The Lost Years

Inspector Rebus #7-9

by Ian Rankin

LET IT BLEED: Rebus finds himself sucked into an investigation that throws up more questions than answers. Was the Lord Provost's daughter kidnapped or just another runaway? And why on earth is Rebus invited to a clay pigeon shoot at the home of the Scottish Office's Permanent Secretary? Drawn into the machine that is modern Scotland, Rebus confronts the fact that some of his enemies may be beyond justice. BLACK & BLUE: Rebus is juggling four cases trying to nail one killer - and doing it under the scrutiny of an internal inquiry led by a man he's just accused of taking backhanders from Glasgow's Mr Big. Added to that there are TV cameras at his back investigating a miscarriage of justice, making Rebus a criminal in the eyes of millions of viewers. Just one mistake is likely to mean a slow and unpleasant death or, worse still, losing his job. THE HANGING GARDEN: DI John Rebus is on the trail of a WWII war criminal - until the running battle between two rival gangs on the city streets arrives at his door. When his daughter is the victim of a hit-and-run Rebus is forced to acknowledge that there is nothing he wouldn't do to bring down the prime suspect - even if it means cutting a deal with the devil.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

832 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

AKA Jack Harvey.

Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature. His first Rebus novel was published in 1987; the Rebus books are now translated into 22 languages and are bestsellers on several continents.

Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow. He is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award, and he received two Dagger Awards for the year's best short story and the Gold Dagger for Fiction. Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, and Edinburgh.

A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts, on Channel 4 in 2002. He recently received the OBE for services to literature, and opted to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/ianrankin

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished "Let it Bleed" - fabulous, involving oil rigs, drugs, creepy serial killers and some very nasty Americans!

[Jane Woodcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is for the first of those novels, Let it Bleed. It was ok. To me not one of his best. Went on too much for my liking, just wanted it to finish.
.

[Jeremy Cherfas]

The start date is entirely arbitrary, as I can't remember when I started. This is a three-volume collection, and I've just finished Black and Blue, the second of the three.

I can't remember the last time I was so thoroughly lost in a book. That deep, deep pleasure from wanting nothing else but to keep reading. An absolute treat. Is it, as Rankin says, the breakthrough book of the Rebus series? I don't know; I've enjoyed them all. Black and Blue was certainly the most complicated so far. I almost forgot that this all started with one loused up frightener. But it didn't matter, because in the end everything got sorted out satisfactorily.

I think I'll take a break before I get into the next one. Maybe something a little less gripping.

But I do want to know whether Rebus stays true to the changes he makes towards the end of the book. No spoilers.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read all three of the novels in this omnibus volume aloud to Maggee years ago. I recently re-read her BLACK & BLUE (library copy) and decided that I wanted to include some early Rebus titles in the BML collection. This volume will stand as a Marker for all the Ian Rankin books we have read.

From the Goodreads blurb:
LET IT BLEED: Rebus finds himself sucked into an investigation that throws up more questions than answers. Was the Lord Provost's daughter kidnapped or just another runaway? And why on earth is Rebus invited to a clay pigeon shoot at the home of the Scottish Office's Permanent Secretary? Drawn into the machine that is modern Scotland, Rebus confronts the fact that some of his enemies may be beyond justice. BLACK & BLUE: Rebus is juggling four cases trying to nail one killer - and doing it under the scrutiny of an internal inquiry led by a man he's just accused of taking backhanders from Glasgow's Mr Big. Added to that there are TV cameras at his back investigating a miscarriage of justice, making Rebus a criminal in the eyes of millions of viewers. Just one mistake is likely to mean a slow and unpleasant death or, worse still, losing his job. THE HANGING GARDEN: DI John Rebus is on the trail of a WWII war criminal - until the running battle between two rival gangs on the city streets arrives at his door. When his daughter is the victim of a hit-and-run Rebus is forced to acknowledge that there is nothing he wouldn't do to bring down the prime suspect - even if it means cutting a deal with the devil.

[Fergus Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edinburgh, spent my college years there, and a large part of my life. Rankin makes those streets jump out at you, and perfectly gnaws away at the underbelly of the town. All three stories in this collection are testament to that.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

more of an Ellroy inluence than in the later books - still strong, complex, bleak, covering Scotland with whisky and corpses : a Good Read.

[Andrew Boden · Rating 4 out of 5]

My heart will always be with Chandler, but as he's not writing from beyond the grave, I am enjoying Rankin and Rebus.

[Elizabeth Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read everything Ian Rankin has written to date. There is only one Rankin and only one Rebus. If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Rebus....don't delay any longer.