A Song for the Dark Times

By: Ian Rankin

Narrated by: James Macpherson

From the iconic Number One bestseller Ian Rankin, comes one of the must-read books of the year: A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES

'Genius ... Only great novels capture the spirit of the age. This is one of them.'
THE TIMES

* * * * *

'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...

PRAISE FOR A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES:

'Magnificent ... utterly unputdownable and an immersive pleasure' MARIAN KEYES

'This is Rankin at his best, Rebus at his best, storytelling that meets the moment and transcends all genres and expectations' MICHAEL CONNELLY

'An outstanding addition to one of the finest bodies of work in crime fiction' MICK HERRON

'Rankin remains the king of the castle' THE TIMES

'Typically compelling' DAILY TELEGRAPH

'Masterly storytelling' SUNDAY EXPRESS

'Excellent' LIZ NUGENT

'The best that the crime genre can offer' FT

'Rankin grows better with time . . . Rebus grows ever more compelling' DAILY MAIL

* * * * *

PRAISE FOR THE ICONIC NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER:

'Ian Rankin is a genius'
LEE CHILD

'A master storyteller'
GUARDIAN

'Rebus is one of British crime writing's greatest characters: alongside Holmes, Poirot and Morse'
DAILY MAIL

'Great fiction, full stop'
THE TIMES

'One of Britain's leading novelists in any genre'
NEW STATESMAN

'Rankin is a phenomenon'
SPECTATOR

'Worthy of Agatha Christie at her best'
SCOTSMAN

'The king of crime fiction'
SUNDAY EXPRESS

****

Ian Rankin's SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 5th October 2020©2020 Ian Rankin (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group

Mediocre story, horribly read

I wish I had never started this story. it's a mediocre yarn, with a vast cast of unlikeable characters playing out a convoluted, pointless plot.

the story is delivered in a brogue so thick, I had to roll it back several times to make out was set. Lots of dialog with speakers unidentified or alternately ID'd by surnames, nicknames, and given names. it's confusing and irritating.

Way too much family angst.

I usually enjoy this series very much. But I found this one tedious and simply not up Rankin's usual.
Rebus he is called by his daughter to request his help and then she treats him like garbage when he's trying to help her, she runs a litany of all his wrongs. And the then considerable family squabbling overtakes the mystery itself.
irritating at its best, and a lackluster story at its worst. The most authentic character is Rebus himself as he actually continues to be who he really is.