Publisher’s
write-up:
‘When
a close colleague is brutally attacked, Inspector John Rebus is drawn into a
case involving a hotel fire, an unidentified body, and a long forgotten night
of terror and murder. Pursued by dangerous ghosts and tormented by the coded
secrets of his colleague’s notebook, Rebus must piece together a jigsaw no one –
perhaps not even he – wants completed.’
The Black Book is the 5th
instalment in Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus series. Rebus is troubled; to start
with, he gets thrown out of the house by his girlfriend. Added to that, his
brother Michael, ex-con (read Knots and Crosses) returns to stay with him till he gets his things in order. His close colleague, Brian Holmes is severely
attacked and is in coma and Holmes’ girlfriend hands him a black book that he used to maintain, to Rebus, contents of which she
believes to be the cause of the attack. On the other hand, his superiors put
him in Operation Moneybags, intended
to put one of Cafferty’s (a notorious Crime
Boss) financiers out of business but, Rebus is more interested in an incident that took place five years
back, where a murder took place at the Central Hotel (identity of the victim
yet to be identified) and there was a subsequent fire destroying the hotel. Rebus
believes that Cafferty is linked in some way and also believes that the
incident is also connected to the attack on his colleague.
I liked it how the author initially focused
more on the personal life of Rebus, considering it was totally missing in the
last two novels of the series and also the fact that the book didn’t begin with
a murder, rather, the investigation was on a murder Rebus’ superiors weren’t
interested in. Moreover, this was the first time in the series that I found
elements of a police procedural being put to use, where, Rebus was working on a
case which his seniors didn’t want him to spend any time on and a series of
events also leads to his eventual suspension. I liked it how Rebus’ bossy traits are beginning to be brought
out, with the joining of a new DC, Siobhan Clarke, a recurring character in
future novels (I have read one of them). Added to that, considering the book
came out in 1993, I liked the author’s progressive attitude towards the gay
community and their positive portrayal in the book (there is an Elvis-themed
restaurant in the book). For someone accustomed to the series, it was good to
see certain characters like Matthew Vanderhyde (from Hide and Seek) and Cafferty (from Tooth and Nail) return in this book.
However, the book was very slow and there
were too many characters and simultaneous investigations being carried out by
Rebus and Clarke that I found it too difficult to follow beyond a point and in
fact, this aspect of it didn’t allow me to enjoy Rankin’s writing and Rebus’
cynicism, which I otherwise are some of the favourite elements of mine in Rebus
novels. It took till the end of the book for Rebus to connect the dots and I am
unsure whether certain readers would be willing to have that much patience.
I have read Rebus’ books off-sequence in
the past but to those who are going to read his book for the first time, this
is not a great book to start with. However, for someone who is accustomed to
the series, I really enjoyed Rebus’ character develop further and I am
certainly looking forward to more. This was a decent read but if I compare it
with its two immediate predecessors (Tooth and Nail and Strip Jack), not so great. I would award this book a rating of
six on ten.
Have
a nice day,
Andy
