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

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Ian Rankin's novels featuring Scottish Detective Inspector John Rebus have long been one of the best crime series going. Sadly, at least to my mind, Rankin decided early on to let the character age in real time, which means that, after over thirty years, Rebus is now retired and not aging well. After a long lifetime of drinking and smoking, Rebus has COPD and can no longer climb the stairs to the second-floor home where he has lived for years. As the book opens, Rebus is in the process of moving to a new home on the first floor of the same building, assisted by his longtime friend and associate Siobhan Clarke. 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. Still with his finger on the pulse of Edinburgh’s underbelly, Big Ger isn’t quite ready to hang up his hat yet. But with technology and the changing face of crime, he’s slowly losing his grasp on the criminal fraternity. Finding it harder to guard his patch. It may just be a matter of time to consider taking the “proceeds of” and retiring to the Costa del Crime. But pride will not allow this. As with Rebus, he is dogged and stubborn. Refusing to believe he has aged. It may have been a while since John Rebus retired, but the aging ex-detective still finds trouble follows him whereever he goes. A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts, on Channel 4 in 2002. He recently received the OBE for services to literature, and opted to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.

An early morning call at 5.00am means Rebus doesn’t have time to dwell on feeling unsettled in his new lodgings. His daughter, Sam, is distraught. Her partner, the father of her child, is missing. The window in the main bedroom had been opened to air the place. It looked bigger of course, without the furniture and the restless figure of John Rebus." I have been craving a really good read with a great plot and strong characters and certainly got it with this book. Rebus may be retired but he still delivers. Apparently once a policeman always a policeman. Age may be catching up with him but the mind is still sharp. COPD has forced him to move to a ground floor apartment but he takes his cold case files with him for a little light reading. A Song For The Dark Times by Ian Rankin is number twenty-three in the now-retired Inspector John Rebus series.John Rebus, sidelined but refusing to succumb, remains standing alone of all the other characters. Hell, even Cafferty is more interesting than Clarke and Fox! 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.'”

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? I miss the more youthful Rebus. Everything has aged including big Ger Cafferty. I suppose that is life. I sense that Siobhan Clarke will ultimately take the Rebus mantle when he passes. But hopefully not for a long time. PDF / EPUB File Name: A_Song_for_the_Dark_Times_-_Inspector_Rebu_-_Ian_Rankin.pdf, A_Song_for_the_Dark_Times_-_Inspector_Rebu_-_Ian_Rankin.epubBook Genre: British Literature, Crime, Cultural, European Literature, Fiction, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Scotland, Thriller And it wouldn’t be a Rebus novel without everyone’s favourite crim - Big Ger Cafferty - making an appearance. Rebus’ nemesis. Two sides of the same coin. Both old school. On opposing sides of the law. Time standing still for neither of them. Ian Rankin's Rebus novels have always been thoroughly entertaining. However, the recent entries in the series show that the author is having trouble squeezing his legendary creation into the crimes he is investigating. This latest story is more personal, so Rebus becoming involved is more natural. He’s gone…” When his daughter Samantha calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it’s not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days. Rebus fears the worst – and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect. 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? As he leaves at dawn to drive to the windswept coast – and a small town with big secrets – he wonders whether this might be the first time in his life where the truth is the one thing he doesn’t want to find… A Song for the Dark Times (Inspector Rebus) by Ian Rankin – eBook Details Each chapter is dedicated to a day in this unfolding story. One week in total. During which not only are old crimes unearthed, and new ones needing to be solved, but Rebus has to dig deep to get to know his daughter again. An absent father while she was growing up, to say their relationship is strained is putting it mildly. He now reflects on who he is as a person, and who he was a father.

At least Rebus’ faithful companion, his wee dog Brillo, is there, keeping him company. He’s smuggled his way even further into Rebus’ heart, and now sleeps in his bed. A fact which Rebus vigorously denies. It still warms my heart that this mite is playing on Rebus’ “human” side, as while a fulltime copper, he didn’t have time to love another, whether family, lover, or other. It was all about the case load. He lived and breathed his work. Total commitment. 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. 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 fears the worst – and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect. When his daughter Samantha calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it’s not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days.

Brexit), είναι όμως τόσο άτσαλο και από το πουθενά. Τα αστυνομικά αρκεί να είναι αστυνομικά ξερωγω (#γνωμημου), και όχι όπως άκουσα πρόσφατα αμπελοφιλοσοφίες σε ένα ελληνικό podcast για το αστυνομικό βιβλίο με δύο καλεσμένους, η δε τύπισσα που έχει γράψει από τα χειρότερα ελληνικά αστυνομικά εκτός του ότι είπε αυτές τις δηθενιές για πολιτικό περιεχόμενο στο αστυνομικό (να έχει και πολιτικό περιεχόμενο μάνα μου, αλλά ξερωγω να ασχολείται και ο αστυνομικός λίγο με την υπόθεση, έτσι για ξεκάρφωμα λέω εγώ), είπε ότι συμβουλεύται και δύο αστυνομικούς για αυτά που γράφει (λογικά κάποιον της Τροχαίας...). Καλά ο άλλος το παίζει true crime α λά ελληνικά... Police procedurals are full of mundane office politics, idle chit-chat which sometimes give away clues, dull plodding, CCTV footage, after-work drinking, lots of take-out food eaten on the job, and pots and pots of tea. The life of a cop is pretty empty, is what these books always convey. The private lives of cops are non-existent, relationships are cursory, whatever progeny they have is damaged, vacations are boring, and work is their defining activity. And even cops, and the children of cops, cheat on their spouses. Unlike in P.I murder mysteries where the loop of suspicion is circumscribed to a remembered list of suspects, these cop stories have many more characters, with names, even for just throwaway scenes. Therefore, there are more possible villains and outcomes to choose from, making it nigh impossible for the reader to guess whodunit. Rebus thought again of the books he decided he couldn’t live without, even if he would never read them; the albums he played maybe once or twice a decade but still clung to; the boxes of case files that seemed a veritable part of him, like an extra limb. Why would he part with them when he had a spare bedroom no overnight ever graced?" 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. Any fan of police procedurals should enjoy this book. The storylines are tight, and enough bread crumbs are dropped that a careful reader will have a good shortlist of suspects for the crimes. The relationships among the characters fill out the story. It gave me a little thrill that Siobhan and Malcolm are working together. It’s a good way to expand Siobhan’s role, with Rebus edging off the stage.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. 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.