Black & Blue by Ian Rankin

Mystery

Inspector John Rebus is managing a few cases, harassment from television stations about a possible wrong conviction, and a personal interest in two serial killers. The cases start with a man that is impaled on a fence, tied to a chair, with a bag over his head. Did he jump or was he pushed? What circumstances caused the man to end here? The evidence takes him up north, looking at a crime boss Uncle Joe. He is known to run drug rings but no one can touch him.

While investigating this crime, Rebus' old partner commits suicide. This is after media has been hounding him on a case he closed many years ago where some suspected that his partner planted evidence. The media hounds Rebus too and an internal investigation is opened with someone who is not too fond of Rebus heading it up. Rebus is assigned DI Jack Morton, an old friend, to watch Rebus' every move and follow him everywhere.

This makes it harder to Rebus to continue his unofficial investigation in to the serial killer Bible John, and his more recent copy cat killer, Johnny Bible. There was lots going on in this book but everything managed to work and fit together quite nicely.

Morton and Rebus being paired up was the best part of this book. The two have a mutual respect for each other but Rebus is angry enough at having Morton watching his every move to get a few good one liners off at Morton. Morton also, somehow, manages to get Rebus off alcohol. Let's hope it lasts. He may just be able to make something with Gill work out if things stay this way.

First Line: "Tell me again why you killed them."

Rating:
(3.5/5)

Let it Bleed by Ian Rankin

Let It Bleed by Ian Rankin
Mystery

Inspector Rebus isn't too badly injured during a car chase and is well enough to get out of the car and watch the two suspects in the car lean backwards so their car flips over a bridge and on to a boat below. Rebus knows he saw them do that on purpose and can't imagine what two kidnapping suspects would want to do that for. Shortly after this incident, an ex-con walks in to a government official's office and shoots himself with a shotgun. The two cases seem open and close but there are loose ends nagging at Rebus and he doesn't know when to let go. With his boss telling him to give it up, Rebus is eventually put on mandatory vacation and he decides to continue investigating on his own time. There are threads that connect these two events and implications go fairly high up the chain of command.

The last Rebus book I read I didn't like much because he was too focused on his romance and there were too many acronyms being used that I couldn't follow along with. This book was the opposite. Rebus focused on the case, although there was still some interaction with his daughter and talk of his possibly alcohol problem. The mystery itself was intriguing. There was almost nothing for Rebus to go on, yet he still found those key pieces of evidence and figured out what was going on. A pretty impressive feat. This book was much better than its predecessor.

First Line: "A winter night, screaming out of Edinburgh."

Rating:
(4/5)

Mortal Causes - Ian Rankin

Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin
Mystery
Inspector Rebus is back with another mystery. This time he gets called to an underground city where a man has been shot 7 times in a military style. Rebus starts the investigation but gets pulled between his own office and the terrorism/drug squad who suspect that one of the loyalist groups may be behind the murder. When Rebus finds out that the murdered man is the son of his enemy, "Big Ger" Cafferty, he knows he's going to hear from him.

This is the worst Rebus book I've read so far. There was a variety of problems with it. The first was that there was very little character development for Rebus. There was a girl that he kissed once and then became obsessed over but I didn't feel this drove Rebus' character anywhere. The second was that I wasn't much interested in the loyalist groups that Rebus was looking in to. There were too many acronyms, too many groups and it got confusing.

Hopefully the next Rebus book is better.
First Line: "He could scream all he liked."
Rating:
(3/5)

The Black Book by Ian Rankin

The Black Book by Ian Rankin
Mystery

John Rebus is back for another installment in his series and is investigating or involved in a variety of cases that look to not have anything to do with each other. Rebus' partner is bashed in the back of the head infront of a local cafe, a butcher's family member is stabbed, and Rebus is made to take part in a steakout of a local gangster. How could any of these cases possibly be connected? Of course, Rebus finds a way while he deals with his girlfriend kicking him out and his brother with a shady past coming out of jail.
I seemed to have problems focusing on this book. It could have been because I was trying to read it while in a crowded, noisy, and uncomfortable airport. But I found it to be a little unorganized and wasn't surprised at the end. There were also a few too many characters to remember who was doing what.
Not my favourite Rebus book, but it definitely won't stop me from continuing in the series.

First Line: "There were two of them in the van that early morning, lights on to combat the haar which blew in from the North Sea."

Rating:

(3.5/5)