Rating: 5/5
Review:
Classic Rankin
Rebus may have been
told that he is in a “managed decline,” but I’m delighted to
say that Ian Rankin certainly isn’t. In A House Of Lies is
excellent.
When long-dead body
is discovered in an abandoned car Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox are
part of the MIT investigating. Rebus, now well retired from the
force, was part of the original investigation and becomes involved in
this, too – not always to the delight of the team. It’s classic
Rankin: complex, well structured and nuanced, with his three central
characters especially being extremely well drawn.
There’s a lot of
good crime fiction being written at the moment, but for me, this
shows why Ian Rankin still stands out from the rest and remains among
among the very best writers in the genre. He generates an excellent
and wholly unforced atmosphere, sense of place and feel of police
work and his characters, plot and dialogue are all completely
convincing to me. That long, shadowy, complex relationship between
Rebus and Big Ger Cafferty is still a brilliant feature and Rankin is
doing an excellent job of widening the central focus of the books to
include Clarke and Fox. Most of all, In A House Of Lies is
completely compelling; I was hooked and sorry to reach the end.
Probably all that
really need be said is that this is a very fine Ian Rankin novel.
The man is still at the peak of his form and I can recommend this
very warmly indeed.
(My thanks to Orion
for an ARC via NetGalley.)
No comments:
Post a Comment