Rating: 
Summary: A very good one
Review: Rankin has made me turn back to fiction, as it was hard to find something which made me start reading again after a long break from books. An investigation that goes on in a story is very good to make you want to keep turning the pages. A student goes missing and the investigators have two main leads, a doll found in a coffin which takes Rebus years back in a history of found coffins, and an Internet Role Playing Game which is left for his colleague Siobhan, green on the subject, to discover its relevance to the case. Another of Rankin's books is in my room on the waiting list. Thank you Rankin!
Rating:
Summary: getting better all the time
Review: rankin's rebus is a curmudgeonly loner, a boozer, a music lover and a renegade copper. he can never leave well enough alone because well enough is not enough for him. this is an excellent series with a protagonist who matures (well, ages) throughout the books and whose life has taken on a patina all its own. he's despised by many respected by most and makes for great copy. the only unfortunate thing about speeding through the newest rebus saga is the fact that there will be a wait before the next one is released. if you enjoy dark takes, police procedurals and a consuming story get this book.
Rating:
Summary: Rankin Rules
Review: The new John Rebus book is outstanding. The " Falls", the latest installment in the series, finds Rebus at his dark and brooding best. The cast of characters at the station and the pubs seem so real , it's almost like you know them, by sight. Siobhan Clark and John are surrounded by other great characters who also prove to be as believable and human as John is. There is also the cast of weasels that you'll just love to loathe. There are some wicked twist and turns in this book. The book is hard to put down...............................Read them all, I haven't found a bad one yet ...............
Rating:
Summary: Rankin Rules
Review: The new John Rebus book is outstanding. The " Falls", the latest installment in the series, finds Rebus at his dark and brooding best. The cast of characters at the station and the pubs seem so real , it's almost like you know them, by sight. Siobhan Clark and John are surrounded by other great characters who also prove to be as believable and human as John is. There is also the cast of weasels that you'll just love to loathe. There are some wicked twist and turns in this book. The book is hard to put down...............................Read them all, I haven't found a bad one yet ...............
Rating:
Summary: The Falls
Review: The New York Public Library is suffering for lack of books - so I took out The Falls by Ian Rankin because there was not much to choose from (I'm not a fan of police procedurals from the UK usually, but in this book Edinburgh is to the UK as NY is to the US). What a lucky break - this book is character driven and even though you immediately realize that this is an ongoing series the book stands alone. I found another book by Ian Rankin in the libray - I have the Dead Souls and I'm glad I found him. I wonder if Ian Rankin ever read George Higgins?
Rating:
Summary: Worth every moment of absorption!
Review: This is one of the longest and most complex John Rebus mysteries, but it is well worth the significant investment of one's time and attention. In fact, the writing is so good, the movement of the plot so inexorable, the characterizations so authentic, the scenes so utterly Scottish that aside from wanting the solution to the mystery, I could have kept reading for another 4-500 pages!I won't repeat what others have described of the story but add some details I found interesting. First, the Internet role-playing aspect was not only completely authentic (I have a young adult son who keeps me up on these things), but presented with a delicate balance that didn't talk down to the non-Internet initiates, but wasn't incomprehensible either. I almost got interested in the games myself. Second, I was captivated by the intricate exploration of the problems encountered by both men and women when women rise to positions of leadership in traditionally male-dominated fields. It's great that Rankin understands that there are no easy answers and that there are always tradeoffs. I wish the men I knew in my field had as much understanding. Finally, John Rebus is definitely maturing emotionally and spiritually as he matures in years. I enjoyed every flash of insight into his complex person as the plot unfolded. If you haven't read Rankin before, start! You can watch the growth of the author and the characters by starting with the first, Knots and Crosses, or you can plunge into the full-blown alternative reality in this book. Either way, you will emerge glad you invested the time.
Rating: 
Summary: Ehh, not bad, but nothing great.
Review: This is one of those books that you read, and after you're finished, you're not sure if you liked it or not. It wasn't great, but there is nothing really wrong with it. It wasn't boring, it didn't drag on, but it also didn't captivate you. A detective is working on a case similar to those annoying rich girl missing girl cases that randomly appears everywhere. This book explores this Scottish case, along with some internal police politics, and the lives of a few detectives. Intermingling clues concerning dolls, autopsies, and an Internet game all come together to help solve the mystery. As with any mystery, the main part is the ending, and even though not terrible, it is pretty contrived and non-climatic.
Rating:
Summary: Ehh, not bad, but nothing great.
Review: This is one of those books that you read, and after you're finished, you're not sure if you liked it or not. It wasn't great, but there is nothing really wrong with it. It wasn't boring, it didn't drag on, but it also didn't captivate you. A detective is working on a case similar to those annoying rich girl missing girl cases that randomly appears everywhere. This book explores this Scottish case, along with some internal police politics, and the lives of a few detectives. Intermingling clues concerning dolls, autopsies, and an Internet game all come together to help solve the mystery. As with any mystery, the main part is the ending, and even though not terrible, it is pretty contrived and non-climatic.
Rating:
Summary: Rankin, but down a different path
Review: This Rebus novel is quite different from the rest of the cannon. It seems somehow less dark, les forbidding, but that is just on the surface. Underneath it is just as dark and sinister as the rest of them, but this time that darkness is carried over more subtely, so much so that you don't even notice. Ian Rankin's prose is sharp and often witty, and his Edinbuirgh (Which in this is perhaps at the most vivid it ever has been) is superbly drawn. I live a long way away from the city, and have never been there, yet i still get an intense picture of it in my mind. Rankin's Edinburgh pulses with energy and throbs with a dark sinister evil that you cant quite place. The plot in this one contains no big gansters, no organised crime. Just a simple (appearing so at first, at least) puzzle about the disappearance of a young girl. Also, as a subplot Rankin brilliantly interweaves the step back into history, and as Rebus excavates the soil surrounding the truth about the Arthur's Seat coffins. All of it is very cleverly done, and you want to know the solution to each puzzle, even though one is centred years and years in the past, equally as much. Rebus is more sombre this time around, and you get the sense that he is slowing down somewhat, Rankin as well as Rebus. And with his new love interest (who is the most promising of the lot) we begin to see a bright new spark in John, as he glimpses something for him which lies past the job... This is a very good book, and Rankin is one of the shining stars of British writing. Long may he continue to be so. ....
Rating: 
Summary: A very disappointing read.
Review: When Flip Balfour disappears, the pressure is on to find out what happened to her. Flip is the daughter of a prominent London banker, so as with any high profile case, the police are under intense scrutiny, and there are many leads to follow. Add to this a tiny wooden coffin containing a doll found in a place called The Falls. The author started up several different storylines and never tied them together. The different storylines contained the same cast of characters, but there didn't seem to be any particular order or focus to the story. I found all the characters very dreary (including the protagonist and his comrades), which made for a very hard to read book. I've heard good things about this series, so if you haven't read any of the previous book in the series, I wouldn't suggest starting with this one.
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