Fleshmarket Close (A Rebus Novel)

Rankin, Ian

4.01

13,330 ratings by Goodreads

9780752851129: Fleshmarket Close (A Rebus Novel)

ISBN 10: 0752851128 ISBN 13: 9780752851129

Publisher: Orion, 2004

Physical description; 399 p. ; 24 cm. Subject; Rebus, Inspector (Fictitious character) - Police - Scotland - Edinburgh - Crime & mystery/ Mystery & Detective / General / Crime. Genre; Detective and mystery/ Fiction. Audience; 16 To 99. Summary; An illegal immigrant is found murdered in an Edinburgh housing scheme: a racist attack, or something else entirely? Rebus is drawn into the case, but has other problems: his old police station has closed for business, and his masters would rather he retire than stick around. Series; Inspector Rebus novel series.

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Review:

Fleshmarket Close is not one of the best of Rankin's John Rebus thrillers, but his second-best is still more than excellent. Middle age is catching up with Rebus--he currently has no desk as a none-too-subtle hint from his superiors that he should seek retirement--but he and his friend and protegee Siobhan, who is still not his lover, race around investigating a variety of seemingly unconnected cases... The sister of a dead rape victim is missing; stolen medical skeletons turn up embedded in a concrete floor; a Kurdish journalist is brutally killed; the son of a Glasgow ganglord has moved in to the Edinburgh vice scene.

Much of the book is dominated by two new settings--a sink estate divided between racist thugs and refugees, and a small town whose economy is dominated by an internment camp for those about to be deported; this is one of Rankin's preachier thrillers, but it is never less than intelligent and evocative in its descriptions of a contemporary squalor that spreads beyond the inner city. These are never quite orthodox police procedurals--Rebus' method is a little too like the standard private eye's way of wandering around being rude to people until something comes loose--but they have a deep seriousness about the way we live now that transcends mere noir moodiness.--Roz Kaveney

Review:

Another year and another surefire bestseller for Britain's No1 crime writer, Ian Rankin (Andrea Henry DAILY MIRROR)

Of the new breed of crime writers, no one writes more gripping stories than Rankin; his imagination peopls Edinburgh the way Balzac's fantasy did Paris. The scenes which emerge...are the product of a troubling imagination and a probing intellect which uses the crime genre to examine aspects of life, especially contemporary Scottish life, that politicians prefer to ignore (Joseph Farrell TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT)

Rankin at his best, recalling Dickens both in the vigour and ambition of their social portraiture and in their campaigning thrust (John Dugdale SUNDAY TIMES)

Rankin has clearly been grooming the enigmatic DS Siobhan Clarke to take over as hero, but the cynical old soak Rebus won't leave, which is good news for the reader...With author and characters on such good form, there is no need for Rebus to go quite yet (Marcel Berlins THE TIMES)

As always, Rankin proves himself the master of his own milieu. He brings the dark underside of Edinburgh deliciously to life.. Rankin never puts a foot wrong (Tom Kyle DAILY MAIL)

It's another Rebus novel you can't put down, and Rankin at his most powerful (CHOICE)

Ironic, exiting and immediate. The plot is resourceful; characterisation sharp; humour as unexpected as a rug jerked from under your feet. Despite the wear and tear, Rebus has never looked in better shape; a long, long way, I'd have thought, from retirement (Philip Oakes LITERARY REVIEW)

Rankin's best novel yet and that's saying something (Peter Guttridge THE OBSERVER)

As ever, Rankin is superb (John Major MAIL ON SUNDAY - Christmas Books)

A powerful book, brimming with genuine social comment (Rab Anderson SUNDAY EXPRESS - 4 Star Review)

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