Review: EVEN DOGS IN THE WILD, Ian Rankin

• this edition published by Orion books 2015
• ISBN 978-1-4091-5937-7
• 345 pages
• source: my local library
• #20 in the John Rebus series

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Rebus comes out of retirement...to save his nemesis.

Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke is feeling the heat. She's investigating the death of a senior government prosecutor, David Minton, who has friends in high places. When one of their own is killed, the powers that be want answers fast. But Clarke is puzzled: If Minton died in a robbery as everyone thinks, why is nothing missing from his home? The answer may lie not in what was taken but in what was left behind at the scene - an ominous note.

Malcolm Fox is feeling useless. Shunned by his colleagues because of his past in the Complaints bureau, he's been reassigned to a grunt detail, helping a surveillance team - one that trusts him even less than his own boss does - track a notorious Glasgow crime family. Helping Clarke with the Minton case is the only thing that makes Fox feel like a real cop.

Newly minted civilian John Rebus is feeling restless. Being a cop is in his blood, and he's failing miserably at retirement. So when Clarke and Fox ask for his help, Rebus doesn't need long to consider his options. But before he can get his bearings, a call comes from Rebus' old nemesis - "Big Ger" Cafferty. Someone just fired a bullet through his front window - and sent him a note identical to Minton's. The normally unflappable old gangster is on edge, but for the life of him Cafferty can't figure out who he's wronged. And the only man he trusts with his life is Rebus.

As the cases collide, it's up to Clarke, Fox, and Rebus to connect the dots and save their unlikely ally, Cafferty, whose past harbors a shocking secret that implicates Minton's friends in an unspeakable crime. Even Dogs in the Wild reunites crime fiction legend Ian Rankin's greatest characters in an explosive story exploring the darkest corners of our desires. 

My Take

I've actually read the two titles preceding this novel in the series, so it took me a while to get my bearings and to get things in order.

The novel; brings together all the main characters from the series to that point, shortly after Rebus' (enforced) retirement.

It is a very black novel based on the gangland underlying the structure of Edinburgh and Glasgow and the role of the police in maintaining equilibrium. The Edinburgh police find that they can't do without Rebus and his considerable knowledge.

It opens up avenues for further exploration, e.g. a relationship between  Malcolm Fox and Siobhan Clarke, which I don't think Rankin pursued.

Definitely one for those who have read earlier books, but possibly not for those who have not dipped a toe in that water.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read
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 $18
4.7, SAINTS OF THE SHADOW BIBLE #19
4.5, RATHER BE THE DEVIL #21
5.0, IN A HOUSE OF LIES   #22

Series (Fantastic Fiction)

Inspector Rebus
   1. Knots and Crosses (1987)
   2. Hide and Seek (1990)
   3. Tooth and Nail (1992)
     aka Wolfman
   4. Strip Jack (1992)
   5. The Black Book (1993)
   6. Mortal Causes (1994)
   7. Let It Bleed (1995)
   8. Black and Blue (1997)
   9. The Hanging Garden (1998)
   10. Dead Souls (1999)
   10.5. Death Is Not the End (1998)
   11. Set in Darkness (2000)
   12. The Falls (2001)
   13. Resurrection Men (2001)
   14. A Question of Blood (2003)
   15. Fleshmarket Close (2004)
     aka Fleshmarket Alley
   16. The Naming Of The Dead (2006)
   17. Exit Music (2007)
   18. Standing in Another Man's Grave (2012)
   19. Saints of the Shadow Bible (2013)
   20. Even Dogs in the Wild (2015)
   21. Rather Be the Devil (2016)
   22. In a House of Lies (2018)