- Narrated by: James MacPherson
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
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- Format: Unabridged
- Published 2013 Orion Publishing
Rebus is back on the force, albeit with a demotion and a chip on his shoulder. A 30-year-old case is being reopened, and Rebus's team from back then is suspected of foul play. With Malcolm Fox as the investigating officer are the past and present about to collide in a shocking and murderous fashion?
My Take
John Rebus is out of retirement, back in C.I.D. no less, but on sufferance. He is meant to be taking care of record keeping and paper work but gets himself assigned to Siobhan Clarke. But now she is a Detective Inspector and he is only a Detective Sergeant, so she rules the roost, or does she?
Three cases run concurrently - one that Malcolm Fox has pulled out of old files that appears to be police corruption from the first team that Rebus was assigned to as a constable, the second case a dead mini cab driver fished out of the river with foul play suspected, and the third a female university student who has crashed her car on the verge of the freeway.
Rebus is assigned to Fox's office to assist with the investigation of his old colleagues and though Rebus is inclined to cast Fox in the role of the enemy he comes to see that they share a lot of similar values. Siobhan Clarke carries an olive branch between the two, but as usual Rebus is a bit obstinate.
There is an emphasis on how policing has changed - methods used decades ago to extract confessions are no longer acceptable and the Attorney General is determined that any miscarriage of justice in the past will be rooted out and corruption eliminated. But on the other hand other characters recognise that John Rebus gets results and describe his methods as "good old-fashioned policing."
An excellent read.
My rating: 4.7
I've also reviewed
THE COMPLAINTS
DOORS OPEN
HIDE & SEEK
4.4, BEGGARS BANQUET
4.4, WITCH HUNT - writing as Jack Harvey
4.5, THE FALLS
4.7, THE IMPOSSIBLE DEAD
4.8, STANDING IN ANOTHER MAN'S GRAVE
Glad you enjoyed this one, Kerrie. I do like this series a lot.
ReplyDeleteThis was my first Rankin book and I loved it!
ReplyDeleteI am waiting impatiently for this to come out in paperback here. I might give in and get the hardcover...I enjoyed your review very much. I love the John Rebus series, and have been willing the give the Malcolm Fox series some leeway, and ended up enjoying them too. It's interesting to see the two men together, for me Rebus always comes up the winner! Glad you enjoyed this one so much, Kerrie.
ReplyDelete