Monday 29 May 2017

Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin

"He knew he should do something about them, but knew too, that he never would. That would be someone else's problem -Sammy's probably - after he was gone."


I was fortunate enough to attend the Sydney Writer’s Festival session with Ian Rankin on “Who says crime doesn’t pay”. I’d bought the tickets based on name recognition, and so grabbed his latest paperback at the Airport in Brisbane on my way home, and to the festival. A real page turner, I’d managed to take in three quarters of the novel on my journey and just in time for the session.

While the author today oozes charisma wrapped up in one hell of a fantastic Scottish accent ( think David Tennant’s older brother), this hasn’t always been the case and his self-effacing tales of the struggles of his early writing career were particularly charming. This interview with the abc might give you just a taste of being there.

Back to the book and, Rebus, the  hero of some 21 novels, this being the 21st and frankly I'm hooked. I'm sure it would have been interesting to get on board the band wagon earlier in the series when Rebus was a younger man, and yet his sprung from retirement ex-cop makes for a compelling protagonist. Big scary crooks carrying some serious bottle age still make for an intriguing read and let's not forget that a cold case can still bring the heat.

I'm confident that I've not let you in on any plot points or given the game away, so get yourself a copy and jump into the shadowy Edinburgh underworld.

 5 out of 5 pints would be great if I wasn't gluten intolerant.

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