30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
hard boiled, October 13, 2000
In recent months, word has come that authors of several of the very best police procedural series have decided to put an end to their heroes adventures. John Harvey is apparently retiring Charlie Resnick, Archer Mayor may do the same with Joe Gunther and Colin Dexter killed off Inspector Morse. This leaves something of a void in the genre, particularly at the more noirish margin, but luckily, Ian Rankin and Detective John Rebus seem to be just hitting their stride and, with the ranks of the competitors thinned, these tartan noir novels will hopefully gain the audience they richly deserve.
Rankin began the series in 1987 with Knots and Crosses. His creation, John Rebus, a former SAS special op turned Scottish police detective, is driven by Calvinist guilt, fueled by whiskey, cigarettes and pop music and is willing, even eager, to cut corners and push boundaries in his pursuit of a pretty harsh justice. But now, eight books and ten years into the series, Rebus is reaching a crisis point as an overwhelming confluence of events threatens to swamp him. First, he's been transferred to a backwater division in the wake of the fallout from his last case and his first investigation there seems to tie into both the North Sea oil industry and the mobs. Second, an old case where he and his mentor played fast and loose with the rules has been reopened. Third, a copycat killer has started imitating the murder pattern of Bible John (a true life killer) who terrified Scotland in the late 60's. The new killer has been nicknamed Johnny Bible and Rebus is obsessed by both killers. Finally, one of his old partners is assigned to keep an eye on him and starts talking to him about the changes that AA has made in his life and pushing Rebus to reexamine his own.
Rankin somehow manages to keep all these plates spinning in a really superior entry in one of the more underrated series around. The book won a well deserved Golden Dagger award (Best Mystery as awarded by the Crime Writers Association of Britain) and if you like your crime fiction hard boiled, this is a book you should not miss
GRADE: A+
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rankin's finest, October 9, 2000
Ian Rankin is described as the father of tartan noir, and Scotland's answer to James Ellroy. I would disagree with the latter description - Ellroy being a great prose stylist, with an approach, and an ability to plot all of his own. However, Rankin is a good writer, and with Black and Blue he has written a great novel.
This novel probably stands comparison with Ellroy more then some of Rankin's other work. There are two principal reasons for this. Firstly, Rankin brings together fact and fiction, merging them seamlessly into an entertaining whole; secondly, he demonstrates a mastery of running four concurrent labyrinthine plotlines that come together in a gripping conclusion.
The novel focuses on a series of killings by an individual nicknamed, Johnny Bible. These crimes echo those of late 1960s Glasgow where "Bible John" killed three women in a series of unsolved crimes that ended as abruptly as they started. The meshing of fact and fiction is handled adroitly.
The interlinking plots have as their hub, Rankin's regular Inspector John Rebus. Rebus is divorced, hard-drinking, and a compelling presence over the series of novels.
Here, the plots include the Johnny Bible killings, a vicious gangland murder on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and a media programme on miscarriages of justice reviving an elderly case Rebus was involved in as a young detective. Navigation around the plots is not straightforward, but the links between the seemingly disparate strands are made with mastery.
Rankin's prose style is not innovative, but he deftly draws characters, and some of the incidental characters here, e.g. DCI Grogan, a detective in Aberdeen, and Major Weir, a Scot-loving American oil magnate, are deftly sketched in such a manner that you can see their having a life off the page. The central character remains the majestic Rebus. From menace (resolving a problem for a colleague) to mawkish sentimentality (his memories of a murdered prostitute) Rebus is one of the most compelling characters in the genre. He reacts erratically, and because of this seems all the more human. Rankin is to be congratulated on this wonderful creation.
However, these elements are present in most Rebus novels. What is it that prompted the description as "Rankin's finest"? For this Scot the reason is Rankin's engagement with modern Scotland. He looks at the oil industry, social deprivation, and drug culture. Rankin's novels are "state of the nation" books, revealing many facets of society. Sometimes he drops into hectoring pedagogical mode, more often these observations inform the plotting, and the characterisation.
At his best Rankin is as good as anyone in the genre. And this is Rankin at his best.
If you enjoyed this novel try Ian Rankin's Set in Darkness or The Hanging Garden; Denise Mina's Garnethill; or James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia or The Big Nowhere.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vintage Rebus, November 3, 2002
Rebus really outdoes himself in this book. He manages to get himself into serious trouble by annoying superior officers in three different cities at the same time...and I don't think he was even trying all that hard. Part of the trouble even goes as far as becoming a suspect in his own investigation, earning Rebus a fellow detective to watch over him to ensure he stays out of mischief - much to his extreme chagrin.
The result of ticking his superiors off in Edinburgh was his transfer to what is acknowledged as the worst police station in the city. It's good to see that nothing has changed and Rebus is prepared to attack his cases with the usual mule-headed stubbornness.
Two cases head Rebus' consciousness in this book. The first case sees him teetering on the brink of obsession over a serial killer who is on the loose around the country. The unusual and intriguing part is that the M.O. and the killer's nickname are very similar to that of a killer who operated 25 years ago, but was never caught. The second case seems to be a more straightforward murder investigation, but this too is proving a difficult one to follow and leads Rebus a merry dance around Scotland.
John Rebus fans will be satisfied with Black and Blue, as everything we've come to love about him is here in spades. He flaunts the rules with abandon in his dogged pursuit of his quarry, he works quite comfortably alone, yet he still enjoys the assistance of Holmes and Clarke. One watershed moment is his passing dalliance with sobriety, as an old partner, Jack Morrow, exerts his reformed alcoholic influence on him.
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