Witch Hunt

Oh, the blessings of being an author with too much time on his hands. I can just picture Ian Rankin sitting in the house (farm? cottage?) he and his wife bought in rural Dordogne, having whizzed through the manuscript for yet another increasingly well-written John Rebus novel and - having left behind all other employment across the British Channel and neither inclined to carpentry nor gardening - feeling his mind growing restless, in need of occupation. Now, wouldn't you have started looking for another outlet for your creative energy had you been in his spot?

The result of the aforementioned process, which Rankin describes in the foreword to a 2000 compilation uniting all three volumes, were a series of thrillers he wrote under the pseudonym Jack Harvey: Jack for his newborn son, Harvey for his wife's maiden name.

"Witch Hunt" marked the beginning of Jack Harvey's unfortunately way too short-lived career. It is the story of a female assassin - the title character - who is pursued by various agents of the British and French governments, as well as retired secret service man Dominic Elder, who has both a private and a professional bone to pick with her. The plot moves at Rankin's trademark fast pace, from Witch's arrival on Britain's South Coast (leaving her calling card by blowing up both boats she'd used to cross the Channel from France ... with their crews inside) to her first order of "real" business in Scotland, then to London, where Witch implements her plan's second phase and where her hunters have meanwhile formed a reluctant coalition, to France and Germany, for two rookie agents' unlicensed investigation of the assassin's past, and ultimately back to London, for Witch's final coup, amidst a major international conference no less.

As in the Rebus novels, Rankin particularly excels in the creation of his male characters; they are three-dimensional and, all in their own ways, flawed and profoundly human(e). The book's few female protagonists strike me a bit too much as variations on the same theme (superwoman with varying degrees of femininity, or what passes for such in male eyes): while justifiable in the title character - especially if, as Rankin says, she was inspired by the "Elektra: Assassin" series - overall this made it a tad difficult for me to identify with either of them. For proof that Rankin, even then, could do much better, consider DC Clarke in the Rebus novels ... or Belinda, the (anti-)hero's companion in the second Jack Harvey novel, "Bleeding Hearts." Plot-wise, I don't necessarily think the final denouement of "Witch Hunt" is a let-down per se; although I would have wished it had been developed more fully, as had the private motivations of Dominic Elder and one of the rookies, French agent Dominique (!) Herault.

Still, Rankin's first Jack Harvey thriller is a major cut above average and a great introduction to the two following novels - and overall, while I'm happy enough for Rankin's success with Inspector Rebus and wouldn't want any story featuring Edinburgh's finest (and most hard-drinking) D.I. missing from my bookcases, in a way I regret that Rankin had to shelve Jack Harvey after only three books.

Great Entertainment !!! (3/3 people found this helpful)

I have read (and listened to) most of Ian Rankin's Rebus novels and been thoroughly entertained. It was with some trepidation that I bought this tape, as I was expecting something that did not quite live up to the greatness of the Rebus tales. How wrong I was !!!

The action starts immediately, and the plot, and sub plots, intertwines around several characters all chasing a female assassin. Each plot always seems to have a twist in the tail, and you are kept wondering if the assassin will succeed, who is the target, and will any of the various characters stop her before she achieves her objective.

On the strength of this, I have just bought two other non-Rebus Rankin tapes. I am now looking forward to the next long car journey.

Didn't keep 'em turning (1/2 people found this helpful)

Who would have ever imagined that a woman could be called a terrorist? A woman? When it is a woman, expect the worst. Rankin is able to describe his characters well, and manages to make the reader believe that the investigator is a real living person, and not merely a character. In his Rebus series, it is inspector John Rebus, and in this book it is the retired Dominic Elder. Rankin's skill cannot be questioned, but after reading The Falls this book was disappointing - I felt that the investigator in the book was more enthusiastic of catching the terrorist than I was enthusiastic of reading the book, which is not a good sign of a good book. The initial chapters are confusing and the story line takes long to get. Basically, I gave this book the benefit of the doubt because it is Rankin's, but the pages did not turn as fast as they had to.

An average read (1/1 people found this helpful)

Having not read his other work, there is no preconception to Rankin's work. This book was easy to read, didn't repulse or attract me in any way. All you need is that long train journey...

As espionage thrillers go this is quite firmly buried in the general mass of works. A few elements had me thinking 'oh, that's clever' but there was no great mystery and it all ended as it should...

Routine Rankin (5/6 people found this helpful)

This novel seems to prove that the characters do the writing and without Rebus, Rankin doesn't quite cut it. The plot is unremarkable for the genre but the writing fails to induce the required level of anti-scepticism. I would go so far as to say that this dilutes Rankin's reputation, built on the his Rebus output. This lacks the usual colour, wit and intrigue and left me disappointed. I shall stick to Rebus in future.

Ian Rankin

Reader Reviews:

An Early Mainstream Thriller from Scotland's Finest. (6/6 people found this helpful)

Great Entertainment !!! (3/3 people found this helpful)

Didn't keep 'em turning (1/2 people found this helpful)

An average read (1/1 people found this helpful)

Routine Rankin (5/6 people found this helpful)

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