A Song for the Dark Times: The Brand New Must-Read Rebus Thriller

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In a Prologue, Rebus moves down two flights of stairs to the ground-floor flat in the same Arden Street tenement, with a lot of help from Siobhan Clarke. His first morning in the new flat, he gets a call from his daughter Samantha saying her partner, Keith, is missing.

I've been reading the Rebus novels for many years & it's great to see this legend in print again, ably supported by Rankin's other creations of Siobhan Clarke & Big Ger Cafferty. I'm really torn though. On the one hand I want Rebus to keep going, but on the other hand I think it's time to end the series while it's still got some guts to it. I would hate to find a character I've loved for a long time appears in a series of mediocre novels. Better to end on a high note while there's still time.

Rebus is ageing with the rest of us and is now suffering from COPD. He is, therefore having to make changes to his way of life, including giving up smoking and cutting down on the booze. He is retired, of course, but he is still his old, dogged, determined, contrary and sometimes bloody-minded self. When his daughter Samantha’s partner goes missing in the far north of Scotland, Rebus goes there immediately, pursuing enquiries in spite of repeated warnings from local police to stay out of it and leave it to them. Meanwhile, DIs Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox are investigating a murder in Edinburgh, which may have some connection to Rebus’s case. New solo album by my friend Grant-Lee Phillips. Raw and intense, just great songwriting and that superb voice Dean Owens go to album

He wasn’t the best father – the job always came first – but now his daughter needs him more than ever. But is he going as a father or a detective? In a review of a Peter Robinson novel a few weeks ago, I complained about the fact that, deep into the series, Robinson had created such a wide cast of characters that his main protagonist was getting lost in the shuffle. To some extent, the same is true here and in this case the problem is further compounded by the fact that Rebus is retired and cannot actively participate in criminal investigations any longer. Thus Rebus disappears on a regular basis throughout the novel as the story focuses on the investigation into the murder of the Saudi student.This time, our retired detective, suffering from COPD, has moved home to a ground floor flat and has his former assistant looking after his dog while he gads about the Highlands trying to solve the murder of his estranged daughter’s partner. Siobhan has her own mystery to solve: a young Saudi found murdered in his fancy car in Edinburgh. Are the murders related? Given this is fiction, they have to be, even in some remote way, to make the plot work. Rebus’ daughter Sam begins to understand the reality of her Dad’s working life from her dealings with the police relating to her partner’s disappearance. It’s as if both father and daughter are starting to realise the missed opportunities to get to know each other as she grew up. How hard it would be to make amends. Thanks for "Red Kites". Well, the whole album actually. Saw an Uncut magazine review out here in the southern Utah dust and thought I should give it a listen. Glad I did. Jerry Cooney go to album And they got my fingerprints. And all the time it was happening, I was thinking: this is what my Dad used to do; this is how he spent his working life. No emotion, no warmth, just a job to be got on with.'” Lately whenever I finish a Rebus novel, I always feel I've just said goodbye to a friend I may never see again. Book 23! And Book 24 has just hit the shelves. I will be devastated when this series ends, as end it must.

As this twenty third book in the series opens Rebus is moving house. Well strictly speaking he’s still in the same building but moving down from his upper floor flat to the ground floor. He’s suffering from COPD, a chronic disease that obstructs the flow of air to his lungs. That means no ciggies and no booze. Oh dear, this isn’t going to be quite the same John Rebus regular readers (like me) have grown to know and love. He’s retired now from his role as a senior Edinburgh detective but he stays close to DI Siobhan Clarke – who is actually at this point helping him with the logistics of the move. However, Rebus is distracted by an urgent call from his daughter, her partner Keith has gone missing and she’s fraught with worry. Nothing to do but leave things in Siobhan’s capable hands and skedaddle up to the far north coast of Scotland where she lives. Retired he may be but here’s a ‘case’ he can get teeth into. The story is actually divided between his daughter's new adopted home of Naver, a remote village in the far north of Scotland, and Edinburgh where Clarke, Fox and the folks in CID are investigating the murder of. Saudi student that may, or may not, be racially, or perhaps politically, motivated. It takes the Detectives into a murky world of property development, wealthy investors, battles over land ownership and development and within the sights of a certain Big Ger Cafferty. Rebus may be out of town but that won't stop Big Ger toying with the police, especially when it is to his financial benefit. The way in which Big Ger is brought into the story is very carefully and cleverly done, the potential from what happens certainly makes for an intriguing opening for the next book in the series. Rebus immediately makes the long drive to the (fictional) village of Naver near Tongue in the extreme north of Scotland. He finds Keith’s body. In trying to discover why he was murdered, he gets to know his granddaughter’s father for the first time; Keith had been obsessed with the history of a nearby World War II prison camp, some of whose survivors settled locally and are still alive. The local police see Samantha as the obvious suspect in Keith’s murder. While Rebus can’t help considering this possibility, he frantically researches other options. Samantha is devastated and blames it all on him. What follows is alternating chapters between the organized and fully resourced investigation in Edinburgh and the rather country-bumpkin style one in the Highlands. The contrasting styles of city vs. country cop are on display, with Rebus straddling both. Ian Rankin seems to be setting up his dated Rebus series with succession planning by giving equal billing to the retired curmudgeon’s former partner, Siobhan Clarke, in the solving of a double murder in this his 23rd book in the series.The story is really two in one. Siobhan Clarke a protege of Rebus investigates a murder. Whilst Rebus goes north to support his daughter whose partner has been murdered. Rebus leaves his dog Brillo with Siobhan during this period. This is Rankin at his best, Rebus at his best, storytelling that meets the moment and transcends all genres and expectations.’