This is the thirteenth novel featuring DI
Rebus of the Lothian and Borders police, and one too many of his insubordinate outbursts
has resulted in him being closeted with a group of other mavericks at
Tulliallen Police College on a course designed to bring them back into line. As
part of this they have to work together on the resurrection of a cold case -
the murder in Glasgow six years previous of low life Eric Lomax.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Siobhan Clarke is
part of the team investigating the recent murder of art dealer Edward Marber.
Newly promoted to DS, she is keen to make an impression but being Rebus’ protégée
comes with its problems – including a propensity to put herself in dangerous
situations.
A third case emerges when Rebus gets hauled
out of class by colleagues from the serious crimes squad who want to use his
(too) close relationship with gangster Big Ger Cafferty to turn one of his
underlings whose son has been arrested. And then a fourth thread emerges as Rebus
suspects some of his fellow ‘resurrection men’ at Tulliallen are hiding past misdemeanours.
As connections grow between the cases and the
personnel involved, Rebus uses his intuition and a poke a beehive with a stick
approach to flush out the truth, catch the villains and gain some posthumous
payback for the victims.
All the usual action, angst and animosity
are here, put together with Rankin’s crisp dialogue and choice turns of phrase
that give his books an appeal beyond their genre.
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