”Who is it exactly that you’ve been speaking to, Siobhan?”“He’s an ex-cop. Been retired a few years. And if I know him, he’ll be turning up here in the next ten or fifteen minutes.”“Feel like telling us a bit about him before that happens?”“In ten or fifteen minutes?” Clarke gave a little snort. “I doubt I’d be able to do him justice.” Sigh. Another Rebus book devoured. So wonderful to have spent time in his company again. Sigh because the ending left me satisfied, with the carrot dangli

Although John Rebus is retired and suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, he is drawn into Siobhan Clarke’s latest investigation. A skeleton is discovered in the woods and later determined to be that of a man Rebus and his team tried to find years ago. Because they were never able to locate the missing man, the team fell under serious scrutiny for their failure to solve the case. There were accusations of incompetence and corruption, and Malcolm Fox is brought in to evaluate the i...

Okay, I understand that Ian Rankin can write crime. That much is obvious. But In A House of Lies has been coined a ‘thriller’, and honestly, the first half of the novel is about as thrilling as my Monday evenings. Rankin takes a lot of time setting the scene with so many different characters, both from Rebus’ past and quite a few new faces, which ultimately leads to too many threads leading to the investigation. In A House of Lies by Ian Rankin is out now from Orion Books. My rating: 2.5*.The st...

I stayed up very late last night because I just had to finish this excellent book. I find I am having no trouble adjusting to this old, unwell Rebus because, although he runs out of breath climbing stairs, he never runs out of brain power and disrespect for the system. For Rebus solving the crime is everything and he uses every avenue available to him to do exactly that.Because he is retired Rebus uses Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox as his entree to the secrets of the police enquiry. To this he

Book 22 in the John Rebus series published 2018.3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.Book 22 and it’s fair to say that John Rebus is no longer in his prime. Now into his sixties and with his health suffering from a lifetime of self inflicted abuse. A man who epitomises the old adage of “the spirit’s willing but the flesh is weak” but for all that he so longs to still be a part of what was his former life. When a body, decomposed with age, turns up in the boot of a car and the police are clueless as to who

There’s no doubt that Ian Rankin is one of Britain’s finest crime fiction writers, in recent times maybe the best of all. But he’s now having to address a problem of his own making: by allowing his Edinburgh detective to age in real time he now finds that his frontman is well past 60 and therefore at a point he can no longer actively serve. So what now? It’s the same issue a number of other well respected crime writers are facing (James Lee Burke and Michael Connelly spring instantly to mind) an...

First this not an Inspector Rebus because he is now 72 finished he is past it, not even been brought back for cold cases. This perfect example of money wasted as police officers are made to retire at 60 yet load of the good offices do not become brilliant till 55-57.This is Siobhan Clarke 's big case when body turns up murdered back in 2006 it is one of John's unsolved missing cases but It is not just her its also Malcolm Fox too. So Got three way cross old fart Rebus, Siobhan & Fox as well as g...

Time Rebus retired for goodI’ve been a fan of Ian Rankin’s Rebus from his early books but I think it’s time for one of us to part company.Earlier books were cutting edge but I found this one to be tired, cliched and with a story that stretched credibility too much and relied on chance just a bit too often.If this was the work of a newer writer, I might have given it four stars because even though the writing fails to sparkle the story is better than average. But truth is I expect better from Ran...

John Rebus is now pushing 70 and has been retired from Scotland's Lothian and Borders Police for several years. He's been retired so long that the Lothian and Borders Police no longer exists; it's now Police Scotland. But all of his former colleagues are now a part of this "new" police force, and it's not really true that Rebus is retired. Being a detective is his life and he won't retire until that final exit music plays and he draws his last breath.He keeps his hand in because his former colle...

So Ian Rankin gives us the 22nd in the Edinburgh series featuring the iconic DI John Rebus, except Rebus is retired, although when was that ever going to stop him? He may well have given up the fags and curbed his excessive need for the drink, he may well have trouble climbing the stairs with his emphysema but he has not forgotten his well honed detective gut instincts. A group of schoolboys in Poretoun wood discover a well hidden red VW polo, in the boot is the body of a dead man with his feet

Well there's nothing stopping Rebus is there?Coming back on the scene for a cold case and getting into some really troubling lies.Set in Edinburgh, it's familiar territory as far as the city goes, but there's nothing familiar about what Rebus finds in this novel.Tip: Venture yee not into Poretoun woods near the city. Oh they're fictional thank goodness. Just as well.Loved the warmth and humour of the novel that only Rebus/Rankin can give. I've been on a 'wacky race' around Edinburgh a few times

This is the twenty-second novel featuring Scottish police detective Inspector John Rebus. It appears thirty-one years after the first book in the series, Knots and Crosses, and Rebus, who was no spring chicken when readers first met him, has been allowed to age in real time. He's now nearing seventy and is in poor health with COPD. He's had to give up liquor and cigarettes, and even worse, he's been forced to retire. He spends a lot of his time now walking his dog, Brillo.This presents the autho...

I have a soft spot for Rebus given it was this series that got me interested in reading crime fiction in the first place, and I can't believe we still have new additions to it so many years after it began, not that there is any reason to stop producing a series that is universally popular. This is, in fact, the twenty-second novel to feature Edinburgh-based former Detective Inspector John Rebus of Police Scotland. You often find as a series wears on that the author becomes a little despondent an...

The latest John Rebus novel by Ian Rankin is simply delicious.A car is found with a skeleton in it. The skeleton of a young man who went missing several years early. Problem is, the car wasn't there when the police searched the area.Now the case is being reopened, with Siobhan Clarke and Malcom Fox involved, whilst Rebus flits around the edges making a hairy arsed nuisance of himself. Add a couple of bent coppers and someone stalking Siobhan, and you have a classic, gritty, Ian Rankin novel.Ofte...

Rebus may have been told that he is in a “managed decline,” but I’m delighted to say that Ian Rankin certainly isn’t. In A House Of Lies is excellent.When long-dead body is discovered in an abandoned car Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox are part of the MIT investigating. Rebus, now well retired from the force, was part of the original investigation and becomes involved in this, too – not always to the delight of the team. It’s classic Rankin: complex, well structured and nuanced, with his three ce...

His lawyer was waiting at the steps, ready for battle, his freshly shaved face roseate and gleaming. Rebus didn’t know him, but he knew the type – tailored like a shop-window mannequin and spritzed all over by an aerosol called privilege…In a House of Lies opens with four eleven year old youths jostling each other in a wood outside Edinburgh. One slips and falls into a gully, finds a car dumped there, hidden by branches. The boot is opened to reveal a body. DNA ties the vehicle and body to that

Ian Rankin's legendary creation John Rebus may have retired from the police force, but he's lost none of his investigation skills. With over twenty books in the Rebus series Rankin, like the detective himself, shows no sign of slowing down.In A House Of Lies is dramatic, thrilling & surprising. It's also full of humour & great dialogue.....& that's just the first two chapters.It is perhaps more of a John Rebus/Siobhan Clarke thriller, as Rebus is now retired & it's not quite as easy to squeeze h...

Not five star is the determination of the correct edition I actually read since it does not appear in the long list of editions. I could monkey with it, but I won't. Mine is US edition from Little Brown and 372 pages. I did earlier take advantage of the free preview Kindle from Amazon and enjoyed it.After the preview, I knew I would love the book. It manages to be fresh. Such new life was breathed into this 22nd Rebus book that it sparkles. Ian Rankin rules!Yes, Rebus appears with his little dog...

In a House of Lies is the best Ian Rankin book that I have read in some time. As usual, pain-in-the-ass now-retired detective John Rebus still lurks around the police station from which he retired, inserting himself into cases where he has no legal authority. He does this partly because he has nothing else to do and partly because a careful examination of some of these cases could lead back to some rather questionable things that he did as a police officer.The current case involves a car that is...

Now the looong wait for #23....review to follow.