Amazon.co.uk Review
Rebus is back.
Resurrection Men, the 13th DI Rebus novel, finds Ian Rankins doughty detective off the case. He explodes at his superior DCS Gill Templar over the increasingly frustrating murder inquiry into the savage killing of an Edinburgh art dealer and his punishment is a spell cooling his heels at the Scottish Police College in central Scotland. Rebus balks at his "retraining" but hes not alone: hes part of an ill-assorted group of similar officers--all with an attitude problem and a dislike of the institution they find themselves in. Given an old unsolved case to work on the group is obliged to polish up their teamwork while supervisors assess the reprobates. But some of the team have secrets not unconnected to the case theyve been handed and Rebus finds that anything goes when it comes to keeping the past obscured.
This is Rankin in top form with Rebus rejuvenated by the edgy new milieu hes dropped into. Complicating things, the Scottish Crime Squad asks Rebus to act as a link to someone who can deliver the inside dirt on an old nemesis, gangster "Big Ger" Cafferty. In Edinburgh, Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke has to take over the case of the murdered art dealer and, like Rebus, finds herself getting closer to the unpleasant Mr Cafferty. Forget the miscast John Hannah in the TV movies, this is the real Rebus: gritty, idiomatic and etched in prose that wastes nae a word in its redefining of the crime novel. --Barry Forshaw
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Product Description
Rebus is off the case - quite literally. A few days into a murder inquiry following the brutal death of an Edinburgh art dealer, Rebus blows up at his superior, DCS Gill Templer, and is sent into purdah. Which, in his case, means the Scottish Police College, sited on the edge of a village in central Scotland. Rebus has been sent there for 'retraining'. In other words, it's his Last Chance Saloon. He is not alone. At the college, he is put into a group of similar officers - people who have a problem with the very institution which houses them. They are given an old unsolved case to work on. It will hopefully teach them the merits of teamwork, while allowing professionals the chance to assess this unholy 'wild bunch'. But there are those in the team who have their own secrets - secrets not unconnected to the very case they've been given - and they'll stop at nothing to protect them. As if that wasn't enough, the Scottish Crime Squad have a favour to ask of Rebus. They think they've found someone who can deliver the inside info on the east coast's biggest gangster, 'Big Ger' Cafferty. All they need is a link-man, someone to act as go-between. They've decided on Rebus whether he likes it or not.
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