DI John Rebus chases a suspected Nazi criminal, gets involved in a turf war between two gangsters and suffers pain and anguishes when his beloved daughter Sammy is run over by a hit and run driver, this just about pushes him to his limit and he nearly falls of the wagon.
This is my first Rebus novel, and as I do not own a TV, I have not seen it either. Therefore I had no pre-conceived ideas. I found reading it at a pace of 20/30 pages per sitting a great help, otherwise I think I could have lost some threads. The story becomes quite intricate when trying to follow which criminal works for who, and what position the different DI’s where in, and in what team. However this said, I confess, it did make for gripping reading and was sufficiently graphical that it was as good as watching it on TV.
I liked the fact, that although some of the characters where of the criminal fraternity, there was hardly any bad language in it and I find this makes for a more pleasant read. It also leaves room for more useful vocabulary relating to the story line. I also found that it was possible to build some attachment to some of the characters and even to feel sorry for them despite the fact they might be on the wrong side, such is Rankins writing talents.
There were some instances where I feel it might have been beneficial to have read the Rebus back catalogue of stories in order and thus my understanding of some of the story lines would have been clearer. However as I have not and only have a friends husband’s comments suggesting that they follow in order to influence this hunch.
I did enjoy this book, and I did enjoy Ian Rankin’s style and would read another one at some time in the future.
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