Publisher’s
write-up:
‘It is August in Edinburgh and the Festival is in full
swing. A brutally tortured body is discovered in one of the city’s ancient
subterranean streets and marks on the corpse cause Rebus to suspect the
involvement of sectarian activists. The prospect of a terrorist atrocity in a
city heaving with tourists is almost unthinkable. And when the victim turns out
to be the son of a notorious gangster Rebus realises he is sitting atop a volcano
of mayhem about to erupt.’
Mortal Causes is
the sixth instalment in the John Rebus series of Ian Rankin. In this book,
Rebus deals with the sectarian crimes and paramilitary groups related to The Troubles at Northern Ireland. Note
that the book was published in 1994, four years before the end of The Troubles.
It is the time
of the Edinburgh festival, and the city is abuzz with tourists while the police
find a body inside a cellar in a more isolated area of Edinburgh, seemingly
tortured before killing, in a modus
operandi typical of that of the paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland,
especially the Irish Republican Army. It also so happens that he is the son of
a notorious gangster whom Rebus crossed swords with in the previous book (The Black Book), being Big Ger Cafferty.
The special branch has been assigned to track down this crime and this is
perhaps, Rebus’ most dangerous case till date, considering, he is dealing with
groups that have dangerous weapons, receive funding from across the world and
don’t have second thoughts about killing those who might potentially trouble
them.
Rankin claimed
in one of the interviews that he brings out issues of the society through his
crime novels and considering the time of release of the book, it was
appropriate that he chose the topic of paramilitary groups and their links to
Scotland. As always, I enjoy the cynicism (I’d quote his view on Scottish-Irish
relationship below) in his writing, especially the ones expressed by Rebus
along with his tongue in cheek comments. The book had very little scope for
sub-plot and every chapter focused on Rebus and his investigation, and
Edinburgh, in particular was used very well – the various locations, the
historic distrust between Catholics and Protestants (eg; left-footers) and how
each side had different sympathies for various factions during the troubles. I
also liked it where the author took it out of Scotland for a short while,
wherein, Rebus revisited Belfast; he did have an army background serving in
Northern Ireland as introduced in Knots& Crosses and it was good of him to bring back this background of his,
considering Rebus does have experience with these groups in the past.
‘Scotland had enough problems without getting involved
in Ireland’s. They were like Siamese twins who’d refused the operation to
separate them. Only one twin had been forced to marriage with England, and the
other was hooked on self-mutilation. They didn’t need politicians to sort
things out; they needed a psychiatrist.’ – Page 114
This book might
perhaps disappoint those who expected to see a bit of the personal side of
Rebus, there was no mention of his ex-wife Rhona, or his brother Michael, there
was a passing mention of his daughter Sammy where it was revealed that she was
in London. Additionally, I felt a way too many people were investigated, for a
320 page book that sometimes, I lost track and even used to get confused
between two different persons that I had to flip the pages back again, to
confirm the identities.
It was a very
good rebus novel, containing all quintessential elements of a Rankin and Rebus
novel, and yes, solve before the police is possible in this novel. It has also
laid a strong foundation for the next book, establishing further animosity
between Cafferty and Rebus and thus, it would an interesting instalment to look
forward to. I would award the book a rating of seven.
Rating – 7/10
Have a nice day,
Andy
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