Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: All the Rebus novels are good, but this one is really very fine. Enjoy
Rating: 
Summary: Punk rocks
Review: Any novel named after a Cure song must be good. Amongst Ian Rankin's previous jobs was a stint as a punk musician, so this choice of title is quite appropriate for that reason. The title also refers to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. However, Rankin's main character, Detective Inspector John Rebus, does not himself appear to be an article of antiquity or an early 80s throwback (much the same thing). Rebus works in the gritty city of Edinburgh (see Irving Welsh's FILTH). With crime boss Big Ger Cafferty in gaol, a vacuum has opened up in Edinburgh's underworld. Tommy Telford is the man moving in on Cafferty's patch. Rebus' bosses are intent that he should not get involved, and so assign him to a war crimes case involving an elderly Nazi. But then Rebus' daughter is knocked down in a suspect hit and run. Is someone gunning out after Rebus? And what will Rebus do when he discovers the identity of the driver? This is a well crafted, subtle novel on the theme of revenge, with repercussions from the Second World War to the modern Chechen conflict. And Ian Rankin is not a one to provide easy answers. This is a novel which will certainly have you searching your own soul. It's also the best British crime novel I've read this year, and was the winner of the 1997 CWA Gold Dagger for fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Hanging On Every Word
Review: Ian Rankin captivates the reader again with this intriguing novel about gang turf wars, Nazi war criminals, prostitutes shipped to Britain from Bosnia, and crooked business deals with Japanese gangsters. Reality hits home when personal tragedy confronts Inspector John Rebus - his daughter is the target of a hit-and-run which appears to be related to the cases Inspector Rebus is currently pursuing. As usual, he becomes irretrievably involved in all these sub-plots to the detriment of his personal and professional relationships. This is all par for the course as Inspector Rebus cannot help but find some sort of tie-in between each case. Ian Rankin puts a very real face on the workings of a city's police force. The humor is always there with great one-liners courtesy of Inspector Rebus, usually uttered when he is on the carpet in front of his superiors. And there's an unexpected and interesting twist at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Fine little book, this.
Review: Ian Rankin, The Hanging Garden (St. Martin's Press, 1998)In a couple of months of reading almost nothing save mysteries, The Hanging Garden stood out as the best of the lot. Rankin is capable of weaving clues into a narrative with the deftest hand in a British mystery author since Colin Wilson, and his characters are more than engaging enough; as with most series mysteries, reading them out of order is liable to drop the reader into the middle of a plotline, and so it is here. The soap opera quality is not, however, as intrusive as it is in, say, the Spenser novels of Robert Parker. Funny, unexpectedly sweet at times, and more contemplative than your usual mystery novel. Rankin is something of a change of pace for the mystery reader, and a refreshing one he is. *** ½
Rating:
Summary: Rankin certainly is "the king of tartan noir"!
Review: Inspector John Rebus must once again fight crime and corruption as well as his own personal battles. His anguish over his daughter's accident is that of any father; being a policeman as well, he must keep control over his feelings in his hunt for the perpetrator. Rebus is very human, plagued with the personal problems that beset many of the best cops: the all-consuming lure of the job, the shattered relationships, the battle to stay away from alcohol, the effort to retain his humanity amidst the terrible deeds he must deal with every day. Rankin is really very good at portraying these interior battles, but stands out in bringing the dark side of Edinburgh to life for his readers. Ian Rankin is one author whose books I anxiously wait for, and one I recommend to anyone looking for a great police procedural.
Rating:
Summary: Above-Average Police Drama
Review: It's perhaps a bit inaccurate to call the Rebus novels "mysteries" in that there is often little mystery to the goings-on. Rankin is a very good writer, but what he does best is setting up strong, shocking, and sometimes moving police precedurals around seeming mysteries. Like the other Rebus books I've read, the resolution to the main mysteries is a bit weak, especially when compared to the other events in the book. So that alone puts the Rebus books a bit below the Morse or Dalgleish novels. However, John Rebus is almost as memorable as a plainclothesman as his English counterparts, rougher around the edges than either, hard to take but sympathetic. He makes the books move as he bounces around, as we see him through the eyes of his colleagues and his enemies. He's not an easy hero to like, but is an easy man to feel for. The rest of the cast, some totally heinous, others much more pure, set him to sharp relief. And the setting, while most likely not at all the true Edinburgh, helps a lot too. Compared to American novles of this ilk, this series is a stunning gem. Mystery and police drama fans alike could do far worse.
Rating:
Summary: Above-Average Police Drama
Review: It's perhaps a bit inaccurate to call the Rebus novels "mysteries" in that there is often little mystery to the goings-on. Rankin is a very good writer, but what he does best is setting up strong, shocking, and sometimes moving police precedurals around seeming mysteries. Like the other Rebus books I've read, the resolution to the main mysteries is a bit weak, especially when compared to the other events in the book. So that alone puts the Rebus books a bit below the Morse or Dalgleish novels. However, John Rebus is almost as memorable as a plainclothesman as his English counterparts, rougher around the edges than either, hard to take but sympathetic. He makes the books move as he bounces around, as we see him through the eyes of his colleagues and his enemies. He's not an easy hero to like, but is an easy man to feel for. The rest of the cast, some totally heinous, others much more pure, set him to sharp relief. And the setting, while most likely not at all the true Edinburgh, helps a lot too. Compared to American novles of this ilk, this series is a stunning gem. Mystery and police drama fans alike could do far worse.
Rating:
Summary: Complex and Compelling
Review: Rankin manages to intertwine multiple stories and numerous great characters without ever losing his reader. Then, he neatly ties it all up in the end, without ever having a contrived feel.
Rating:
Summary: Dead Souls Review
Review: The book Dead Souls was my first Inspector Rebus book and I thought it was excellent. I bought it on holiday in Australia and could not put it down until I had finished it. The stories were very real and the situations very descriptive. The plots were good with plenty of twists and I did not work out the endings for most of them until the end. It was good how the different investigations overlapped and the story kept moving at pace. There were no chapters where I found the story becoming slow and I was not tempted to skip a few paragraphs. The characters were real although he brought people together from differing backgrounds, cultures and countries. The released prisoner's character was scary and at times the book was almost disturbing. I will now go on to read other Inspector Rebus novels.
Rating:
Summary: Dead Souls Review
Review: The book Dead Souls was my first Inspector Rebus book and I thought it was excellent. I bought it on holiday in Australia and could not put it down until I had finished it. The stories were very real and the situations very descriptive. The plots were good with plenty of twists and I did not work out the endings for most of them until the end. It was good how the different investigations overlapped and the story kept moving at pace. There were no chapters where I found the story becoming slow and I was not tempted to skip a few paragraphs. The characters were real although he brought people together from differing backgrounds, cultures and countries. The released prisoner's character was scary and at times the book was almost disturbing. I will now go on to read other Inspector Rebus novels.
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