Strip Jack [Paperback]

Ian Rankin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 2009

Gregor Jack has it all: young, wealthy, and charming, he's a highly respected member of Parliament, witha  beautiful wife--and a closet bursting with skeletons.  When he's caught in a police raid on an Edinburgh brothel, his house of cards begins to topple.  Enter Detective John Rebus: he smells a set-up.  When Jack's flamboyant wife Elizabeth disappears, Rebus uncovers a full-house of orgies, drunken parties, an incestuous "Pack" of deceitful chums...and ultimately Elizabeth's badly beaten body.  Now Rebus is on a new quest--to find a killer who holds all the cards. 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For all the right reasons, Edinburgh Detective Inspector John Rebus calls for comparison with Colin Dexter's Oxford copper Inspector Morse. Both spend a lot of time in pubs and bemoan the onset of middle age; each is a shrewd detective with a literary bent who operates in an academic town where clashes of culture beget victims. When much-loved politician Gregor Jack is discovered in a midnight raid on a discreet brothel, a surprising number of journalists are on hand--a situation that endangers Jack's political future. Jack's wealthy wife Elizabeth, a noted partygoer whose friends are equally well-heeled and hedonistic, can't be found. Her body is soon pulled from a nearby river, a fatality mirroring the recent murder of another, unidentified, woman. A drunk who brags of the first killing gives a false address and vanishes north of the city. Meanwhile Rebus, trying to trace a cache of valuable stolen books, finds himself talking again to the late Elizabeth's coterie of party friends. Rankin creates a living, breathing world in which his weary protagonist tackles his cases while involved in the intricacies of the day-to-day: pints and hangovers, stumbling romance, wet weather, damp clothes, tricky superiors and wide-eyed subordinates. All are brought to bear, yet all are ultimately jettisoned as Rebus closes in on the satisfying solution.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

A return to Edinburgh and its sturdy police force, focusing again on Detective Inspector John Rebus (Knobs and Crosses, 1988; Watchman, 1991) as he now tries to solve the murder of Liz Jack- -only child of mogul Sir Hugh Ferrie; wife of respected Member of Parliament Gregor Jack; and, in her well-hidden private life, centerpiece of wild weekends at Deer Lodge, her isolated cottage. Jack himself seemed uninvolved in those activities but had recently been caught in a well-publicized raid on a brothel that--to Rebus, anyway--looked like a set-up. As his superiors try to make a case against a local drifter, Rebus struggles through red herrings, false alibis, secret liaisons, and his own arid emotions until, aided by sharp-eyed sidekick Brian Holmes, he nails his quarry. A solidly absorbing procedural--all enlivened by a succession of offbeat characters and by the author's eccentric but appealing narrative style. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (February 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312545231
• ISBN-13: 978-0312545239
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rankin is the Best, April 9, 2000

By 

"sparkovski" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strip Jack (Mass Market Paperback)

Ian Rankin once again proves that he is amongst the best, if not the best writer of Crime Fiction in the world. Strip Jack has all the twists and turns that make Ian Rankin's books unputdownable. The plot, MP wife's suspicious disappearance and subsequent murder, moves along really well. The numerous sub-plots, unlike in some stories, actually help the book to move along rather than detract from the main story. As usual all the plot lines are integral to the story. All in all an excellent addition to the Rebus series, if you like good British Detective fiction (and who doesn't, it is the best after all) this is a must for your library.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better and Better, March 13, 2001

By 

Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strip Jack (Mass Market Paperback)

As Ian Rankin's series progresses, Detective Inspector John Rebus is becoming more and more likable. This time he's trying to solve the murder of a local MP's wife. He comes up against the usual brick walls put up by superior officers on the way to solving the case, but in this book for the first time, he seems to have made a friend in the force in young DS Brian Holmes.

I'm finding the Insector John Rebus books even more enjoyable since the newer, mellow John Rebus has been developed.

A wonderful British police procedural full of wit and glint-in-the-eye humour.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Case for Scotlands best Detective, April 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Strip Jack (Mass Market Paperback)

I cannot believe that the reader from Chicago found this book so Bad. I however enjoyed it hugely. This was the first Inspector Rebus novel I read, and I'm looking forward to read a lot more. With out spoiling the novel, its about a MP who is caught in a brothel whos wife is murdered. If you like novels with twists and turns and masses of tension and touches of humour then you will love this book.