Customer Reviews

Exit Music (Thorndike Core)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ian Rankin has crafted one of the best mystery series ever written. While many novelists fade after half a dozen books, in "Exit Music" Rankin has kept the character of John Rebus as fresh, human, and complex in the seventeeth novel in this series as he was when he first appeared in "Knots and Crosses."

The sense of inevitability, frustration, and a man out of sorts is palpable. Rebus, ten days away from mandatory retirement, tries to tie up a career's worth of lose ends through the murder of a Russian expatriate poet. The connections between the "underworld and the overworld", the threads that run through the fabric of Edinburgh's society, once again weave a rich and satisfying story. There is vintage Rebus, verbally abusing a senior member of the force and breaking all the rules but none of the laws. There is the shadow of Big Ger Cafferty, Rebus' Moriarty, falling over the city. There is Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke, the London transplant, who tolerates, understands, and reveres her iconoclastic partner.

In a trip to Scotland in late 2005, we spent a couple of days in Edinburgh. The city itself has always been one of the richest characters in Rankin's work. We peered down Fleshmarket Close, visited the Parliament building, stood near the Mound, and had a whisky at the Oxford Bar. All have featured in one or several of the novels.

A strong sense of character, a strong sense of plot, and a strong sense of place make the John Rebus series literature.

In Ian Rankin's "Exit Music," Detective Inspector John Rebus is ten days away from retirement, a prospect that appeals to him as much as root canal. His superiors eagerly await the departure of this maverick, with "his mistrust of teamwork" and his "two-decades-plus of bets hedged, lines crossed, and rules broken." Although John gets results, he rarely does anything by the book, since he has little regard for authority or proper procedure. It is a miracle that this chain-smoking and whiskey-guzzling detective has lived long enough to turn in his warrant card. Rebus's protégée, Detective Sergeant Siobhan (Shiv) Clarke, has mixed feelings about her friend and mentor's departure. She is grateful for everything he has taught her. On the other hand, his unorthodox methods are troubling and she is impatient to get out from under Rebus's imposing shadow.

Their final case together begins as an apparent mugging that results in the death of Alexander Todorov, an émigré Russian poet living in Edinburgh. Todorov was a dissident who was vocal in his criticism, not only of his former government, but also of the new class of Russian oligarchs. He considered these multi-millionaires to be materialistic, corrupt, and greedy--selfish men who spend their ill-gotten gains on fancy clothing, high-end cars, pricey real estate, precious metals, and expensive artwork. Was Todorov bludgeoned to death to silence his scathing criticism of his countrymen? A subsequent murder adds to the mystery, and Clarke is placed in charge of a team with a challenging and time-consuming mission. They must ascertain if the two crimes are related and if so, who was behind them. Rebus is intrigued to learn that his archenemy, a gangster knows as Big Ger Cafferty, may be involved. Before he walks off into the sunset, Rebus would love to bring down this vicious thug who has been a thorn in his side for years.

"Exit Music" is an incredibly complicated and dense police procedural with a large number of characters, suplots, and red herrings. This four hundred page novel, which is sluggishly paced at times, could easily have been trimmed with no loss of coherence. On the other hand, the author gets high marks for depicting police work realistically, demonstrating the tedium of endless conversations with potential witnesses (some of whom lie or omit information), the sifting of every bit of physical evidence, and the search for a key fact that could break a case wide open. He also brings Edinburgh to life and deftly portrays the political and economic changes that may lead, one day, to Scotland's independence from Great Britain. Rebus is a delightful rogue who is content to say and do what he likes now that he is days away from packing it in. Although he is not in charge of the investigation, John blithely goes off on his own to follow his hunches wherever they may lead.

What makes this book memorable is Rankin's stunning epilogue--a tour de force of superb writing and dramatic surprises. The fact that the ending is not neat and tidy makes it a fitting coda for the checkered career of Detective Inspector John Rebus, a man who has always lived on the edge and thumbed his nose at conventional wisdom.

John Rebus is facing mandatory retirement from the Edinburgh police in nine days as EXIT MUSIC opens. Rebus has lost many things over the course of Rankin's marvelous series. A few years ago they banned smoking in the pubs. That was a heavy blow. Now in November of 2006 Rebus is on the verge of surrendering his badge.

Rankin is prescient in his plot. Russian oligarchs are infesting Scotland. Making deals. Building networks of contacts in high places. Perhaps even ordering murders? Rebus doesn't like it.

His arch enemy Big Ger Cafferty is still on the loose, mocking Rebus. Over the years they have built a strange fraternal bond. Pursuer and the pursued. Rebus will miss him mostly because he won't be able to arrest him.

Siobhan Clarke has taken over most of the duties Rebus once savored. He is being put out to pasture sooner than later. They pull him off a big murder case. Fans of this series would expect that. They also know that John will ignore the commands of his superior officers.

Is this the end for Rebus? I don't think so. Rankin will surely start a new series about Siobhan Clarke and Rebus will be a valuable resource and sounding board for her as he savors his retirement.

Rebus will be playing his music. Nursing a single malt. Puffing away. His cell will ring. Rebus will be back on the case.

Could Exit Music really be Ian Rankin's last John Rebus novel? The Edinburgh detective faces mandatory retirement and has ten days to bring Big Ger Cafferty to justice while solving the murder of a Russian poet. There are more than enough plot twists in Exit Music and a cast of fascinating and distracting characters to keep readers alert and engaged from the first through the last page. Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke does her best to give Rebus the opportunity to make his final days as a detective productive and successful, despite his spending part of the time on suspension. Rankin respects the intelligence of readers, and Exit Music will keep your brain active as you try to figure out who did what.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

Almost exactly two decades ago Ian Rankin's first Rebus novel, Knots and Crosses, began with the sentence, "The girl screamed once, only the once." Twenty years later and Rankin has used the same sentence to begin the last, as it did the first, of the Rebus books.

DI John Rebus is retiring in November of 2006 and he and his erstwhile protégé, DS Siobhan Clarke, are working on clearing up Rebus' old cases, when a dissident Russian Poet is murdered in an apparent mugging right after he left an Edinburgh bar in which local crook and longtime Rebus nemesis Morris Gerald Cafferty had been drinking.

Meanwhile Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko is dying in a London hospital, poisoned by person or persons unknown. Are the cases related?

The poet was murdered during a time when the Edinburgh big wigs are hosting a group of potentially very large Russian investors and the brass wants this case wrapped up as quietly and delicately as possible. Then somebody attacks `Big Ger' Cafferty and the blame lands squarely on Rebus.

Think he's gonna back off? Not a chance.

Rebus and Clarke chase down leads that eventually take them to the Scottish Parliament and we all know how much politicians like to be investigated. And if you've read or learned anything at all about John Rebus, you know he does not take too well to authority and after being told for the umpteenth time to back off, Rebus remarks to himself, "It's not the underworld you need to worry about, it's the overworld."

I have been reading Rebus right from the start and I find it hard to believe it's all over. Yes, he's retired, but Michael Connelly's brilliant character Detective Hyronamous Bosch retired, came back as a PI and we sure as all get out hope Mr. Rankin finds more for Rebus to do, because we're addicted. This book is as good as all the others and all the others have been great.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

"I never knew the road that carried me along

Crazy sidewalk, concealed by pretty song

You want my life from me

I'll give you two

You'll be no strife for me

As we say goodbye

Let me wish you as you fly.

Grace and danger

Sweet grace

No danger

Sweet grace

No danger

Grace and danger."

John Martyn

John Rebus hooked me into his life with his love of music and his style, and that is how he ends his career, style with 'Exit Music'-how apropos.Rebus mentions how much John Martyn, The Stones and 'The Cure' have meant to his life, and the songs that he can identify with. Rebus and I and my best friend and it seems Ian Rankin are The Stones, Cure and Martyn fans. Ian Rankin has Rebus at the age of 60, and in Scotland he must retire. It seems I hardly got to know ya, Rebus. We have seen Rebus through much of his detective's life, and as he grew and aged so did we. But, me, I am no way intending to retire. And, what will Rebus do? He can't sit and listen to his music and drink, Can he?

Rebus has eight days to go to his retirement. His genial sidekick who may just may take over his job, DC Siobhan Clark, is crafting her trade. She has learned a great deal from this man she loves and respects. Love is not mentioned by either, but we know it is there. Siohban is explaining to him what his retirement party will look like. Rebus does not want any big fuss with his superiors in the audience. It will be quiet with just his kind. And, what is that kind you may ask. If you have to ask....

They are called to the scene of a murder. A body, that of a Russian poet, found in a parking garage. And into the foray they march. Siobhan and Rebus find that a group of Russians have come to Scotland to buy whatever they can. A bank in Scotland has become good neighbors and, of course, who is in the middle of the action? Cafferty, the long time nemesis of Rebus. They have meetings and Rebus follows Cafferty's every move. The murder investigation turns nasty when Rebus is brought up to his superiors for his actions with a murder witness who happens to be the daughter of the bank president. Rebus is suspended. Just as good, now he can go on to solve this murder, and maybe more without being impeded by his bosses. Siobhan takes on the investigation full time and she has learned well from this man, Rebus. She will miss him but she can go it alone.

This is more than a book about a bank and the Russian involvement. We are saying goood-bye to Rebus. The retirement party of Rebus and his thoughts as he leaves the job he loves. This is a story of John ,and the end of his career. We are led step by step as he wraps up the murder with the skill he has always shown. There is a twist and we are left to wonder "Is That All There Is?

Detective John Rebus, I will miss you. I have hopes you will be around in some capacity. I will miss your music choices and how your moods match your choice in the music of the days of yore. Good on Yer, Rebus.

Highly, Highly Recommended. prisrob 10-25-07

Rebus - Set 1

Let It Bleed (An Inspector Rebus Novel)

Mortal Causes (An Inspector Rebus Novel)

Say it isn't so, Ian. Has 60-year-old John Rebus come to the end of the line? The popular protagonist spends his last days in his three-decade-old career in this novel in his usual manner, solving crimes, upsetting the powers that be and dealing with his 20-year-old enemy, Big Ger Cafferty as well as setting the stage for tying up loose ends with his long-time partner, DS Siobhan Clarke.

In the mix is a delegation of Russian businessmen, Scottish politicians and a large bank and its executives all seeking to bring business to Scotland. And then a leading Russian dissident poet is found murdered, and everyone wants to sweep it under the rug as a mugging gone bad. But is it? Neither Rebus nor Clark is convinced, especially when a second murder caused by an arson fire seems to be connected to the original case. To complicate matters, Big Ger is assaulted and left in a coma, and Rebus seems to be implicated.

This novel is as good as Rankin gets in the way of a mystery novel, and he works in commentary on Scotland in general, Edinburgh, money, politics, greed and power. Where does Rebus go from here? This reader (and many others, I'm sure) hopes Rankin hasn't permanently retired him--he's too good a character to fade out of existence.

Highly recommended.

As usual, it's a great whodunit... I really liked the story, particularly Rebus and his upcoming retirement and the way that it affects his relationships with those around him.

Rankin always manages to keep you interested and playing along with Rebus and Clarke trying to determine if you can figure it out before they do. Unfortunately, he doesn't introduce us to a character that helps explain the central murder until the last chapters which makes it anyone's guess as to how it happened up until the point he's explaining it. I always think that that's a bit of a cop-out.

He also leaves a couple of key loose-ends VERY loose at the end and opens the door for follow-up tomes, even with Rebus retiring. Will Rankin's focus shift to Clarke? What happens to the questionable young cop? And Big Ger? Will he, won't he... Guess we'll have to wait.

"Exit Music" is apparently the 19th and last in the Inspector Rebus series that has made its author, Ian Rankin, the bestselling writer in Great Britain. Rankin has been considered among the founding fathers of tartan noir, and just what is that, you may ask? A branch of British mysteries, written by Scots (duh!); noted for extremely violent mayhem, subversive dark Scottish drollery; sheer bloody-mindedness; exemplified by Rankin and McDermid, both of the Edinburgh vicinity, and Denise Mina, of Glasgow.

So, it's late autumn in Edinburgh, and very late in the career of Rebus, who's within days of retirement, just trying to tie up some loose ends before he goes. Then he catches a new case: a prominent Russian dissident poet has been beaten to death, his body dumped in a mews. Is it just a coincidence that there's a group of wealthy Russian businessmen also in town, looking to invest in Scotland? And that the local powers-that-be want the lid kept on the case? That a mysterious fire then kills a witness to the poet's last public reading? And then, that a local gangster with whom Rebus has had a long, difficult relationship is brutally beaten, too? So Rebus has quite a bit on his mind. Luckily, his detective skills and instincts are not at all rusty, and he's able to satisfyingly work his way through this complex case. Or is it actually three separate cases?

Rankin is now a #1 international bestselling author. He has won the Edgar Award, the Gold Dagger for fiction, and the Chandler-Fulbright Award. His skills aren't rusty, either, and he continues to give us some rich writing on Edinburgh and its environs, its flora and fauna, human and otherwise. His dialog continues to snap, his narrative writing to pop. However, it does seem as though Rankin's energy and power are flagging a bit. Hopefully, he'll find a way to recharge, and continue to publish first-rate mysteries, even if they no longer star Inspector Rebus.

If "Exit Music" is the final Rebus novel, it's too bad that the solution to the case is so fully unsatisfying. After following many leads, which take him in a myriad of directions, Rebus concludes that the murderer is...Well, I'm not going to give it away, of course, but I'm not sure it would matter if I did. "That's it?" I thought, when all was explained (rather ludicrously, if you ask me); a feeling shared, incidentally, by Inspector Clarke, Rebus' disbelieving partner. Oh, well, you can't win 'em all...In all other respects, though, this is --thankfully -- typical Rankin: witty, twisty, economically written, beautifully paced. Only Michael Connelly does this kind of thing as well, and if Rankin is indeed ending it all, he will be sorely missed. Who knows, maybe Rebus will assist Clarke with future cases in an unofficial capacity, which could lead to some interesting situations, rife with conflict and humor. (Or maybe Rankin will introduce us to a completely new character.) But if this is the end of Rebus, Rankin has at least found a way to leave us hanging in the most spectacular of manners. If the whodunit of "Exit Music" is a letdown, the epilogue (particularly the electrifying final page) is a miraculous coup de grace. Think the last moments of "The Sopranos," and you'll have an idea of the rug that Rankin pulls out from under his readers. Only a writer as skilled as he could have thought to end things that way -- and only one as skilled as he could have gotten away with it. Enjoy.