Crime

Another John Rebus book, this one seemed overly long and also it seemed to take all the police officers including Rebus, forever to figure out what was going on. Still the writing as always was excellent. ( )

I found this to be an okay but not great read. The plot seemed to take a long time to progress. ( )

DI John Rebus has been sent for remedial training at the Scottish police academy after he throws a cup of tea at his superior; it’s his last chance to remain on the force before receiving more severe disciplinary action. At the academy, he is grouped with several other officers also in trouble for not being “team players,” and they are assigned the job of forming a team themselves and taking another look at an unsolved murder from six years earlier. But not everything is as it seems with this arrangement, and Rebus’s strengths and weaknesses will be tested to their utmost before the assignment is over…. This is the 13th book in the Rebus series, winning the Edgar Award for best novel - as well it should, as this particular entry into the series is both complex, with several intertwining stories, and nail-biting in terms of its suspense. I say that reflexively, though, as I am reading the book decades after its initial publication and I know that there are a dozen or more Rebus books still to come, so the “will he survive this?” element is somewhat blunted for me. Nevertheless, the tensions are palpable throughout the book, and Mr. Rankin ratchets it up superbly. I also liked the sub-story featuring more of DS Siobhan Clarke; I admit to some bias because my middle name is Siobhan (and I would have “shivved” anybody who tried to call me “Shiv,” too!), but really she is becoming a more interesting character, both in terms of her work as a woman in a very sexist working world and with respect to her non-existent (or is it?) private life. I alternate between enjoying and being exasperated with Rebus - how anyone who drinks as much as he does is still alive and not comatose is beyond me - but in this one, I’m much more on the pro-Rebus side; highly recommended, but read the series from the beginning, please! ( )

Unos días después de una investigación por asesinato tras la brutal muerte de un marchante de arte de Edimburgo, Rebus explota en DCS Gill Templer. Lo envían a la Escuela de Policía de Escocia para "recapacitar", en otras palabras, está en el Last Chance Saloon. Rebus recibe un viejo caso sin resolver para trabajar, con el fin de enseñarle a él y a los demás los méritos del trabajo en equipo. Pero hay algunos en el equipo que tienen su propios secretos y no se detendrán ante nada para protegerlos.