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

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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. Rankin compiled a playlist for this imaginary CD on Spotify: Songs for Dark Times—chosen by Siobhan Clarke.

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. In Edinburgh, Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox are part of the Murder Inquiry Team looking into the mysterious killing of a Saudi student. This takes them into the world of wealthy international socialites and their financial projects. The dead man’s closest friend was a young Scottish aristocrat whose family trust owns most of the area around Tongue, so Rebus’s investigations overlap with Siobhan’s. 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 DetailsOverall, this is an engrossing and compelling read which is impossible to put down. Ian Rankin, in my opinion, is the master of this genre, the quality remains high throughout this long series and I can’t wait to read what happens next! Long live Rebus! 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! My wife used to say it was like I was having an affair - staying out too late, not home most weekends. And even when I did go home, the cases would still be in here.’ He tapped his forehead.”

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. 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... Stuart Kelly, “Book review: A Song For The Dark Times, by Ian Rankin,” The Scotsman 3 October 2020.

The twenty third novel featuring now retired Edinburgh police Inspector John Rebus finds him trying to help out his somewhat estranged daughter, Samantha, when her partner disappears. Meanwhile, former colleague DI Siobhan Clarke is caught up in the investigation of the murder of a wealthy Saudi student. At some point, some of the people in both cases intersect…could the cases be related? Or not? 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… 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.

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 is Rankin at his best, Rebus at his best, storytelling that meets the moment and transcends all genres and expectations’ MICHAEL CONNELLY As a practical matter, there's no way for Rebus to horn in on the investigation, but he is, after all, the protagonist of the series and the author has to invent something for him to do. The problem is resolved when Rebus's estranged daughter, Samantha, calls him in a panic in the middle of the night to tell him that her partner, Keith, the father of her daughter, has gone missing. Samantha lives in a remote area of northern Scotland and Rebus piles into his aging Saab and heads off to help her. I have been reading this series so long now that each new book gets an automatic five stars. I like all the characters, cannot fault the writing style, and always enjoy the humour and the police work. When I sit down with Inspector Rebus and Siobhan Clarke I know I am in for a good time.Soon, it is learned periphery threads to each case may exist leading investigators to wonder if the two are linked together. 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.