This novel is the first in the Inspector Rebus series, by Ian Rankin. I saw Ian Rankin interviewed on a book talk show. Rankin said that he enjoyed using crime fiction to talk about social issues. That made me want to read his work. He's also a bestselling author.
In Knots and Crosses, Rebus is part of a task force working on the murders of two girls. The investigation is not going well; the police believe that there must be some common link between the girls, some way that they are coming into contact with the serial killer. But despite hundreds of hours of interviews of neighbors and people who knew the girls, they can't discover the how the killer is picking his victims.
Rebus is having a tough time in his life; he's divorced from his wife and his daughter, now 12, is living with his ex-wife and he when he does spend time with his daughter he finds it hard to connect with her. The police are stymied; they continue to interview neighbors and people who knew the victims but they can't discover the how the killer is picking his victims.
Rebus is having a tough time in his life; he's divorced from his wife and his daughter, now 12, is living with his ex-wife and he finds it hard to connect with her.
His father has recently died, and he's not close to his brother, Michael, a stage hypnotist. He barely knows Michael as an adult; when he drops in without calling to visit his brother,
He's ex-Army, but he never talks about his Army years. His career in the police has not been easy; the Army got him his job and the other cops know this and resent this.
He doesn't want to be assigned to the task force, partly because he has other cases on his plate, but also because he understands that he's likely to be assigned to go door-to-door to interview neighbors, looking for any kind of clue, and that's he likely to be assigned to review old case files on individuals who have been suspected on crimes in the past. Sure enough, he's assigned to file review duty and just hates it.
Rebus is trying to form a new relationship with a colleague, Gill, someone he knows from work but connects with at a party.
This mix of loneliness, frustration, and stasis mark the first half of the novel. In the second half of the novel, the action picks up quickly and becomes very exciting. The trauma that Rebus suffers from the Army is explained, and as the action resolves it's easy to see the point that Rankin wanted to make.
The "missing connection" the police finally discover is rather moving, in its way. Surprisingly, I found this novel cheering and impressive. Rebus often ruminates on the history of crime in Edinburgh (and notes with contempt the tourists photographing the statue of Greyfriars Bobby). Edinburgh is a city known for the flowering of the Englightenment that took place there in the 18th century (so amazing in that even today, Edinburgh has only 500,000 people living there, and Scotland's status as an independent nation had been under attack since James VI became James I, and certainly by the time of the Act of Union in 1707); in a way, I see this novel as an assertion of the value of those ideals.
In Knots and Crosses, Rebus is part of a task force working on the murders of two girls. The investigation is not going well; the police believe that there must be some common link between the girls, some way that they are coming into contact with the serial killer. But despite hundreds of hours of interviews of neighbors and people who knew the girls, they can't discover the how the killer is picking his victims.
Rebus is having a tough time in his life; he's divorced from his wife and his daughter, now 12, is living with his ex-wife and he when he does spend time with his daughter he finds it hard to connect with her. The police are stymied; they continue to interview neighbors and people who knew the victims but they can't discover the how the killer is picking his victims.
Rebus is having a tough time in his life; he's divorced from his wife and his daughter, now 12, is living with his ex-wife and he finds it hard to connect with her.
His father has recently died, and he's not close to his brother, Michael, a stage hypnotist. He barely knows Michael as an adult; when he drops in without calling to visit his brother,
He's ex-Army, but he never talks about his Army years. His career in the police has not been easy; the Army got him his job and the other cops know this and resent this.
He doesn't want to be assigned to the task force, partly because he has other cases on his plate, but also because he understands that he's likely to be assigned to go door-to-door to interview neighbors, looking for any kind of clue, and that's he likely to be assigned to review old case files on individuals who have been suspected on crimes in the past. Sure enough, he's assigned to file review duty and just hates it.
Rebus is trying to form a new relationship with a colleague, Gill, someone he knows from work but connects with at a party.
This mix of loneliness, frustration, and stasis mark the first half of the novel. In the second half of the novel, the action picks up quickly and becomes very exciting. The trauma that Rebus suffers from the Army is explained, and as the action resolves it's easy to see the point that Rankin wanted to make.
The "missing connection" the police finally discover is rather moving, in its way. Surprisingly, I found this novel cheering and impressive. Rebus often ruminates on the history of crime in Edinburgh (and notes with contempt the tourists photographing the statue of Greyfriars Bobby). Edinburgh is a city known for the flowering of the Englightenment that took place there in the 18th century (so amazing in that even today, Edinburgh has only 500,000 people living there, and Scotland's status as an independent nation had been under attack since James VI became James I, and certainly by the time of the Act of Union in 1707); in a way, I see this novel as an assertion of the value of those ideals.
