Knots and Crosses

Inspector Rebus, Book 1

By: Ian Rankin

Narrated by: Michael Page

Detective John Rebus' city is being terrorized by a baffling series of murders…and he's tied to a maniac by an invisible knot of blood. As the ghoulish killings mount and the tabloid headlines scream, Rebus cannot stop the feverish shrieks from within his own mind. Because he isn't just one cop trying to catch a killer - he's the man who's got all the pieces to the puzzle…

©2013 Ian Rankin (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc

Meeting Rebus, Properly

The first John Rebus book I enjoyed was Saints of the Shadow Bible (#19). I liked it so well I decided to try the series. It was interesting to see Rebus transform from being almost mechanical and disengaged to become a no-nonsense force of authority not to be toyed with. The book seemed a little slow at first, but kept gaining momentum. Now, I'm officially hooked!

The character of Rebus is a hoot!

The. Story itself was a little predictable and not very realistic. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Boozy detective, tortured past...

I wanted to start this series at the beginning after seeing many fond references to Rebus in lists of the best mysteries and crime novels, and even references in other fiction in which a character is reading "the latest Rebus". I can see this is a promising start to a series, but as a reader I needed more sights and sounds and development of the story's "atmosphere". It may be awhile until I take up the next -- the angry, boozy detective with a tortured past genre is best in limited doses.

I will switch to the paperbacks in future as needed. The narration was distracting, though of course not everyone can be Simon Prebble (my favorite). Narration of the straight text and of Rebus' voice is fine, but the narrator seems to use only an impossibly (and implausibly) gravelly voice for the other male characters. A Scottish accent for a story that takes place in Edinburgh would also enhance the narration.

A Good Book but a little predictible

It starts out as in interesting story but soon becomes very suspicious. Cops don't get cryptic notes about pending cases and not get suspicious or involve the rest of their department. This part is really far fetched. Then as the story unravels it becomes rather obvious that this must be related to the unspoken problem with his military past. The rest is just a roller coaster ride to the end and the inevitable conclusion.

Dramatic and Predictable

Cliches abound in this predictable yet simultaneously unbelievable narrative but the one thing that did surprise me was the detective, a clueless moron who did absolutely zero police work throughout the whole book. The narrator has a great, theatrical voice however discerning the age of the characters was difficult because everyone sounds like a 60+ chain smoker. I was startled when at one point in the book the main character started describing a 40 year old woman as being old because up until that point I assumed the protagonist was well into his 60’s. I’m not sure what I just read.