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Critics' Opinion:
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First Published:
Feb 2003, 448 pages
Paperback:
Jan 2004, 528 pages
With the brilliant eye for character and place that have made him a major international bestseller, Ian Rankin delivers yet another page-turning novel of intricate suspense set in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Inspector John Rebus has done it again. 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 exile: the remote Scottish Police College, where Rebus must undergo "retraining." And he is not alone. At the college, he joins a group of cops equally troubled by authority-the so-called Resurrection Men, granted one last chance to redeem themselves and save their careers. To learn the merits of teamwork, they're supposed to investigate a long-unsolved case.
But there are those on the team who have their own secrets-secrets connected to the very case they've been given-and they'll stop at nothing to protect them. As if that's not enough, the Scottish Crime Squad has a favor to ask of Rebus. They think they've found someone who can help them nail a notorious gangster who has controlled the Edinburgh criminal underground for years. All they need is someone to act as go-between-and they've decided on Rebus, whether he likes it or not.
Back in Edinburgh, with only a bumbling rookie at her side instead of her longtime mentor Rebus, newly promoted Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke works the case of the murdered art dealer, a case that takes a surprising turn toward the very gangster Rebus is pursuing. Soon Siobhan and Rebus find themselves in the thick of a scandal with conspirators in every corner of Scotland, men who have no problem spilling blood to get what they want.
Chapter 1
"Then why are you here?"
"Depends what you mean," Rebus said.
"Mean?" The woman frowned behind her glasses.
"Mean by 'here,' " he explained. "Here in this room? Here in this career? Here on the planet?"
She smiled. Her name was Andrea Thomson. She wasn't a doctor — she'd made that clear at their first meeting. Nor was she a "shrink" or a "therapist." "Career Analysis" was what it had said on Rebus's daily sheet.
2:30-3:15: Career Analysis, Rm 3.16.
With Ms. Thomson. Which had become Andrea at the moment of introduction. Which was yesterday, Tuesday. A "get to know" session, she'd called it.
She was in her late thirties, short and large-hipped. Her hair was a thick mop of blond with some darker streaks showing through. Her teeth were slightly oversized. She was self-employed, didn't work for the police full-time.
"Do any of us?" Rebus had asked yesterday. She'd looked a bit puzzled. "I mean, do any of us work full-time . . . that's why ...
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