Knots And Crosses by Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin
1) Knots & Crosses 1987
The first of
the John Rebus novels and in the first chapter 'Rebus' is introduced and
we discover his physical characteristics as he compares himself with his
richer brother. We also learn that his sister-in-law hates him, blaming him
for the breakup of his marriage. Rebus is no high flyer and in this novel
is a detective sergeant, thinks nothing of drinking whisky before driving
or working and is affected by a career in the army - which is described in
more depth toward the end of the novel. He is Edinburgh through and through
and described the City in intimate detail. A passing reference to the Scott
Memorial and the tourists that go with it is described thus;-
"The Gothic missile of the Scott Monument pointed religious
believers in the right direction, but few of the tourists who snapped it
with their expensive Japanese cameras seemed at all interested in the structure's
symbolic connotations, never mind its reality, just as long as they had some
snaps of it to show off to their friends back home."
To see a snap taken of this monument on an expensive
Japanese camera go (but please come back) to
clivephoto
The novel , basically about the police hunt for a killer
of young girls with no sexual motive, is full of impossible clues and an
exciting climax. Rebus seems a bit naive in not realising that
the clues sent to him could be relevant but I suppose that makes the story.
I particularly enjoyed, because it suits my style of reading, the extremely
short chapters. Perhaps because I know that there are a lot more books in
the series, I couldn't help feeling that this book was not written as a 'one-off'
but as a taster for things to come. I look forward to reading the next one
in the series and have promised myself to read them in order - I think it
could be important.
I need to get tangled up in Knots and crosses Now please!
2) Hide & Seek 1990
being read at the moment !!
Please return me to your Index
page so that I can choose another author.
