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An Inspector Rebus Novel (A Rebus Novel, 23)
by Ian Rankin
A thrilling new Rebus novel about crime, punishment, and redemption, from the Edgar Award-winning "genius" of the genre (Lee Child, bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series)
"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…
What are you reading this week? (7/17/2025)
Just finished Daniel Silva's latest and it was really fun - more like a caper! Now I am reading "The Cardinal" by Alison Weir about Thomas Wolsey - fascinating. I am listening to Ian Rankin's "Song for The Dark Times." My husband and I are huge fans of his Inspector Rebus books.
-Susan_C
"Like Louise Penny, Rankin consistently finds clever ways of involving his retired detective in new investigations. Rankin hits on all cylinders here: he makes the most of the fascinating internment-camp story; he injects new life into the familiar mystery trope of an outside investigator roiling the surface calm of an insular community; and he continues to develop the rich interplay between Rebus and Clarke…As Tartan Noir grows in popularity, Rankin continues to lead the charge. His high-profile presence on social media will be particularly important in the pandemic era." ―Booklist (starred review)
"Edgar winner Rankin's excellent 23rd outing for John Rebus…As the two plots converge, the various credible, complex backstories coalesce into a highly satisfying and unified whole. This fresh entry boasts the kind of storytelling that made Rankin famous." ―Publishers Weekly
This information about A Song for the Dark Times was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ian Rankin is a #1 international bestselling author. Winner of an Edgar Award and the recipient of a Gold Dagger for fiction and the Chandler-Fulbright Award, he lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife and their two sons.
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