false 336236 23 Given his contempt for authority, his tendency to pursue investigative avenues of his own choosing, and his habitually ornery manner, it's a wonder that John Rebus hasn't been booted unceremoniously from his job as an Edinburgh cop. He certainly tempts that fate again in <I>A Question of Blood</I>, which finds him and his younger partner, Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke, trying to close the case of a withdrawn ex-soldier named Lee Herdman, who apparently shot three teenage boys at a Scottish private school, leaving two of them dead, before turning the pistol on himself.<p> "There's no mystery," Siobhan insists at the start of this 14th Rebus novel (following <I>Resurrection Men</I>). "Herdman lost his marbles, that's all." However, the hard-drinking, chain-smoking Rebus, who'd once sought entry into the same elite regiment in which Herdman served (but ultimately cracked under psychological interrogation), thinks there's more motive than mania behind this classroom slaughter. Perhaps something to do with the gunman's role in a 1995 mission to salvage a downed military helicopter, or with Teri Cotter, a 15-year-old "Goth" who broadcasts her bedroom life over the Internet, yet keeps private her relationship with the haunted Herdman. Rebus's doubts about the murder-suicide theory are deepened with the appearance of two tight-lipped army investigators, and by the peculiar behavior of James Bell, the boy who was only wounded during Herdman's firing spree and whose politician father hopes to use that tragedy as ammo in the campaign against widespread gun ownership. But the detective inspector's focus on this inquiry is susceptible to diversion, both by an internal police probe into his role in the burning death of a small-time crook who'd been stalking Siobhan, and by the fact that Rebus--who shies away from any family contacts--was related to one of Herdman's victims.<p> Now middle-aged and on the downward slope of his pugnacity (the high point may have come in 1997's <I>Black and Blue</I>), Rebus has become the engine of his own obsolescence. Overexposure to criminals has left him better at understanding them than his colleagues, and he only worsens his career standing by fighting other people's battles for them, especially Siobhan, who risks learning too many lessons from her mentor. To watch Rebus subvert police conventions and fend of personal demons (that latter struggle mirrored in <I>A Question of Blood</I> by Herdman's own) is worth the admission to this consistently ambitious series. <I>--J. Kingston Pierce</I> 1697465 2003 A Question of Blood total:470|5:8|4:13|3:12|2:1|1:0| 470 1830 636 35 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:24:46 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:24:46 -0800 2009 Inspector John Rebus is, as always, a complex and genre-defining character. With burned hands and a dependence on malt liquor, his senses here have been dulled. That doesn't stop him from carrying this compelling novel, but not to heights as lofty as Rankin has reached previously. A few critics repo...

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From cover:

"A horrific shooting incident at a private school just north of Edinburgh: two seventeen-year-olds killed by an ex-Army loner who has gone off the rails. A man who finally turns the gun on himself. As ...more...]]> 4 1 true false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 05 20:23:06 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 24 09:33:18 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sat Feb 14 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 07:38:11 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 14 00:26:54 -0800 2009
This one is about 3 kids ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Oct 05 18:49:13 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 05 19:08:11 -0700 2008
Rankin's work is dark. His character, John Rebus, is not what you'd call loveable; he's well-drawn, but not necessarily someone you want to have over fo...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Dec 25 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 22 12:01:09 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 25 17:03:57 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Apr 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 03:26:24 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 03:29:30 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 16:42:06 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 16:43:41 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 21:30:10 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 21:35:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Oct 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 16:05:37 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 16:07:36 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 12 19:59:53 -0700 2008 Tue May 20 13:15:21 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Oct 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 12:46:19 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 12:47:23 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Feb 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 11:50:21 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 08:39:20 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Fri May 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 04:12:41 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 13:21:58 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Fri Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 10 09:45:04 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 09:49:10 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Feb 25 04:07:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 10:55:31 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Dec 30 09:14:21 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 09:15:10 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Mon Dec 08 08:11:47 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 08:12:11 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Mon Oct 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 20:02:52 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 14:25:49 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Sat Sep 08 12:33:33 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 08 12:34:30 -0700 2007 Ian Rankin – 15th in series
When a man who had been menacing DSI Siobhan Clarke dies in a house fire and Rebus, who had been seen with him, turns up with burned hands, he is suspected of foul play. At the same time, Rebus is asked to help investigate a former ...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=336236