Let It Bleed: An Inspector Rebus Novel [LARGE PRINT] (Hardcover)

by Ian Rankin (Author) "A winter night, screaming out of Edinburgh..." (more)
Key Phrases: Wee Shug, Siobhan Clarke, Gill Templer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In the dark days and biting windstorms of an Edinburgh winter, two drop-out kids dive off the towering Forth Road Bridge. A civic office is spattered by a grisly gun-blast. Two suicides and a murder that just don't add up, unless John Rebus can crunch the numbers. Following a trail that snakes through stark alleys and sad bars, shredded files and lacerated lives, Rebus finds himself up against an airtight, murderous conglomerate on the make in every arena of power. It's leeching the life and soul out of his city and, if it can, him too...
--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From the Publisher
Praise for Ian Rankin:

"Ian Rankin is up there among the best crime novelists at work today. His stuff is always taut, gritty, and stirring. At the heart of it stands Rebus, a character for the ages because he's a cop with style, wit, and an inalienable sense of the gray area between right and wrong." --Michael Connelly

"The progenitor--and king--of tartan noir." --James Ellroy

"A novelist of great scope, depth, and power...Brilliant." --Jonathan Kellerman

"In Rankin you cannot go wrong." --THE BOSTON GLOBE

"Ian Rankin's brilliant series featuring John Rebus is the kind of blistering police procedural that gives the genre a good name." --ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

"A brilliant series...the work of a master." --THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER & CHRONICLE

"Crime fiction at its best." --THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD

"Rankin's dexterity in juggling plots and threats and motives lights up the darkness with a poet's grace. Reading him is like watching somebody juggle a dozen bottles of single malt without spilling a drop." --KIRKUS REVIEWS

"A brutal but beautifully written series...Rankin pushes the procedural form well past conventional genre limits." --THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 502 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; Largeprint edition (July 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786226773
• ISBN-13: 978-0786226771
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,062,798 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 8 in The Inspector Rebus Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Deeper Look at Rebus, September 20, 2001

By	Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Let It Bleed (Inspector Rebus Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

In this instalment of the Inspector John Rebus series, we are given a much deeper insight into Rebuses world, his life outside the police force, and how hes dealing with the loneliness of living alone.

From the opening scene Rebus is involved in an all-out thrill ride of a chase through the streets of Edinburgh. Unfortunately for Rebus the chase doesnt end well, although it has an even worse ending for the me he was chasing. A suicide soon after is linked to the original case and Rebus is soon chasing down clues and digging up dirt. When hes warned off the case by influential men from both inside and outside the police force, his resolve is hardened and he redoubles his efforts, convinced that he must be onto something pretty big.

Just what it was he was on to was a little hard to decipher. Corruption in government departments is the bone that he latches onto and then he finds that hes up against some pretty powerful customers. His job is on the line which means the world to him because as he points out, without his job, hes nothing.

We get a very candid look into Rebuses life outside of the police force and realise that hes not doing too well at this point. His realisation that he may have a drinking problem is highlighted by the admission that when he tries to sleep sober he is haunted by nightmares, so he ensures he has a few drinks before bed each night. There is also a disturbing reference to suicide in the book and the fact that Rebus has given it some thought was indicative of his current frame of mind.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rebus strikes again, August 24, 2001

By	F. G. Hamer "MadManxMan" (Isle of Man) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Let It Bleed (Inspector Rebus Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ian Rankin is amongst the best crime novelists writing today. His books are always tense, tenacious, and thrilling. At the heart of them is Rebus, a cop with bad habits and a fair dose of caustic, Scottish wit - as human and blemished as they come. Rebus knows that murder is usually motivated by passion or greed, but when the bodies begin to pile up - four of them - Rebus realizes that there's nothing simple about his latest case. In his trail for the culprit, he stumbles across a conspiracy that runs all the way to the top of the Scottish political ladder. If you've not yet picked up a John Rebus mystery from Ian Rankin, you should do so now. Rankin is the thinking man's crime writer. He mixes social comment with deep characterization and stirs it all into great plots and sub plots. Let it bleed is one of his outstanding examples and there's a hole in your reading if you miss it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let It Bleed is a good book, and interesting read., November 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Let It Bleed (Inspector Rebus Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

Before Let It Bleed, I'd never read a book set in Scotland. It was fascinating to see the dark side of Edinburgh, a place I'd only "visited" in history books. The book is as raw as any urban tale, and it was both entertaining and disturbing for all that. The very first line made me want to read on: "A winter night, screaming out of Edinburgh" and the story is off and running. John Rebus is no shining hero. He holds on to the seismic shifts in his slippery moral framework with all the confusion and pain that we all feel these days. He's very human and very flawed, and I liked him. The plot was very interesting, yet with so much political and business corruption in stories today, just the plot alone would not have made this a winner. It is Rankin's expert and empathetic treatment of his poor confused and flawed characters that make this book a winner. I'm ready for more Rebus stories.