Let It Bleed

Rating:
Summary: Much More Than Coincidence
Review: A girl is missing. Two teenagers suddenly seem to jump off a bridge, a man takes his own life at an unlikely town meeting. Ian Rankin's John Rebus is the investigator. Set in Scotland and Wales, Rebus is a very likeable detective. The story is well crafted and I found as a reader that I was hooked from the get go. Well worth it!

Rating:
Summary: Much More Than Coincidence
Review: A girl is missing. Two teenagers suddenly seem to jump off a bridge, a man takes his own life at an unlikely town meeting. Ian Rankin's John Rebus is the investigator. Set in Scotland and Wales, Rebus is a very likeable detective. The story is well crafted and I found as a reader that I was hooked from the get go. Well worth it!

Rating:
Summary: Let It Bleed is a good book, and interesting read.
Review: Before Let It Bleed, I'd never read a book set in Scotland. It was fascinating to see the dark side of Edinburgh, a place I'd only "visited" in history books. The book is as raw as any urban tale, and it was both entertaining and disturbing for all that. The very first line made me want to read on: "A winter night, screaming out of Edinburgh" and the story is off and running. John Rebus is no shining hero. He holds on to the seismic shifts in his slippery moral framework with all the confusion and pain that we all feel these days. He's very human and very flawed, and I liked him. The plot was very interesting, yet with so much political and business corruption in stories today, just the plot alone would not have made this a winner. It is Rankin's expert and empathetic treatment of his poor confused and flawed characters that make this book a winner. I'm ready for more Rebus stories.

Rating:
Summary: Dark Edinburgh
Review: I'd never seen this side of Edinburgh. All I can say is, don't park your car near Calton Hill after dark. This way evil comes.

Rating:
Summary: Rebus strikes again
Review: Ian Rankin is amongst the best crime novelists writing today. His books are always tense, tenacious, and thrilling. At the heart of them is Rebus, a cop with bad habits and a fair dose of caustic, Scottish wit - as human and blemished as they come. Rebus knows that murder is usually motivated by passion or greed, but when the bodies begin to pile up - four of them - Rebus realizes that there's nothing simple about his latest case. In his trail for the culprit, he stumbles across a conspiracy that runs all the way to the top of the Scottish political ladder. If you've not yet picked up a John Rebus mystery from Ian Rankin, you should do so now. Rankin is the thinking man's crime writer. He mixes social comment with deep characterization and stirs it all into great plots and sub plots. Let it bleed is one of his outstanding examples and there's a hole in your reading if you miss it.

Rating:
Summary: A Deeper Look at Rebus
Review: In this instalment of the Inspector John Rebus series, we are given a much deeper insight into Rebuses world, his life outside the police force, and how he's dealing with the loneliness of living alone.

From the opening scene Rebus is involved in an all-out thrill ride of a chase through the streets of Edinburgh. Unfortunately for Rebus the chase doesn't end well, although it has an even worse ending for the me he was chasing. A suicide soon after is linked to the original case and Rebus is soon chasing down clues and digging up dirt. When he's warned off the case by influential men from both inside and outside the police force, his resolve is hardened and he redoubles his efforts, convinced that he must be onto something pretty big.

Just what it was he was on to was a little hard to decipher. Corruption in government departments is the bone that he latches onto and then he finds that he's up against some pretty powerful customers. His job is on the line which means the world to him because as he points out, without his job, he's nothing.

We get a very candid look into Rebuses life outside of the police force and realise that he's not doing too well at this point. His realisation that he may have a drinking problem is highlighted by the admission that when he tries to sleep sober he is haunted by nightmares, so he ensures he has a few drinks before bed each night. There is also a disturbing reference to suicide in the book and the fact that Rebus has given it some thought was indicative of his current frame of mind.

Rating:
Summary: A Deeper Look at Rebus
Review: In this instalment of the Inspector John Rebus series, we are given a much deeper insight into Rebuses world, his life outside the police force, and how he�s dealing with the loneliness of living alone.

From the opening scene Rebus is involved in an all-out thrill ride of a chase through the streets of Edinburgh. Unfortunately for Rebus the chase doesn�t end well, although it has an even worse ending for the me he was chasing. A suicide soon after is linked to the original case and Rebus is soon chasing down clues and digging up dirt. When he�s warned off the case by influential men from both inside and outside the police force, his resolve is hardened and he redoubles his efforts, convinced that he must be onto something pretty big.

Just what it was he was on to was a little hard to decipher. Corruption in government departments is the bone that he latches onto and then he finds that he�s up against some pretty powerful customers. His job is on the line which means the world to him because as he points out, without his job, he�s nothing.

We get a very candid look into Rebuses life outside of the police force and realise that he�s not doing too well at this point. His realisation that he may have a drinking problem is highlighted by the admission that when he tries to sleep sober he is haunted by nightmares, so he ensures he has a few drinks before bed each night. There is also a disturbing reference to suicide in the book and the fact that Rebus has given it some thought was indicative of his current frame of mind.

Rating:
Summary: Rankin is one of the most intelligent writers of this genre!
Review: Poor Rebus. When I read about his life, my heart goes out to him. Even when his life is full of problems of his own making. Rebus dislikes obeying authority, and chooses to obey his own moral compass, and that compass is not always pointed in the right direction.

In this dark view of Scotland, Rebus happens to be on hand when chasing two young men who have absconded with a car, and maybe a daughter of a prominent politician. Cornering these two kids on a bridge, Rebus is horrified to see them fall backwards off the bridge, on purpose. That horrible sight is enough to send Rebus searching for answers to a whole bundle of questions...all of which end up pointing to a corrupt city government. Those in charge of this whole fiasco are astute enough to appeal to Rebus' own sense of concern for his city and his land...if he blows the scandal wide-open, many jobs will be lost. Rebus is mortal enough to not want to hurt families by forfeiting possible jobs...and the corrupt men who are raking in a fortune through financial shennanigans know this.

In the end, Rebus finds a way to solve the problem. I am not sure he is happy with the solution, but then Rebus is rarely happy. Too bad he cannot seem to work as hard at his own relationships and his excessive drinking, as he does at his work.

Scotland must be the sister city of Pittsburgh, USA. We have the same overcast skies, and a bar on every other corner, and a church on the rest of them. Loads of bridges too!

Karen Sadler

Rating:
Summary: Edinburgh is nearly as vivid as Rebus
Review: Scottish author Rankin's eighth Inspector John Rebus novel begins on "A winter night, screaming out of Edinburgh." A car chase in pursuit of two young maybe-kidnappers, ends in violence and suicide, launching this dark, atmospheric tale of conspiracy and greed.

The Edinburgh winter is nearly as vivid a character as the intense, brooding Rebus. Alone again and incapable of expressing his emotions, Rebus lives for his job and sleeps in his chair - after more than a few pints and shots.

Still haunted by the surreal death of the would-be kidnappers, Rebus is confronted with another spectacular suicide, this one for the edification of an ambitious councilman. Doggedly pursuing tenuous connections, Rebus begins to unravel an elaborate scheme with roots in the prisons and slums and the highest offices in Scotland. And more people die.

With a complex and absorbing plot, shot through with blasts of icy Edinburgh wind and Rebus' bleak determination, this is another powerful and absorbing winner from a strong, talented writer.

Rating:
Summary: Edinburgh is nearly as vivid as Rebus
Review: Scottish author Rankin's eighth Inspector John Rebus novel begins on "A winter night, screaming out of Edinburgh." A car chase in pursuit of two young maybe-kidnappers, ends in violence and suicide, launching this dark, atmospheric tale of conspiracy and greed.

The Edinburgh winter is nearly as vivid a character as the intense, brooding Rebus. Alone again and incapable of expressing his emotions, Rebus lives for his job and sleeps in his chair - after more than a few pints and shots.

Still haunted by the surreal death of the would-be kidnappers, Rebus is confronted with another spectacular suicide, this one for the edification of an ambitious councilman. Doggedly pursuing tenuous connections, Rebus begins to unravel an elaborate scheme with roots in the prisons and slums and the highest offices in Scotland. And more people die.

With a complex and absorbing plot, shot through with blasts of icy Edinburgh wind and Rebus' bleak determination, this is another powerful and absorbing winner from a strong, talented writer.