it seems about to explode into shapeless anarchy at any moment. What keeps it from doing so is Rankin's strong heart and even stronger writing skills. When a Bosnian prostitute refuses to testify against a crime boss who has threatened her family, he says this about the cops trying to pressure her: "Silence in the room. They were all looking at her. Four men, men with jobs, family ties, men with lives of their own. In the scheme of things, they seldom realised how well off they were. And now they realised something else: how helpless they were."
Rebus is trying to help the young woman--renamed Candice by the young, slick, brutal thug Tommy Telford, who is into everything from drugs and prostitution to aiding a Japanese business syndicate in acquiring a local golf course-- because she's about the same age and physical aspect as his own daughter, Sammy. He's also conducting the investigation of a suspected Nazi war criminal, an old man who spends his time tending graves in Warriston cemetery. "A cemetery should have been about death, but Warriston didn't feel that way to Rebus. Much of it resembled a rambling ark into which some statuary had been dropped," Rankin writes with the icy clarity of cold water over stone.

Add to this Rebus's involvement with an imprisoned crime boss in a plan to bring Telford down; his continuing battle with drink; the strong possibility that people high up in the British Government don't want the old Nazi exposed; danger to Sammy and her journalist lover because of her father's work, and a somewhat strained metaphor of Edinburgh as a new Babylon and you have an admittedly large pot of stew. But Rankin's high art keeps it all bubbling and rich with flavour. Others in the Rebus series include his 1997 Edgar Award-nominated Black and Blue, as well as Hide and Seek, Knots and Crosses,, Let It Bleed, Mortal Causes, Strip Jack, and Tooth and Nail. --Dick Adler, Amazon.com

Reader Reviews:

Rebus - you may not like the man but you'll love the book (3/3 people found this helpful)

This is not the best book ever written but it is typically Rebus and if you are picking up Rebus for the first time there is sufficient character description to enable you to identify with Rebus. Yes, he is grim and humourless but the book shows his relationship both past and present with his daughter, Sammy and when she is apparently the victim of a hit and run the plot begins to unfold. Introducing Joseph Linz (or Linzstek) as an SS nazi war criminal, Tommy Telford and "Big Ger" Cafferty as warring gang leaders assisted by Cherchian and Yakuza mobsters running drug running, smuggling, property fraud and prostitution, Candice the girl who tragically resembles his daughter Sammy and finally with Sammy's life hanging in the balance the reconciliation with Patience and Rhona. Mix all those ingredients, simmer and add an explosive end using Rebus's old pal Jack Morton in an ill prepared undercover operation and you have "The Hanging Garden". An excellent partner to "Dead Souls" - but read this one first.

Another brought to life Rebus thriller by Rankin (1/1 people found this helpful)

DI John Rebus is on the search to prove or disprove Joseph Lintz as an SS war criminal known as Josef Linzstek. Then battle breaks out between two gangs. Tommy Telford is a Glaswegian attempting to muscle his way in on the Edinburgh territory. As the rival gangs fight and plot, John's daughter Sammy is the victim of a hit and run, Telford being the main suspect. Rebus vows he will stop at nothing to bring this man down. Rankin takes the search for proof of a war criminal, the fights, the gangland plots, the near death of Sammy and throws it all into a pot and turns it into another of his 1st class thrillers where you live, breathe and cry with Rebus as if you were a part of his force.
A must read for all Rebus fans. If you have never read any of Rankin's novels then rush out and buy it and join us!!

Another Great Rankin (0/0 people found this helpful)

Compared to some of Ian Rankins other Rebus stories, 'The Hanging Garden' is a lapse in form, but otherwise it is an excellent novel.
Rebus is investigating the case of a WW2 Nazi criminal living in comfort in central Edinburgh when his daughter, Sammy, is involved in a hit-and-run. This bring a reconsiliation with Patience and Rhona, and in the ensuing pages Rebus does some serious soul-searching, anylising his life in some touching sections. Rebus also becomes entangled in a case of drug smuggling and prostitution, and when Rebus brings in old pal Jack Morton for an undercover operation, a tragic chain of events unfolds.
This is a great book, violent and exciting at times, tragic and touching at others. Rankin is unstoppable.

Great vintage Inspector Rebus (11/11 people found this helpful)

More of what we expect from Ian Rankin - the story centres on Rebus but there are other highly interesting characters that come through his life. Big Ger is particularly appealing and their relationship has developed well. Must read the books in series to get the best out of Rebus progress and feelings.

Undoubtably excellent (5/5 people found this helpful)

This is the first of Rankin's books that I read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Deciding to write my RPR for Higher English on this book I studied the book in depth and realised that this book has more to it than meets the eye: parallels between Rebus and Lintz, the importance of time. The book, set in Edinburgh, is well written and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in this genre.

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