Don’t start your Rebus experience here for this is too full of his despair and failings for you to fully appreciate the man.  You need to know him better to get the most out of this.  If you do know him then this is terrific.  At last his patience has snapped and as a result he is sent for retraining.  Now his colleagues are also all officers with attitude problems, some pretty bad, and this makes for an extraordinary tale of good cop/bad cop, but it is for the real fan, not for the casual crime reader. This title is also available as an Audiobook in CD format.

Synopsis

The 13th Inspector Rebus novel from Ian Rankin.
Rebus is off the case - literally. A few days into a murder inquiry following the brutal death of an Edinburgh art dealer, Rebus blows up at DCS Gill Templer. He is sent to the Scottish Police College for 'retraining' - in other words, he's in the Last Chance Saloon.

Rebus is given an old, unsolved case to work on, in order to teach him and others the merits of teamwork. But there are those in the team who have their own secrets - and they'll stop at nothing to protect them.

As if this wasn't enough, Rebus is asked to act as a go-between for gangster 'Big Ger' Cafferty. And as newly promoted DS Siobhan Clarke works the case of the murdered art dealer, she is brought closer to Cafferty than she could ever have anticipated...

Reviews

'This is Rankin at his best and, boy, that's saying something' Time Out

'What is impressive in Reurrection Men is not just the deftness of the links between disparate crimes, but the fluency of the fugue-like counterpoint between investigations... On this form, nothing is beyond him.' Sunday Times

'Bears all the qualities that have established Rankin as one of Britain's leading novelists in any genre: a powerful sense of place; a redefinition of Scotland and its past; persuasive dialogue and a growing compassion among its characters.' New Statesman

About the Author

Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh and has since been employed as grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist and punk musician. His first Rebus novel, Knots & Crosses, was published in 1987 and the Rebus books have now been translated into 22 languages and are increasingly popular in the USA. Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is a past winner of the prestigious Chandler-Fulbright Award, as well two CWA short-story 'Daggers' and the 1997 CWA Macallan Gold Dagger for Fiction for Black & Blue, which was also shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America 'Edgar' award for best novel. Dead Souls, the tenth novel in the series, was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger in 1999. Black & Blue, The Hanging Garden, Dead Souls and Mortal Causes have been televised on ITV, starring John Hannah as Inspector Rebus. His 3-part documentary series on the subject of evil was broadcast on Channel 4 in December 2002. An Alumnus of the Year at Edinburgh University, he has also been awarded two honorary doctorates, one from the University of Abertay Dundee and one, more recently, from the University of St Andrews. He was awarded the OBE in the Queen's Golden Jubilee Birthday Honours List in June 2002 and is now the UK's number one best-selling crime writer. Ian Rankin lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two sons. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation