Tooth and Nail (Inspector Rebus Novels) [Paperback]

Ian Rankin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2008 | Series: Inspector Rebus Novels

Scottish homicide detective John Rebus has been sent from "North of the Border" to help London police catch a serial killer with a gruesome M.O.  Teamed with a London cop he wants to trust but can't, Rebus lets a beautiful psychologist into the case develops a bizarre portrait of a killer who leaves bite marks and tears on each victim's body.  Now it's only a question of who is going to get busted first: the cop with the accent who breaks all the rules--or the pyscho painting London with blood...

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

"In Rankin, you cannot go wrong." --The Boston Globe

"Ian Rankin is up there among the best crime novelists at work today." --Michael Connelly

"A superior series." --The New York Times Book Review

"Reading [Ian Rankin] is like watching somebody juggle a dozen bottles of single malt without spilling a drop." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Ian Rankin is the worldwide #1 bestselling writer of the Inspector Rebus mysteries, including Knots and Crosses, Hide and Seek, Let It Bleed, Black and Blue, Set in Darkness, Resurrection Men, A Question of Blood, The Falls and Exit Music. He has won an Edgar Award, a Gold Dagger for fiction, a Diamond Dagger for career excellence, and the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contributions to literature. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife and their two sons. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; Reprint edition (November 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312545266
• ISBN-13: 978-0312545260
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,839 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars remarkable, November 14, 2002

By 

RachelWalker "RachelW" (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tooth and Nail (Detective John Rebus Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

this may be one of the earliest Rebus novels, but it is without shadow of a doubt one of the best. Ian Rankin here presentes an excellent serial killer novel, published around the time when the sub-genre itself was really on it's infancy. (After all, there weren't all that many serial killer novels around in 1991) It's a very assured, seasoned, mature novel, somewhat before it's time.

Rebus is a great character, and here his development continues. However, we are presented with a great twist to the normal formula here...Rebus has been sent to London to work on a case, and the fish-out-of-water effect really works very well. Instead of the in-depth and realistic descriptions of Edinburgh, we now see London through Rebus, a visitors eyes, and Rankin proves that his evocations of place are not merely limited to Edinburgh. He describes London excellently, and observing Rebus wandering round the city like a lost soul (until he realises that, in terms of problems, London is basically the same as his home turf, when he seems to get more comfortable with the place) is really interesting.

The plot is great, and it twists and turns subtly but excellently, with Rankin misleading the reader like an illusionst all the way to the end as to the real identity of the killer. He shocks and surprises again and again, until a brilliantly exciting climax, a car chase through the busy streets of London.

Along the way, Rebus meets some brilliant characters, several of whom i would love to see again in the future. George Flight, his opposite number in London, is a wonderfully drawn creation. He is a likeable man, and a great copper. He is darawn well, and i liked the way Rankin shied away from the cliche of making him an unlikeable, difficult to work with, arrogant and not very good police-officer. Instead, we are prsented with a policeman equal to Rebus in ability, whose talents compliment each other well. Another great character is Liza Frazer, the young psychologist who volunteers to help Rebus draw up a profile of the killer.

All in all, this is a brilliant book. It suceeds on every single leve, and while the end does seem a little rushed, and i would rather the book were a bit longer, this book ranks among Rankin's best work. Which, considering the calibre of almost all his books, means that this book is very, very good indeed.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark and Chilling Tale, November 29, 1999

By 

"bevjoy" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tooth and Nail (Detective John Rebus Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read all of Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus tales. Thus, I've spent many hours with John Rebus, and his deep, dark, intensity. His world of pain and loss is usually Edinburgh where the city becomes a living being as conscious and present as Rebus himself-and the shadows that fill his life. In Tooth and Nail, we are thrust with Rebus into an alien land, London, and much more into the alien mind of the murderer. The insanity within the serial killer is disconcerting, creating anixity within us as we read the words. No longer are we curled up with a good book reading about paper characters. We become no more safe from the demons of imagination than the do victims in the novel. But Mr. Rankin not only chills us, he saves us, at least for the moment. I could not bear such unease if it wasn't for the realization that Inspector Rebus will succeed in the end, at least enough for me to sleep without nightmares . . bravo, Mr. Rankin. You are an artist.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, May 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Tooth and Nail (Detective John Rebus Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was my first Ian Rankin book. It was great. The book read very fast and kept my attention through the book.

The serial killer's MO was mysterious. I wanted to know "Why?". The book didn't disappoint and provided both the "Who" and "Why".

I would recommend it.