Review by Booklist Review
It's the perfect cover. Edinburgh Detective Inspector John Rebus, the maverick's maverick, guilty of throwing a coffee cup at his superior officer, is sent to a remedial "career counseling" course on being a better team player. But the fix is in; Rebus' real assignment is to investigate four Glasgow renegade coppers also forced to take the course. Rebus just throws cups and breaks rules; the Glaswegians may have stolen drug money. Rankin has been rightfully celebrated for his mastery of mood and character in his brooding series of "Tartan noir" procedurals. But he hasn't received enough credit for his plotting abilities. Many mystery authors run parallel plots, bringing them together in the end, but Rankin adds several layers of texture by having the plots feed off one another. Here, paralleling the career-counseling story is Rebus' unconventional, possibly illegal behavior in the resolution of an old case that is being reinvestigated as an exercise in building teamwork. Is Rebus guilty of transgressions equal to the cops he is investigating? And paralleling those stories is Rebus' colleague Siobhan Clarke's investigation of the murder of an art dealer. Rankin makes the connections between his plot strands ingeniously and subtly, adding depth not only to the story but also to the way the action reveals the souls of the characters. This installment in a truly groundbreaking series is more a straightforward procedural, less an exploration into the heart of darkness, than some of its predecessors, but it's still A-level crime writing from one of the best in the business. Bill Ott
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Rankin's moody Inspector John Rebus, unorthodox pride of the Edinburgh police, begins this latest installment in hot water. He's been sent back to the police college for "retraining," with a group of other "resurrection men," for throwing a cup of coffee at a superior in a moment of frustration. It soon becomes clear, however, that the police brass have their own agenda for Rebus. Some of his fellow officers are suspected of being on the take, and it's his mission-should he accept it-to try to infiltrate their schemes, perhaps even encourage them. Meanwhile, a murder he and the edgy Det. Sergeant Siobhan Clarke have been investigating has turned up some curious links with an apparently Teflon crime boss Rebus has been after for years. The two cases gradually come together in Rankin's skillfully woven plotting, full of his trademark tough, oblique dialogue and sudden moments of touching warmth. The book's only drawbacks are that it seems a little overextended, and that the final bloody climax lacks something in conviction, if not in tension. This isn't one of Rankin's top efforts, but even coasting, he leaves most police procedurals at the gate. (Feb. 3) Forecast: This is the first book in a new contract with a new publisher, and Little, Brown can be expected to give it an extra push, starting with a six-city author tour. Rankin has never been the top seller here that he is at home (and in Canada), but wider attention should bring sales dividends. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Detective inspector John Rebus of the Edinburgh CID is pulled from regular police work to infiltrate a group of possibly corrupt police officers. John is not above suspicion himself, and he worries that the others may learn about his secret past. Meanwhile, his colleague Siobhan Clarke is left to solve the murder of an art dealer. The two parallel and slowly entwining stories are adeptly read by Joe Dunlop, who meets the challenge of numerous characters, complex plotting, and gray moodiness. He incorporates all these elements in an understated reading that clearly defines each person and the (usually) terrible circumstances in which they find themselves. This dark tale of murder, theft, and greed offers little joy. This ambitious audio production is generally successful and will be enjoyed by listeners of the Rebus series, of which this is the 14th installment.-Juleigh Muirhead Clark, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Lib., Colonial Williamsburg Fdn., VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Finally, iconoclastic DI John Rebus has gone too far, heaving crockery at DCI Gill Templer, and he's been remanded to Tulliallan, the Scottish Police College midway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, for a course on appropriate team behavior led by retired DCI Tennant, who assigns Rebus and five other anti-authority types-officers Francis Gray, Stu Sutherland, Tam Barclay, Allan Ward, Jazz McCullough-to work, together, in harmony, on the long unresolved murder of Eric Lomax. Meanwhile, back in Edinburgh, DS Siobhan Clarke and new laddie DC Davie Hynds have their hands full with the murder of bludgeoned art dealer Edward Marber, the case Rebus was investigating before being sent down to Tulliallan and confronted with the Lomax killing, another former case of his. Yet a third job for Rebus hinges on the real reason (no, not his insubordination) he's been sent to Tulliallan: to get the goods on three dirty cops. Unfortunately, his plan to lure them into capture during a police warehouse drug heist goes awry when the drugs disappear. The political infighting this debacle causes among Rebus's superiors is only partially resolved when he manages to implicate the tainted coppers by tying their earlier ill-gotten windfalls into Marber's death and barely escapes death himself when one of his targets switches sides. Rankin keeps topping his own best work (A Good Hanging, 2002, etc.), this time by juicing up the plot with more twists than the Amalfi Drive, giving Siobhan more to do, and having Rebus revisit old graves and overlooked mistakes en route to a kind of resurrection. Author tour
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