Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nietzsche's Gentlemen., 19 Jul 2006
Oh, the blessings of being an author with too much time on his hands. I can just picture Ian Rankin sitting in the house (farm? cottage?) he and his wife bought in rural Dordogne, having whizzed through the manuscript for yet another increasingly well-written John Rebus novel and - having left behind all other employment across the British Channel and neither inclined to carpentry nor gardening - feeling his mind growing restless, in need of occupation. Now, wouldn't you have started looking for another outlet for your creative energy had you been in his spot?
The result of the aforementioned process, which Rankin describes in the foreword of a 2000 compilation uniting all three novels in one volume, were a series of thrillers written under the pseudonym Jack Harvey: Jack for his newborn son, Harvey for his wife's maiden name.
In "Blood Hunt," the last of the three books, fans of Inspector Rebus meet an old acquaintance; George Reeve from the first Rebus novel, "Knots and Crosses." Only here he's the good guy - well, mostly; because there isn't such a thing as a clean-cut "good guy" in *any* Ian Rankin novel. In any event, "Blood Hunt" introduces us to Reeve's back story; his life as an outdoors survival teacher, and his own memories and nightmares of his service with the SAS - after we've already gotten a fair share of Rebus's in "Knots and Crosses" - particularly the Falklands campaign, during which he met the man who would soon turn out to be his biggest nemesis; as much as Reeve will later become a nemesis to Rebus.
Further, we learn that Reeve had a brother; a journalist on the trail of a story centering around a chemical company headquartered in San Diego. When that brother is murdered, Reeve's instincts as a hunter are awakened - and like a bull terrier he pits himself to the heels of those responsible for the murder and doesn't let go until he has brought them to justice: *his* kind of justice, that is, which isn't necessarily that of the police, but one they understand only too well. The SAS call themselves Nietzsche's gentlemen - believing in the self-proclaimed amoralist's teachings that the will to power is all that matters and all that controls life; and the novel's conclusion is very much in keeping with that adage.
As a back story to the first Rebus book, "Blood Hunt" works only just so - while the essential facts are in synch with Reeve's and Rebus's SAS past, to truly click with "Knots and Crosses," this book would have had to be written about a decade earlier, or vice versa, which in turn wouldn't square with the later Rebus books' historical and political references ... you get the picture. Read as a stand-alone, however, this is a tightly-plotted thriller, every bit as violent as the second Jack Harvey novel, "Bleeding Hearts" (there's a reason why blood figures in both books' titles) and, while based on a conspiracy theory that easily dates it as a mid-1990s release, as strong as both "Bleeding Hearts" and the best of the Rebus books on characters and settings (Scotland to San Diego, London, France and back, with - literally - a cliffhanger finale on the Outer Hebrides' rough mountainous territory). And then there's that children's rhyme that I don't think I'll ever hear quite the same way I used to ...
Although I'm happy enough for Rankin's success with Inspector Rebus and wouldn't want any story featuring Edinburgh's finest (and most hard-drinking) D.I. missing from my bookcases, in a way I regret that Rankin had to shelve Jack Harvey after only three books. So just in case, Mr. Rankin, in the unlikely event that you should ever resurrect that alter ego (or write a non-Rebus novel under your own name): I promise I'll read that one, too, and probably with just as much pleasure as any of your other books.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Anarchy versus Nietsche, 5 Jul 2006
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"Reeve had been one of Nietzsche's gentlemen. Nietzsche had carried on the work of Descartes and others- men who needed to dominate, to control, to eliminate chance. But while Nietzsche wanted superman, controllers, he also wanted people to live dangerously. Reeve felt he was fulfilling these criteria if no other. H was living dangerously. He just wondered if he needed mutual aide along the way."
Gordon Reeve was a soldier in the Counter-Revolutionary War fare Unit of the SAS; He was very skilled and much admired for his talents. After his last assignment where he was laid open to the enemy by his team mate and only survived by his great skill's he asked to be discharged. He started up his own business in the mountains of the UK. He married, had a son and one day a call from the US to tell him his brother had committed suicide.
Gordon flies to San Diego to find his brother's remains and becomes enmeshed in the murder of his brother. He discovers many interesting clues and becomes involved in the illegal wastes and products of chemical companies. Mystery and intrigue always follow Ian Rankin, and this is no different. The clues Gordon finds brings him to London, France, back to the US and in that time his home is bugged and his family is in danger. The people in the multi billion dollar chemical business have ties to the CIA and to al countries. Gordon Reeves faces real danger, and in the telling and sleuthing he discovers friends who assist him. Reeves is an amazing character and his mind is a steel trap much like BK's.. He is a complex character, as are all of Ian Rankin's. He has a personality that is likeable but so multifaceted that you become as enmeshed in the mystery and turn every corner encountered.
I like Gordon Reeve. He is a philosopher and his thoughtful discussion of anarchy and Nietzsche is fulfilling.
He is intelligent, complex and sexy. He loves his family, he is a man of few words but each word counts. Gordon Reeve is my kind of man, a man of mystery and delight.
Ian Rankin has introduced us to a new set of characters and they work. This is a man of intelligence with a love of philosophy and action. Contrary to others' opinions, this novel does work. Certainly,no one can compare to Remus, Ian Rankin's best known Scottish detective, but Gordon Reeves works for me. An altogether different kind of man and detective, he is a thinking woman's man. Highly recommended, prisrob 7-04-06
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good yarn!, 7 April 2006
I can read anything Ian Rankin writes all the time, at any time of day, in any place. I certainly enjoyed "Blood hunt" but for me the Rebus-series is my favorite. While waiting for a new Rebus adventure, a "Blood hunt" is very good pastime and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys Ian Rankin's books.
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