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Hide And Seek (Inspector Rebus)
 
 
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Hide And Seek (Inspector Rebus) (Paperback)

by Ian Rankin (Author) "'Hide!' He was shrieking now, frantic, his face drained of all colour ..." (more)
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Orion; New edition edition (12 Jan 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0752809415
  • ISBN-13: 978-0752809410
  • Product Dimensions: 17.9 x 11.1 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 40,153 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #37 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > R > Rankin, Ian > Complete List

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Product Description

Product Description
A junkie lies dead in an Edinburgh squat, spreadeagled, cross-like on the floor, between two burned-down candles, a five-pointed star daubed on the wall above. Just another dead addict - until John Rebus begins to chip away at the indifference, treachery, deceit and sleaze that lurks behind the facade of the Edinburgh familiar to tourists. Only Rebus seems to care about a death which looks more like a murder every day, about a seductive danger he can almost taste, appealing to the darkest corners of his mind . . .

About the Author
Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature. His first Rebus novel was published in 1987, and the Rebus books are now translated into more than twenty languages and are bestsellers worldwide. Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005. In 2004, Ian won America's celebrated Edgar Award for Resurrection Men. He has also been shortlisted for the Anthony Award in the USA, won Denmark's Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir and the Deutscher Krimipreis. Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Hull and the Open University. A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts. Rankin is a number one bestseller in the UK and has received the OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Twisting, dark, complex; impossible to put down, 16 Aug 2001
By A Customer
Expertly written, Rankin intertwines the plot with the development of the characters, creating a sense of "real time" and suspense often so lacking in other mysteries. The reader is left in as much suspense and doubt as Rebus, waiting for the case to be solved. Even if you suspect who's involved in the crime, the complexity of the plot will surprise you and is tantalisingly held back by Rankin until the final pages. I recommend reading "Knots & Crosses" (also superb) first though as some of this story is referred to in "Hide & Seek".
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars The second Rebus, promotion, and more mature writing, 22 April 2005
By Budge Burgess (Kilmarnock, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
The second in the series, with John Rebus now promoted to inspector, here we have a policeman who has grown considerably since his first appearance in "Knots and Crosses". His elevation in rank gives him more clout - he can be more dynamic, initiate more, take firmer control of his own world than he could as a mere sergeant.

The changes in Rebus' status are paralleled by Rankin's own growing confidence as a writer. This is a more thoroughly constructed character and a more developed plot than in the first novel. It is a much better book.

Rankin returns, however, to a theme of "Knots and Crosses". Edinburgh is one of the great European cities: it's easy to simply imagine it as an elegant, cultured environment, to have difficulties situating a mystery / crime novel in any vein other than some sort of cosy, Festival setting. Rankin sets out from the start to portray Edinburgh as a city with poverty, crime, drugs, and the capacity for debauchery, degradation, and evil which Stevenson sought to explore even before his "Jekyll and Hyde". Rankin gives us two sides of the city.

Rebus investigates the death of a drug user in a less than elegant area of the city. Other police officers dismiss the dead man as a 'junkie' who got what was coming to him. Is this one facet of evil - that in death someone can be stripped of any right to dignity or decency simply because they had a drug problem? Rebus is prepared to extend elementary human respect to the 'deceased ... and speculate on whether or not he might have been a 'victim'.

As Rebus begins to unravel the events leading up to the death, he's led into Edinburgh's underworld of drugs, rent-boys, even the occult. At the same time, he is being feted by some of the richest and most influential names in Edinburgh society and mixes in circles beyond the ken of most police inspectors. Rebus' investigations will expose links between these two extremes and create a societal model of Jekyll and Hyde.

A better work than the first in the series, and one which is not without irony and rye humour - Rebus gets a sidekick in the form of a policeman called Holmes - Rebus as a character is more confident, and more confidently drawn. I would, however, reiterate the advice I gave about the first Rebus title - buy "Rebus: The Early Years", which offers an anthology of the first three Rebus novels ("Knots and Crosses", "Hide and Seek", and "Tooth and Nail"). It's better value, and helps you appreciate the growth and maturation of Rankin's writing.

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12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars On hunting a modern-day Mr. Hyde., 21 April 2004
By Themis-Athena (from somewhere between California and Germany) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
He had wanted to update Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"for modern times, Ian Rankin writes about his first Inspector Rebus novel,"Knots and Crosses" in the introduction to the 1999 compilation "Rebus:The Early Years," which contains the first three installments of theseries. Oblivious to the mere existence of such a thing as the mysterygenre - or so Rankin says - he was stunned to soon hear his book describedfirst and foremost as a crime novel. But eventually this characterizationprompted him to have a closer look at the work of other mystery writers,and he found that the form suited his purposes just fine; that in fact he"could say everything [he] wanted to say about the world, and still givereaders a pacy, gripping narrative."
Bearing in mind the original duality of Jekyll and Hyde, however, Rankin'stales are not dominated by a contrast painted in black and white. Whilethe villains Inspector Rebus faces are certainly every bit as evil asStevenson's Mr. Hyde, Rebus himself is far from a clean-slated "good guy:"Divorced, cynical, hard-drinking and a former member of the SAS, he is abrother in spirit to every noir detective from Dashiell Hammett's SamSpade and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe to Michael Connelly's HarryBosch, James Ellroy's squad of crooked cops and Peter Robinson's AlanBanks. Nor is Rebus's Edinburgh the touristy town of Calton Hill, castleand Summer Festival (although the series has meanwhile sparked real-lifeguided tours to its most famous locations, too) - as befitting a truedetective of his ilk, Rankin's antihero moves primarily in the city's darkand dirty underbelly, which is populated by society's losers and wherethose who have "made it," those with money in their pockets, only show upif they have shady deals to conduct as well.
The title of Rankin's second Rebus novel, "Hide and Seek," is an even moreovert play on Robert Louis Stevenson's famous dual character(s) than themere juxtaposition of cop and killer in "Knots and Crosses;" and when thevillain's identity is finally unveiled, the parallels between this bookand Stevenson's become even more obvious. Here, Rebus is on the hunt forthe killer of a junkie whose half-naked body is found in a run-down,deserted building in the Pilmuir housing estates - the worst part of town,notwithstanding a nearby construction project involving high-priced luxurycondominiums - positioned crucifixion-style and near a drawing possiblyhinting at Satanic rituals. And Rebus's only witness seems to be the youngwoman who had been living with the dead man for the last three months andheard him yell "Hide!" before pushing her out of the door, telling her:"They've murdered me;" but who is now more than just a little reluctant tocooperate, taking refuge, instead, behind an almost unbreakablerebel-against-society-facade, complete with peroxide hair, stud earringsand Attitude with a capital "A."
While this series had a terrific start already in its first two novels,published in 1987 and 1991, Rebus's character - and Rankin's writing - hasevolved significantly over time. Thus, it is probably wise to read it inthe order of publication. Contrary to the novels he wrote under thepseudonym Jack Harvey, however, and which he views much more critically inhindsight, Ian Rankin overall still seems to be happy with his early Rebusbooks, commenting: "I can't read them without thinking back to my ownearly years, my apprenticeship as a crime writer. Read and enjoy." I havenothing to add to that ...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Big Step Forward
This is the second book Ian Rankin's inspector Rebus series. I am a big fan of the whole series of books (which now runs to over a dozen books) and this is a good book, a... Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2005 by J. E. Davidson

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark, Chilling and Brilliant!
The second novel in the Rebus series, this is one of Rankins darkest and chilling.
When a junkie is found dead, laid out like a cross in an Edinburgh tenement, a pentagram... Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Read
As far as I know, Rankin's later books are said to be better. Well I can't wait to read them as 'Hide & Seek' was a great whodunnit in its own right. Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2001 by Iain A Donaldson

4.0 out of 5 stars Compulsively readable, plot lets it down.
I started this novel at five o clock one evening, and i had finished it by the time i went to sleep. Read more
Published on 18 April 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars DC Rebus unvovers the seamy side of establishment Edinburgh
Almost accidentally stumbling across a dead junkie the acerbic DC Rankin, Edinburgh Police's finest finds himself uncovering the layers of murk that hide the nasty truth behind... Read more
Published on 31 Mar 1999

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