Ian Rankin's The Black Book is the 5th of his Inspector John Rebus series set in Edinburgh; this is the first of his novels I've read. Although in his early thirties when he wrote this tale, Rankin shapes Rebus with a world-weary cast, delivering a startlingly interior view of his middle-aged detective. Rebus isn't a 20s-something swashbuckler; nor has his passion died -- instead, it smoulders, burning red hot when correctly fanned, flicking encrusted ash skyward contemptuously. In this outing,

So pleased I bought a number of ebooks when these new editions were released “with exclusive new material”. Ian Rankin the author writes his own introduction to The Black Book published in 1993 in April 2005. Rebus had at that time, become an established detective and the author was building on his considerable success. It is worth it for these words alone, but the extras include further notes at the end which should not be missed.I’ve been wanting to re-visit these Rebus novels for some time an...

A great story and brilliant to see the earliest appearance of some of the characters that become important figures in the Inspector Rebus books.

Not sure what happened, this started out well. But then either I lost the plot, or storyline went off on a strange tangent. I usually enjoy Rebus books, but not this one. Let's hope the next one is back up to standard.

Inspector John Rebus is distracted. His brother, Michael, has turned up, fresh from a spell ‘at Her Majesty’s pleasure’, courtesy of a drug dealing charge Rebus himself helped to nail down. Michael’s looking for a place to kip down for a spell and he’s hoping his brother can help him out. But there’s more. Michael is soon found hanging by his feet from the Forth Bridge and a friend and colleague of Rebus is badly beaten, reason and perpetrator unknown. All this distraction means that Rebus is le...

An intricately woven, tense noir thriller and the best I have read thus far. Incredible storytelling.

Inspector John Rebus is a working man's detective. Rebus comes from a blue-collar family in Fife; he stays true to those roots. He's a hard worker, knows his job, and is far from being a boot polisher. He's no teetotaler nor is he an alcoholic, a malady of many fictional detectives. There's more than one way to get to the bottom of an investigation; Rebus is not above most of them. He'll try, try and try again.The Rebus series is gritty with interesting characters and plenty of subplots to keep

This is the fifth novel in the Inspector John Rebus series and after the somewhat dry subject matter dealt with in Strip Jack, this is a return to form in terms of providing both more action and plenty of the trademark Rebus wit. Significantly, it is at this juncture in the series that Ian Rankin first began to visualise his Rebus novels as a series, transition location-wise from a 'fictional' Edinburgh to the city authentic and introduced the perfect foil for Rebus in DC Siobhan Clarke. The Bla...

I've read a number of Rebus books over the years and always enjoyed them. Rebus is a great character and Rankin is a great writer. These days I'm picking up odd ones from charity shops from the early days and I've not read a bad one yet. This features Ger Cafferty as a character for the first time properly as well as one or two others who get to stick around for quite some time. It's a decent crime read. I guess I was surprised to find just how well this early one stacked up against both Rankin'...

3.5Expected better from Rankin in this one. It wasn't as noir as the previous booksI'll read the 6th book in the series and see if it's any better It's my least fav Rebus so far

Best Rebus yet. The more I read him the better I like him; not in spite of his flaws but because of them. My enjoyment of this book was helped by my currently being in Scotland and having just visited Edinburgh which, as in 3 of the previous books, figures prominently in the storyline. However, in addition to the picturesque unfolding of Edinburgh's multi-faceted personality and the fabulously flawed character of John Rebus, this novel boasts an excellent plot and a most challenging and convolut...

I am late to the John Rebus series and have started at the beginning. Now I have read to number 5 in the series. So many people have reviewed this book, that I am just going to make a few comments about it.First of all, there were a lot of main and secondary characters. Would cause me to pause when a name would turn up quite a few pages after I last read it. I would have to think "Now who is this." I did figure it out. Next the plot was quite complex and there were secondary plot lines going. Th...

By this point, John Rebus is becoming familiar to me. He is crusty, crafty and will stoop to conquer any “bad” guys that happen to cross him.In this, the fifth full Rebus mystery novel, we do find out what happens with his current love affair (I was itching to know after the end of book four) and how he treats his fellow workers and friends - er, scratch that last bit. Rebus has no real friends.Inspector Rebus reminds me of a mix of Dr. House, Black Adder and perhaps a touch of “everyman” who ev...

I was rooting around a sale bin in a second hand bookstore & looky looky what I found. I've been following this series for years but somehow missed this one. Made my day. This is an old one & there's only about a kabillion reviews already so I won't bother, I'm sure it's all been said. But it reminded me of one of the things I love about reading.....when you come across a series that for whatever reason, you become attached to & read just for the pure pleasure of spending time with that characte...

I have read several of the Rebus series now and plan to work my way progressively through all of them. This one was particularly good in that Rebus seems to be mostly in control of things, his boss is supporting him and his love life is at a standstill. So much more time is spent on actual police work and solving crimes, always a good thing I think in a crime novel. I found this particular book a great way to spend time on a long plane flight and I look forward to reading the next one soon.

From BBC Radio 4 - Classic Serial:Ian Rankin's maverick detective, Inspector Rebus, investigates an unsolved murder, with the help of a notebook full of coded clues.

The Black Book by Ian Rankin.The main theme or focus for Rebus is the burning down of the Central Hotel 5 years ago. A body, or what was left of a body, was found in the smoldering ashes. That body also had a bullet lodged in it's head. Rebus is bound and determined to find answers to this unsolved murder. That's when his problems begin. No one wants him to find any answers to that murder including the police. Well that's ok since nobody stops Rebus for long. The key to solving this mystery is a...

Siobhan Clarke was a new partner for Rebus in this book, working with Rebus on Unsolved Crimes; brother of Rebus gets out of prison and needs place to sleep so he joins the crowd of college students renting from Rebus; Big Ger Cafferty is not at all likable in this earlier book, dramatically changing my view of that character. While I enjoy the series very much as it matured I never made the effort to start from book one to read in order. Had I done so I may have dropped it.I should add this enj...

4 StarsIn the ongoing saga that is John Rebus's life; he must contend with a 5 year old murder, his ex-con brother returning to town, having a break-up with his girl, and trying to head an undercover sting.... oh yeah, a child molester is on parole and living across the street from a primary school. Aahhhh, a day in the life of John Rebus. Things wrap up nicely, but not neatly. There is always a line to be crossed or a cliff edge to step to with Rebus. Still loving this series.

I enjoyed the fifth in the Rebus series. Although perhaps there were to many subplots. The ending was also a bit farfetched. Big Ger attacking someone in a semi public place seems odd. In this story Patience the long suffering girlfriend takes a back seat. Michael his brother is back and of course gets mixed up in Rebus’s investigation and literally left hanging. Siobhan is introduced. Rebus goes into pun overdrive with an Elvis themed restaurant. A murder and fire five years ago is the main plo...