Rebus started out as a curiosity, as I was just in Scotland when I first started reading these mysteries, but now he has become an old friend. I feel a need to check up on him and see how he is doing. He had become an old nosy retiree, forcibly retired from the force. He didn't go willingly either. It makes me worry about his mental state.
Evidently, so did Ranking, which is why his writing has become better, it gave him more to write about. I kind of got a feeling that he'd written himself into a corner. No fears, he found a way to get the old boy out and about.
Rebus now has a paramour that is more than his foil, and his cohorts from the old days: Clarke and Fox have become more visible characters, so it isn't just Rebus' brooding that is carrying the weight of the novel. And then there is the character of Bir Ger Rafferty, a soulmate/antagonist for Rebus, a worthy foe in a game of cat and mouse.
It almost didn't matter what the crime is, in this case a murder of a society wife who was murdered under mysterious circumstances years ago in a hotel where a rock band was staying, and an attempted attack on one of the villains that had put Rafferty out of business.
Indeed, the typical Rankin formula, and believe me when I say that it is a great formula, because Rankin had my attention every step of the way, even though I know his style.
As I said before, it isn't the mystery it self that matters, it is the characters, how they have grown, and how Rankin manages to weave the characters into each others story line that is of greater interest.
The man delivers, once again.
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