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Available
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Publication
St. Martin's Paperbacks (2000), Edition: First Thus, Mass Market Paperback, 448 pages
Description
Stalking a poisoner at the local zoo, Inspector John Rebus comes across a paedophile taking pictures of children. When the social workers claim he is there for legitimate educational reasons, Rebus is faced with a dilemma - should he be outed to protect local kids or given a chance to start anew? As the locals begin a hate campaign he gets a call from the past: the son of a friend has gone missing and no one else will make time to ask the right questions. And then a fragment of Scotland's criminal history is repatriated at the end of a life sentence for murder. Once more Rebus's cup of trouble runneth over and the ghosts of past misdeeds return to haunt Edinburgh's streets.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Smiler69
The son of an old flame of Rebus' goes missing and he's asked to find the young man. Rebus 'outs' a pedophile recently released from prison to the media when he finds out his apartment faces as children's playground. A dangerous killer called Carry Oakes makes his way back to Edinburgh to settle
It's hard for me to say whether the book itself was lacking or if I might be the one getting a bit bored with the formula. I've had to read several Rebus novels under pressure recently because I had promised to send them to someone, which is NOT the best way to read a book in the best of circumstances. All I know is that this one felt like it dragged on and on and on... and on, and I've rarely felt more relieved to finally reach the end. I'll be taking a break from Rankin for a while, and hopefully get back to him inspired anew. If not, it's not as if there was a shortage of other crime series to discover out there, is it?
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old scores after having been held in prison in the States. These cases may or may not be related, but the only thing that's absolutely certain is that Rebus takes all of it very personally, though even with all the pressure, he's somehow managing to keep his drinking in check. It's hard for me to say whether the book itself was lacking or if I might be the one getting a bit bored with the formula. I've had to read several Rebus novels under pressure recently because I had promised to send them to someone, which is NOT the best way to read a book in the best of circumstances. All I know is that this one felt like it dragged on and on and on... and on, and I've rarely felt more relieved to finally reach the end. I'll be taking a break from Rankin for a while, and hopefully get back to him inspired anew. If not, it's not as if there was a shortage of other crime series to discover out there, is it?
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LibraryThing member Romonko
I found this book's plot to be a bit loose and disjointed and it left some unanswered questions. It alsohad me questioning how we got to a particular point at times. But the Rebus character is still great. I like the way Rankin depicts his uncertainties and foibles. While we read of these we never
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lose sight of the fact that he is a very brilliant copper. I didn't much care for one of the villains in this book and I didn't like how that particular thread was left at the end of the book because I really don't want to see this particular villain again. Anyway, the book is worth reading because it is part of this very remarkable series. I love watching Rebus as he faces and conquers his many demons. And I love the underworld look at modern-day Edinburgh. Oh, and be prepared for a zinger at the end of the book. Rankin always has these in his books. Show Less
LibraryThing member SteveAldous
Rebus' weaknesses are also shown as his strengths, making him one of the more interesting of the proliferation of brooding detectives. The plots here, though twisting, are stretched over a high page count and the pacing of the story suffers as a result. The winding up of the three main plots of
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this psychological thriller is neat, but their downbeat nature leaves the reader somewhat unsatisfied. This is likely a deliberate comment on the fact that sometimes life has no answers, no happy endings, but it gives the reader little reward for the journey he's been on. Show Less
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
This book follows after The Hanging Garden which I read a couple of years ago. John Rebus is a Detective Inspector at the St. Leonard's branch in Edinburgh but he's having doubts about his chosen career. He is on a stakeout at the Zoo because someone has been poisoning the animals. Then he sees a
Back at the station Rebus has to attend Jim Margolies' funeral. Margolies was a colleague who committed suicide by jumping from the cliff at Salisbury Crags. Margolies was involved in Darren Rough's apprehension and Darren claimed Margolies beat him up. Rebus thought Darren was lying at the time but now he wonders if there is some connection between Margolies' death and Darren's release from prison.
Investigation of Margolies' death and Darren's reappearance takes a back seat when a highschool classmate calls to ask Rebus for help in finding their son who disappeared one night while on the town in Edinburgh. Although it was the father who called the mother, Janice, is the one who is more distraught. And Janice was Rebus' highschool sweetheart. Memories from long ago start to flood back and Rebus ponders how life changed for him when he left school.
And just so things are even more complicated Rebus gets involved in surveillance of Cary Oakes. Oakes has been in prison in the States for ten years on murder charges but he worked the system and has been released and deported back to Scotland. He is deemed likely to reoffend and the police want to keep an eye on him or at least make it so difficult he will move elsewhere. Oakes figures out how to evade the surveillance and work his own agenda which includes harassing Rebus and targeting Rebus' family and friends.
There is a common theme in all these investigations that only becomes clear at the end and that is the question of whether people are permanently changed by the things that occur while they are young or whether they can overcome those early influences. Rebus ponders that quite a bit throughout this book. There's no easy answer. Some people can (perhaps even convicted felons) but some don't.
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familiar face, Darren Rough, a convicted paedophile that Rebus helped put away. Darren has a camera and is taking pictures of children. Rebus leaves his post and runs toward Darren who flees. When Rebus catches up to Darren at the sea-lion enclosure Darren climbs over the fence and Rebus follows him. Apprehended at last Darren denies doing anything wrong; he's taking a photography class and his assignment was the zoo. He is released but Rebus isn't prepared to let it go.Back at the station Rebus has to attend Jim Margolies' funeral. Margolies was a colleague who committed suicide by jumping from the cliff at Salisbury Crags. Margolies was involved in Darren Rough's apprehension and Darren claimed Margolies beat him up. Rebus thought Darren was lying at the time but now he wonders if there is some connection between Margolies' death and Darren's release from prison.
Investigation of Margolies' death and Darren's reappearance takes a back seat when a highschool classmate calls to ask Rebus for help in finding their son who disappeared one night while on the town in Edinburgh. Although it was the father who called the mother, Janice, is the one who is more distraught. And Janice was Rebus' highschool sweetheart. Memories from long ago start to flood back and Rebus ponders how life changed for him when he left school.
And just so things are even more complicated Rebus gets involved in surveillance of Cary Oakes. Oakes has been in prison in the States for ten years on murder charges but he worked the system and has been released and deported back to Scotland. He is deemed likely to reoffend and the police want to keep an eye on him or at least make it so difficult he will move elsewhere. Oakes figures out how to evade the surveillance and work his own agenda which includes harassing Rebus and targeting Rebus' family and friends.
There is a common theme in all these investigations that only becomes clear at the end and that is the question of whether people are permanently changed by the things that occur while they are young or whether they can overcome those early influences. Rebus ponders that quite a bit throughout this book. There's no easy answer. Some people can (perhaps even convicted felons) but some don't.
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LibraryThing member -Eva-
Rebus' natural disgust for pedophiles causes him to endanger a man who may be less than dangerous and Rebus is then left to somehow manage a violet mob, set on murder. This is Rankin's tenth book about Inspector rebus, and there are just no signs of slowing down. As usual, Rankin's descriptions of
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the working-class neighborhoods of Edinburgh, its people, it's language, its desperation, are so spot on that it's easy to get lost in the emotions and the action. With a realistic and somewhat inconclusive ending, it's even easier to lose yourself in the characters since the frustration isn't only theirs, it's yours. Show Less
LibraryThing member charlie68
Multiple story lines can create confusion in a mystery, but as this novel gets going and the lines converge and title of the book becomes more relevant it is a satisfying read. Maybe Rankin is trying to for Edinburgh what Dexter did for Oxford and portray the darker side. Rebus is no Morse but
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respectable in his way. Show Less
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
In this Rebus novel he finds himself involved with a paedophile he spots at the zoo whilst stalking a poisoner. Usual well-plotted, highly developed characters and sense of time and place.
LibraryThing member miketroll
One of Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels set in the grim, dour, downbeat side of Edinburgh that the Festival tourists rarely see, and probably don't want to.
LibraryThing member Heptonj
An excellent read. Inspector Rebus has to confront his beliefs when he realises he may not have been right in 'outing' a reformed paedophile. He also has to confront his past when a couple he went to school with request his help with their missing son. All is not well with his personal and family
But this does not detract from a superb tale of perverts and killers on the streets of Edinburgh and the dangers this leads Rebus and his friends and family into.
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life.But this does not detract from a superb tale of perverts and killers on the streets of Edinburgh and the dangers this leads Rebus and his friends and family into.
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LibraryThing member Joycepa
#10 in the Inspector Rebus series.
The book opens with the seeming suicide of one of Rebus’ young colleagues who is also a friend, and a chase by Rebus in the zoo after a convicted pedophile who has been newly released from prison. To complicate his life even further, a serial killer who has been
These four separate, seemingly unrelated incidents form the complex, well thought through plot. Unfortunately, the writing and the characterization does not live up either to the plot potential or to the standard of Rankin’s earlier books in the series. Rebus has degenerated into an alcoholic, blurring at least one distinction between him and other protagonists in the hard-boiled genre. People important in his past emerge, but are not terribly interesting, nor do they really add much to the story line. His love life is also a matter of indifference, both to him, his lover, and to us. What does lift the book up from boredom in this area are his relationships with his colleagues, especially his immediate supervisor and his partner.
But there is no getting away from the fact that the book is a disappointment.
The book opens with the seeming suicide of one of Rebus’ young colleagues who is also a friend, and a chase by Rebus in the zoo after a convicted pedophile who has been newly released from prison. To complicate his life even further, a serial killer who has been
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released from an American prison on technicalities having to do with his trial, is being returned to his “home” in Edinburg; he is considered nearly certain to kill again, but there is no cause to hold him. In addition, old friends out of his past ask him to find their son who has suddenly gone missing.These four separate, seemingly unrelated incidents form the complex, well thought through plot. Unfortunately, the writing and the characterization does not live up either to the plot potential or to the standard of Rankin’s earlier books in the series. Rebus has degenerated into an alcoholic, blurring at least one distinction between him and other protagonists in the hard-boiled genre. People important in his past emerge, but are not terribly interesting, nor do they really add much to the story line. His love life is also a matter of indifference, both to him, his lover, and to us. What does lift the book up from boredom in this area are his relationships with his colleagues, especially his immediate supervisor and his partner.
But there is no getting away from the fact that the book is a disappointment.
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LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen
Ian Rankin gets it just about right, for me: Rebus is flawed, it's a dirty world but, we don't have to put up with too much detail.
This is a cracking tale. Rebus is helping a girlfriend, from his past, to find her run away son, he is keeping an eye upon a released paedophile, in whose murder he
Just an ordinary day, then.
This is a cracking tale. Rebus is helping a girlfriend, from his past, to find her run away son, he is keeping an eye upon a released paedophile, in whose murder he
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plays an unwanted part, and trailing a psychopath returning from years in an American prison.Just an ordinary day, then.
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LibraryThing member DrLed
Synopsis: One of the members of the police force commits suicide, but Rebus has trouble believing it's really suicide. He is also thrust into a missing person's case; two of his high school friends have lost their son. And in all of this a convicted murder is sent back from the states to Scotland
Review: The plot is interesting, but the main character is once again showing his fallibility through alcoholism; this is wearing thin,
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because of a legal loophole.Review: The plot is interesting, but the main character is once again showing his fallibility through alcoholism; this is wearing thin,
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LibraryThing member galpalval
Love Rebus books.
LibraryThing member Andrew-theQM
Another very good read in this series, giving you a real flavour of life in Edinburgh. A complex and multi-layered crime story. One of the regular characters in this book unfortunately bows out of the series in this book. I look forward to continuing the series. 4.5 stars.
LibraryThing member zmagic69
This book starts a little slow and there are too many storylines to keep track of. Once this gets sorted it becomes a typical John Rebus story.
Unfortunately too much is left a bit unresolved at the end.
Unfortunately too much is left a bit unresolved at the end.
Subjects
Awards
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 1999)
Original publication date
1999-02
Physical description
448 p.; 6.78 inches
ISBN
0312974205 / 9780312974206