Customer Reviews

Knots and Crosses (Detective John Rebus Novels)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

He had wanted to update Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" for modern times, Ian Rankin writes about his first Inspector Rebus novel, "Knots and Crosses" in the introduction to the British compilation "Rebus: The Early Years" (unfortunately, not available in the U.S.), which contains the first three installments of the series. Oblivious to the mere existence of such a thing as the mystery genre - or so Rankin says - he was stunned to soon hear his book described first and foremost as a crime novel. But eventually this characterization prompted him to have a closer look at the work of other mystery writers, and he found that the form suited his purposes just fine; that in fact he "could say everything [he] wanted to say about the world, and still give readers a pacy, gripping narrative."

Bearing in mind the original duality of Jekyll and Hyde, however, Rankin's tales are not dominated by a contrast painted in black and white. While the villains Inspector Rebus faces are certainly every bit as evil as Stevenson's Mr. Hyde, Rebus himself is far from a clean-slated "good guy:" Divorced, cynical, hard-drinking and a former member of the SAS, he is a brother in spirit to every noir detective from Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe to Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, James Ellroy's squad of crooked cops and Peter Robinson's Alan Banks. Nor is Rebus's Edinburgh the touristy town of Calton Hill, castle and Summer Festival (although the series has meanwhile sparked real-life guided tours to its most famous locations, too) - as befitting a true detective of his ilk, Rankin's antihero moves primarily in the city's dark and dirty underbelly, which is populated by society's losers and where those who have "made it," those with money in their pockets, only show up if they have shady deals to conduct as well.

In a similar fashion to Michael Connelly's first Harry Bosch novel "The Black Echo," where Bosch is forced to revisit the experiences he made as a Vietnam "tunnel rat," in "Knots and Crosses" Rebus must uncover long-buried memories of his SAS past. For hunting a serial killer whom the tabloids quickly dub "The Edinburgh Strangler," and whose headline-gathering murders at first seem totally unrelated, Rebus eventually makes the connection between those crimes and a series of anonymous letters he receives, and realizes that it is he himself who is the killer's true target, and that the murderer's crimes are based on such a cruel scheme - and executed with such inhuman skill and precision - that only one particular man's thoroughly disturbed mind can have come up with them. And at the same time, Rebus is trying to work out his difficult relationship with his brother Michael, whose life is so different from his own - financially successful and ostensibly happily married and squeaky clean throughout, Michael seems to be on the sunny side of life in every respect labeled a failure in Rebus's own life story - but he soon discovers that even Michael has secrets he is trying hard to keep from coming to light.

While this series had a terrific start already in its first novel, published in 1987, Rebus's character - and Rankin's writing - has evolved significantly over time. Thus, it is probably wise to read it in the order of publication. Contrary to the novels he wrote under the pseudonym Jack Harvey, however, and which he views much more critically in hindsight, Ian Rankin overall still seems to be very happy with his early Rebus books, commenting almost nostalgically: "I can't read them without thinking back to my own early years, my apprenticeship as a crime writer. Read and enjoy." I have nothing to add to that ...

Also recommended:
Rebus: The Early Years (Knots & Crosses / Hide & Seek / Tooth & Nail)
Rebus - The St Leonard's Years
Rebus: The Lost Years (Let It Bleed / Black & Blue / The Hanging Garden)
Rebus: Capital Crimes (Dead Souls / Set in Darkness / The Falls)
Ian Rankin Inspector Rebus CD Collection: Resurrection Men, A Question of Blood, Fleshmarket Alley (Inspector Rebus) (Inspector Rebus)
Exit Music
Rebus's Scotland
Rebus
The Jack Harvey Novels
Rebus: The Complete Short Stories~Ian Rankin

What a pleasure it is to discover an untapped mystery series. It was almost purely by chance that I picked up Ian Rankin's Knots and Crosses, but it will be with eagerness that I pursue the other books about John Rebus of the Edinburgh police force.

Knots and Crosses is in part a classic police procedural that takes place in the seamy side of Edinburgh that guidebooks never show and that tourists never suspect. The hunted criminal is a serial killer - "But here, in Edinburgh. It's intolerable." The book is also a fascinating psychological mystery with the events of the present rooted in the past and shaped by the meetings of minds. The intricate but never stretched plot is full of unexpected interconnections among the cast of characters.

The chief joy in reading the novel comes from the writing itself. As the title and the detective's name hint, we're in for word play and words loaded with meaning. Thrown in is some hypnotism, excesses of tobacco, sex, and alcohol, a love of books and literature, and love.

As the investigation heats and the killer has the "police force tied in knots," Rebus "was feeling like the detective in a cheap thriller and wished that he could turn to the last page." We are lucky; this is not a cheap thriller and we enjoy every page up to the very satisfying last.

Oh the pain of trudging through a bad detective mystery! Ouch! Ugh! Grrr! I recently finished reading some horrifically bad novels by a few American authors and then (happily) stumbled upon this weird guy's books, known collectively as the Inspector Rebus series. Ian Rankin, a Scottish writer, is the creator of this series . . . and I'm REALLY glad I found him!

Like a jigsaw puzzle, Mr. Rankin overlaps every vital piece of information into the vibrant plot, from the military and Rebus' family, to excessive smoking and drinking. Add to this fact that the author makes me feel right at home in a country (Scotland) I've never visited, and you've got me hooked.

The story revolves around the life of Detective John Rebus, a hard-living, fast-drinking, oft-womanizing cop whom the author ultimately makes you care about. Rebus has plenty of problems, too: he's divorced, has a young daughter approaching teenhood, has terrible nightmares about his time in the British special forces (SAS), and wants desperately to be left alone. But a murderer is on the loose, and our flawed detective has to work the case . . . and he is soon drawn into the killer's web of murder. The brutality of Edinburgh (showing an underbelly that most tourists never see, nor want to hear about) comes slithering off the pages. (Example from Chapter 1: "The girl screamed once, only the once. Even that, however, was a minor slip on his part. That might have been the end of everything, almost before it had begun. Neighbours inquisitive, the police called in to investigate. No, that would not do at all. Next time he would tie the gag a little tighter, just a little tighter, just that little bit more secure.").

Detective John Rebus was introduced to the world in this first novel back in 1987, and Mr. Rankin hasn't let up over the intervening years. The London Times and other British periodicals have lavished him with stunning reviews ever since, but the true test is whether or not his books can withstand rigorous readings from those of us on the other side of the Atlantic.

Ian Rankin's Detective Rebus, I'm happy to say, has found a comfy home on my shelves (and many others from what I've read online and in the papers). Kirkus, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and many others, have given this book - and the remainder of his series - a very appropriate welcome into the States. An added bonus, too, is that Rebus, an appropriately dark (in tone) television series, was shot on location in Edinburgh, produced by the BBC, and can be seen from time to time on cable station BBC America.

Although this is only the first of the seventeen Rebus novels, I intend to read them all. In fact, I've already started on my next dose of Rebus. Congratulations, Mr. Rankin. You've found yourself another reader of your excellent novels.

Recent installments of the Rebus series (Black & Blue, Dead Souls and Set in Darkness) have garnished a fair amount of critical acclaim and awards. I thought I'd check out the series from the beginning. It may be a long time before I get to the books that won the awards.

Knots & Crosses is a competently written police procedural set in Scotland. It was, at least for me, a bit of chore to read. The bleakness was the difficulty. A nasty child murderer is sought. Rebus is a bit too stereotypical - divorced, alienated, chain smoking loner with a past that the reader has to guess about. With the exception of some tourist info (meaningless to me, having never been there), there just is no relief for the reader. While everything is resolved in the end, the reader doesn't get many clues to chew on in the process of the novel.

Bottom-line: I'd give this two and a half stars if the system allowed. Fans of British police procedurals may like this better but I'd rather read Daziel & Pascoe or Inspector Barnaby.

The series featuring DS John Rebus has been around for a while and is very popular in the UK.

Therefore I decided to pick up the first novel. I was very surprised indeed. It is a very strong,dark and gloomy thriller set against the unusual background of Edinburgh. The DS is a drop out of the army's elite unt, SAS and has become a veteran policeman."A good, but not very good one"according to his boss.

The city is haunted by a serial killer who goes for little girls, without harming them sexually.

John is receiving all kinds of notes which are written as riddles. He neglects them for a while but with the help of his brother he finds a connection in his past to the killer and goes on a haunt.

The hunt is not heroical and leaves a lot of scars for the people involved. In particular Rebus himself is on the receiving end.

The story is written so tightly that you can't help wanting to finish it in one setting and leaves a lot of looking forward to the next installments.

A good read.

In this, the first Inspector Rebus novel, author Ian Rankin shows why this series is so popular: a conflicted `hero', deep characterizations, a complex plot, and intense psychological drama. Rebus is a policeman in Edinburgh, a city renown for its history and for other, unsavory, pursuits. One of the running themes of the Rebus series is the underside of the famous tourist destination. Rankin states at one point: "These tourists spent so much time photographing things that they never actually saw anything..." (84). The plot deals with a serial killer who, at the beginning of the novel, has abducted and killed two young girls; Rebus is assigned to the extensive investigation in a minor capacity. At the same time, he is dealing with three other problems in his life: his daughter, his brother, and his past as a British soldier. As the novel continues, these seemingly disparate items will be connected in a dramatic way to the main investigation. Although not as intricate as later Rebus novels, `Knots and Crosses' is a excellent introduction to Rankin's excellent creation of John Rebus. A good series well worth reading.

Knots and Crosses is the first book in the Inspector Rebus series done by Ian Rankin. I just finished The Dark Tower series by Stephen King and was looking for another author to try out. I'm not much for mystery/detective books but I heard great reviews about Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series. So I bought it, read it, and was very glad I spent the money and time to be introduced to a mystery/detective series I actually like!
What I found amazing was the way Ian could give you an in depth look at John Rebus without spending pages and pages to do it. His transitions between Rebus and the killer are well placed and give the book a good flow. What's great is that the book is about 228 pages and even though it seems short, there is plenty of plots going on to keep you busy, but not overwhelmed. How does he do it?
This book, and hopefully the rest of the series, is well thought out and gives a different look at detective stories with a twist of Edinburgh style. A definite must read and the price of the paperback book can't be beat!

The character of John Rebus is very realistic and very easy to get to know. He is strong on the outside but troubled inside; his memories of being in the army give him nightmares and sometimes even attack him during the day. Just like all of us, there are ghosts in his past that he refuses to talk about. I like how Rankin leaves most of the details of Rebus's life for us to wonder about until the end of the novel.

The style is similar to John Patterson's. The plot is not overly imaginative, but is realistic and interesting enough to make the book an easy and enjoyable read. The thing that I like most about Ian Rankin is his long, vivid descriptions. "These were the books that lay around his living-room. His books for reading tended to congregate in the bedroom, lying in co-ordinated rows on the floor like patients in a doctor's waiting-room." and "Modern killers bragged of their crimes to their friends, then played pool in their local pub, chalking their cues with poise and certainty, knowing which balls would drop in which order... While a police-car slept nearby, its occupants unable to do anything save curse the mountains of rules and regulations and rue the deep chasms of crime. It was everywhere, crime. It was the life-force and the blood and the balls of life: to cheat, to edge; to take that body-swerve at authority, to kill."

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good crime novel, to any lovers of Patterson or Connelly.

Ian Rankin gets better every time I read another one of his books. After reading "Knots and Crosses", I felt like I had seen it on TV or video, his descriptions were so vivid! The main character is so very human and not always loveable, but understandable nevertheless.

Inspector Rebus is a divorced Scot, a Policeman with an ex-wife and 11 year old daughter. He has the usual troubles and has been compared to other English detectives. He has had a troubled past and his way of working things out and his leaps of intuition are both believable and satisfying.

I recommend this book, but since it is out of print, you may not be able to find it.

Read about Ian Rankin in a magazine and thought I would start at the beginning of the series. Ian Rankin is a very good author, the pages fly by at a quick and enjoyable pace. But what is lacking is the initiative for the reader to figure out who the guilty party is. Not to spoil anything but about two-thirds of the way through the book a silly plot device is thrown in and the murderer identified. What is wrong with this is that the reader cannot possibly have figured out who the murderer is during the first 175 pages of the book which is a key component of why I read mysteries. Still, very well written and hope to read the entire series.