Fleshmarket Alley (Inspector Rebus)

Rating:
Summary: A THINKING MAN'S THRILLER - VERY WELL READ
Review:
Inspector John Rebus, created by Edgar-Award winning author Ian Rankin, has won a legion of followers who cannot wait for the next Scotland based mystery involving the hardened, perspicacious detective. He's known for a bit of sardonic wit and a sleeve full of surprises.

Michael Page reads this, the 15th Rebus novel, with thorough understanding of the pivotal character, and segues nicely into the voice of his colleague Siobhan Clarke.

One would think that after years of covering city streets infested with crime and scoundrels there would be little to cause the flicker of an eyelash from Rebus. Not so. The murder of a refugee in a seedy building precedes a scenario more frightening than the battle scarred detective could ever have imagined. That building is only one in an area that holds more than dens of prostitution but has become a hub for the slave trade, which the government often chooses to ignore. Those seeking sanctuary are sold to the highest bidder for cheap labor.

While Rebus is confronted with a tangled web of killings, listeners are confronted with a reminder of man's inhumanity to man.

As often is the case, Rankin and Rebus present a thinking man's thriller ably read by Michael Page.

- Gail Cooke



Rating:
Summary: Rebus, We're Starting To Know You
Review:
Ian Rankin starts his new book with this quote: "It is to Scotland that we look for our ideas of civilisation" (Voltaire)

John Rebus finds himself ensconced in a murder mystery- a Kurdish immigrant is found murdered in a housing development called Knoxland. Rebus's original police station has closed, and he is trying to find a place for himself. His reputation precedes him; he is known as a troublemaker or trouble finder and not an easy person to deal with. He is also known as someone who is trustworthy and honest (well, to a degree). He must push himself into this investigation, and as always Rebus finds the truth and a little more. Rebus is a kinder, gentler man in this novel. He attempts to develop a relationship with an artist who is fighting to have an immigrant detention center closed. However, Rebus is the enemy so to speak, so this relationship is not an easy one. Rebus is also watching his drink, not really drinking less but watching it; so he has developed a real social conscience- he doesn't drive while drinking.

In the meantime Siobhan Clarke, Detective Sergeant, a close friend of Rebus's has developed her own mystery. She is asked by parents to look for their daughter, Ishbel Jardine. Siobhan had been involved in an attempt to solve the crime of their older daughter's rape and subsequent suicide. Now this younger daughter has gone missing, and the parents are worried. She is drawn into the search and then to find the murderer of this first daughter's rapist.

Both of these mysteries have close ties, and Rebus and Siobhan work together. Is the murder of the immigrant a racist plot? The twists and turns lead to a mass immigrant con game with big money at the core. The disappearance of the young girl leads to consequences not expected.

The relationship between John Rebus and Siohban Clarke has been innocent but friendly and now something more is hinted. These two understand each other and have a close working relationship, but could something closer work for the two of them? I enjoyed this book as much or more than the others. However that said, the history of Rebus and Siohban gives us insight into how their personalities have developed and changed. A wonderfully written and perceptive book. Recommend highly. prisrob


Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable But Far From His Best
Review: In the UK this book is called `Fleshmarket Close' because that is the name of the splendidly atmospheric back-alley in Edinburgh that gives it its name. I guess the publisher worried that `close' as a word for alley would be unfamiliar to all you Americans and maybe, shock horror, you might even have to look it up. If I were American, I think such condescension from publishers would piss me off some. Oh well. Just so long as, if you ever visit Edinburgh you don't waste your time looking for Fleshmarket Alley.

Fleshmarket Close, anyway, is where two skeletons are found under some concrete florring when a pub is being renovated. Only it turns out one of them is made of plastic and both are stolen from the medical school. Meanwhile in grim sink-estate of Knoxland an asylum-seeker is murdered and it looks set to be the devil of a task even to figure out who he is, never mind who killed him. And in the town of Banehall, out to the west of Edinburgh, Ishbel, a teenage girl, has disappeared. As she's an adult, it's not really a police matter but Siobhan who known the parents agrees to check it out. She also persists in investigating the Fleshmarket Close skeletons in spite of the anticlimactic discovery about their origins. Rebus meanwhile is involving himself heavily in the investigation of the Knoxland murder. But of course it will turn out that there is more to all three cases than meets the eye and of course it will turn out that they are closely interconnected in a story about asylum seekers and seedy strip joint and guided walks of Edinburgh's allegedly creepy bits and all manner of villainy and Rebus old foe, `Big Ger' Cafferty something to do with it all? Neither the most satisfying nor the most gripping of the Rebus novels, for my money, but still well worth a read.


Rating:
Summary: Fleshmarket Alley " Close "
Review: again another great novel from Mr Rankin. But why
did he allow the " American Publisher " to change the
title ? Perhaps we Americans could not discover what
a " Close " is ? HUBRIS is alive and well at
Little Brown.

Rating:
Summary: Vicky in Missouri Loves Rebus
Review: Perhaps the most complex of all the DI Rebus series, Fleshmarket Alley is like a fine woven tapestry which Rebus and Siobhan Clarke begin to unravel a thread at a time. How does the discovery of old bones in the cellar of a pub tie in with the death of an asylum seeker whose family is being held by the government for deportation? Rebus and Siobhan, each working the cases from different angles are surprised to find the connection. There are several scenes in this book that bear rereading for the true Rebusphile. One that especially comes to mind is when Rebus, acting as a stranger at another table, takes umbridge with a man getting too friendly with Siobhan. These two are trying to figure out what their relationship means. They aren't on the brink of becoming lovers, yet their affection for each other, respect for each other, and feelings for each other grow stronger with each book. Watching the dance between these two friends as they try to find a comfortable way to deal with their bond is one of the best parts of the book. Bravo Rankin! This one deserves an Edgar nod.

Rating:
Summary: an excellent read
Review: When DI John Rebus' old police station gets reorganised, he and DS Siobhan Clarke end up at Gayfield Square. It's not exactly a neigbourhood Rebus is familiar with or all that comfortable with, but adding insult to injury is the silent message he's getting from his superiors that it is time he retired. So that when there is a brutal stabbing at one of the high-rise projects, Rebus finds himself seconded to help DI Davidson with the case. The victim looks foreign, and it does look as if it could be a hate crime. But inquiries lead the police into the world of people smuggling, asylum seekers and slave labour. Could the murdered man be a victim of something other than a hate crime then? In the mean time Siobhan finds herself drawn into the troubles of the Jardine family once more when their only surviving daughter goes missing days after her sister's rapist is released from prison. Has Ishbel runaway or has something awful happened to her? Siobhan is determined to save the save the remaining Jardine sister...

To begin with, this was an extremely well constructed novel -- possessing three separate subplots -- it was a real pleasure to see how the author juggled with these, never once losing his stride, always keeping the even pace and keeping the reader's interest firmly in the grasp of his hand. Not once did Rankin digress, and not once did he bore. The powerful manner in which he vividly depicted Whitemire and the plight of the asylum seekers stayed in my mind for several days. Rebus remains the intelligent, independent thinker he always was, while Siobhan seems to be coming into her own as an intelligent and canny detective, worthy of a series of her own. Like previous reviewers, I also wonder about where this relationship between Rebus and Siobhan is headed -- I suppose we'll have to wait and see. All in all, "The Fleshmarket Alley" proved to be an incredibly powerful and thought provoking read. It may not be the most suspenseful Rebus installment, or the most chilling; but again, Rankin seems to have struck gold with the excellent manner in which he put everything together. Definitely a book worth recommending.