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Friday 26 August 2011

Summer Reads - Ian Rankin

I've been on a roll with Ian Rankin. We've devoted this summer to him, almost exclusively.
Not terribly challenging to read, the plots unfold themselves at a slow pace, slow enough to allow me to figure them out before I get to the end and make me feel pleased with my clever self.
The main detectives are usually misfits, with vices which only hurt themselves, their lives devoted to making life in Edinborough a little tougher for the wicked. They don't always succeed in their endeavours. I suppose that's why they are so widely liked.
I've read a few of Rebus's adventures, if you can call them that. He is a fine fellow to spend a summer with. Smart, relentless, unruly with a great mistrust of authorities and criminals alike. He drinks his way around the crimes he is investigating, even when told to stop both activities.
The new guy in my current book "The Complaints", Foxy, or Malcolm Fox, is even better than Rebus. I hope he is a recurrent player, but I haven't explored the list to know if he ever comes back or not.

To compliment the books we've watched a few episodes of the TV series Rebus, only to discover their resemblance to the books that bear the same names is completely non existent. You'd think it's not important, but it is. The TV plots are not as well developed, they are shallow and not as compelling as the ones in the book. Still, not a bad way to spend an evening at home during a thundering summer rainstorm.

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