'Mustn't complain' - but people always do...
Nobody likes The Complaints - they're the cops who investigate other cops. Complaints and Conduct D...
read full description
reviews
Feb 06, 2012
Helen
rated it: 
One reviewer said that Edinburgh is a character in Ian Rankin's books and I can certainly agree. The streets, the traffic, the buildings, the weather, they all affect the way the story moves. I was in Edinburgh in Sept. of '09 and I laughed out loud when I met the first complaints about the trams. All of Princes Street dug up and our taxi driver gave us a blow by blow about what it had yet to do to George Street. On the last page Malcolm sounds off about all the things that are wrong with the ci
More...
Nov 17, 2011
Ben
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Oct 17, 2011
Maddi
rated it: 
Four and a half stars.
Ian Rankin retired his series detective, John Rebus, in Exit Music. This book brings us Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox of "the Complaints," the department that investigates crooked police. It's a fascinating look from the other side, as I've read several police novels where the hero gets investigated on a false charge (including John Rebus).
Edinburgh and surrounding areas are once more brought in all their gritty glory, with the criminal und More...
Ian Rankin retired his series detective, John Rebus, in Exit Music. This book brings us Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox of "the Complaints," the department that investigates crooked police. It's a fascinating look from the other side, as I've read several police novels where the hero gets investigated on a false charge (including John Rebus).
Edinburgh and surrounding areas are once more brought in all their gritty glory, with the criminal und More...
Oct 12, 2011
Lakis
rated it:
It feels kind of strange when you get into your hands a novel by Ian Rankin in which the main character is not good old detective Rebus. However, Rebus or not, this is yet another fine crime novel by one of the best authors of the genre.
The main characters in this story are Malcolm Fox, who leads the Complaints & Conduct department of the Edinburgh police force, widely known as The Complaints, and Jamie Breck, a cop who is suspected of being a member of a pedophile ring. Having just br More...
The main characters in this story are Malcolm Fox, who leads the Complaints & Conduct department of the Edinburgh police force, widely known as The Complaints, and Jamie Breck, a cop who is suspected of being a member of a pedophile ring. Having just br More...
Jul 27, 2011
Wilde
rated it:
Its 2009, Edinburgh is a place of plummeting land and property prices. Malcolm Fox, heads the Complaints Conduct Department team (investigating “bent” policemen). Fox is asked to investigate Jamie Breck, an officer whose credit card details have came up in an investigation into a dodgy website. Simultaneously, Fox’s sister's boyfriend is found murdered. Fox is told to stay away from the investigation, which is being handled by Jamie Breck!
The first two thirds of this book were extrem More...
The first two thirds of this book were extrem More...
Jun 30, 2011
Juicy
rated it:
This was quite a nice read... admittedly, an airplane read, however it was enjoyable. I had never read anything by Rankin so I have no terms of comparison here, but I thought it was relatively well written, no major plot-holes and most importantly, not that predictable. I may not be very well versed in this genre, but I liked it.
I think the major disappointment was the lack of more gruesome details and of dramatic events. The book is quite mellow-paced and the plot development is ve More...
I think the major disappointment was the lack of more gruesome details and of dramatic events. The book is quite mellow-paced and the plot development is ve More...
Jun 20, 2011
Kathy
rated it:
The Story
The Complaints opens with Malcolm Fox closing a case against a dirty cop, Glen Heaton, followed by a visit to Child Protection (CEOP) where DS Inglis enlists his aid in investigating a cop, Jamie Breck, accused of pedophilia.
Then the unexpected hits—Vince, Jude's boyfriend, is found murdered and DS Breck is in charge giving Fox the opportunity to get to know his target. And Breck to learn more about his suspect.
This is the point where it feels a bit manufactured More...
The Complaints opens with Malcolm Fox closing a case against a dirty cop, Glen Heaton, followed by a visit to Child Protection (CEOP) where DS Inglis enlists his aid in investigating a cop, Jamie Breck, accused of pedophilia.
Then the unexpected hits—Vince, Jude's boyfriend, is found murdered and DS Breck is in charge giving Fox the opportunity to get to know his target. And Breck to learn more about his suspect.
This is the point where it feels a bit manufactured More...
May 22, 2011
Surreysmum
rated it:
Rankin isn't in my personal top tier of mystery authors, but I always find him engaging and engrossing enough to pass whatever time needs to be passed in transit. In this case, it was a very long day in the air and in airports, and "The Complaints" filled the bill nicely. I always enjoy the Edinburgh setting, so I'm glad this new detective - if this is the start of a new series - is still operating in that familiar territory. I won't summarize the plot, since it's already competently d
More...
May 01, 2011
The Complaints, by Ian Rankin, B-plus, narrated by Peter Forbes, produced by Hachette Audio, downloaded from audible.com.
The Edinborough police do not like The Complaints - they're the cops who investigate other cops, the internal complaints unit. It's a department known within the force as "The Dark Side," and it's where Malcolm Fox works. He's a serious man with a father in a nursing home and a sister who won’t admit she’s in an abusive relationship even when her brother More...
The Edinborough police do not like The Complaints - they're the cops who investigate other cops, the internal complaints unit. It's a department known within the force as "The Dark Side," and it's where Malcolm Fox works. He's a serious man with a father in a nursing home and a sister who won’t admit she’s in an abusive relationship even when her brother More...
Apr 26, 2011
Jaime
rated it:
The Complaints is the first book in Rankin’s first series since the end of his Inspector Rebus series in 2007. Malcolm Fox is not like John Rebus; he’s a bit more low-key, and working outside the lines doesn’t come naturally to him. His job in Scotland’s version of Internal Affairs requires that he seek out the cops that step too far over that line.
After he closes a case against one particularly egregious offender, he’s asked to work with another division on a child pornography case. T More...
After he closes a case against one particularly egregious offender, he’s asked to work with another division on a child pornography case. T More...
Apr 10, 2011
Gretchen
rated it:
Whoosh! Here comes Ian Rankin again with a superb new character. Matthew Fox, head of the Edinburgh equivalent of America's Internal Affairs, has been suspended from his job along with the young attractive, computer generated role playing game fan Jaime Breck (also a cop). Both are being set up for a fall from grace. Together they unravel a complicated set of circumstances and are returned to their rightful places on the job. But the getting there is the fun (?). Foxy is an interesting chara
More...
Mar 14, 2011
Debbie
rated it:
"The Complaints" is a British detective mystery. Despite Fox's job in Complaints, Fox ended up investigating a murder (with some conspiracy thrown in) rather than the ethical behavior of another cop. The details of the job and setting were woven into the story and did a good job of bringing the story alive in my imagination.
There were a few slow spots in the story, and I never felt much suspense since the main character didn't seem upset or scared. The mystery was fairly comp More...
There were a few slow spots in the story, and I never felt much suspense since the main character didn't seem upset or scared. The mystery was fairly comp More...
Jan 28, 2011
Mary
rated it:
THE COMPLAINTS written by Ian Rankin
03/11 - Little, Brown & Company - Hardcover, 448 pages
Where do the good guys finish in the race of life?
Malcolm Fox was one of the good guys. He was a clean cop that monitors the ones that were not always making sure that his principles were upheld. Foxy worked in Edinburgh for the division called The Complaints and Conduct Department and had the character of a slow and steady man making careful decisions and well thought out pl More...
03/11 - Little, Brown & Company - Hardcover, 448 pages
Where do the good guys finish in the race of life?
Malcolm Fox was one of the good guys. He was a clean cop that monitors the ones that were not always making sure that his principles were upheld. Foxy worked in Edinburgh for the division called The Complaints and Conduct Department and had the character of a slow and steady man making careful decisions and well thought out pl More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 04, 2010
Cams
rated it:
I've always enjoyed Ian Rankin's detective novels starring the dour Inspector Rebus. Rebus has just retired and Ian Rankin has developed a new character, Inspector Fox.
Foxy works for the complaints, which is to say he investigates other police officers. Like Rebus before him, he is a flawed character. This makes him seem very life-like and I think he will grow to be as well loved as the character of Rebus.
The plot is as good as any that's gone before, with clever twists a More...
Foxy works for the complaints, which is to say he investigates other police officers. Like Rebus before him, he is a flawed character. This makes him seem very life-like and I think he will grow to be as well loved as the character of Rebus.
The plot is as good as any that's gone before, with clever twists a More...
May 24, 2010
Ian
rated it: 
This got off to a great start and I felt it was an improvement on Doors Open.
The Complaints are the internal affairs of the Edinburgh police force. Having put away a dodgy policeman.... Malcolm Fox is given the task of bringing Jamie Breck to justice. There is a paedophile ring run from Australia and Jamie has joined through his credit card but not yet submitted the 25 pictures for full membership.
This is a great start, not least because Jamie Breck is quite charming an More...
The Complaints are the internal affairs of the Edinburgh police force. Having put away a dodgy policeman.... Malcolm Fox is given the task of bringing Jamie Breck to justice. There is a paedophile ring run from Australia and Jamie has joined through his credit card but not yet submitted the 25 pictures for full membership.
This is a great start, not least because Jamie Breck is quite charming an More...
Feb 07, 2010
Lourdes
rated it:
Insp. John Rebus has retired, so from Rankin we now get a different type of cop: Malcolm Fox, who works for The Complaints and Conduct, the cops who investigate other cops. He and his team have just finished a case involving veteran officer Glen Heaton, meaning The Complaints has stirred up some more anger. Fox is also dealing with his sister, who is being physically abused by her live-in boyfriend, when he's asked to start investigating another cop who worked with Heaton, this time as part of a
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 16, 2010
Melaszka
rated it:
I was a bit disappointed with this. It started promisingly - seemed like it was going to involve some meaty moral dilemmas e.g. is morality sticking to the rules, no matter what? Loyalty to family? Loyalty to colleagues? Looking after the vulnerable, even if, strictly speaking, they're in the wrong? Punishing the guilty, even if it's an unofficial, rough justice? Compromising and letting some things go if it's for the greater good?
But it rapidly descended into tartan noir by numbers. M More...
But it rapidly descended into tartan noir by numbers. M More...
Nov 19, 2011
Simon
rated it:
3.5 stars ... The first book in Rankin's new series should please fans of his John Rebus novels (which are recommended if you don't know them). Malcolm Fox leads an Edinburgh squad known as "The Complaints", essentially an Internal Affairs team. The plot is too twisty and complex to try to break down here, but Rankin puts us right in the middle of a world where the line between cops and criminals feels awfully thin. At first it might feel like Fox - who doesn't drink and copes with a s
More...
Feb 21, 2011
David
rated it:
How much do I love Ian Rankin’s work? Like most Rankin fans I enjoyed his first non Rebus novel, Doors Open, but found it woefully below the standard that he had set. So as he introduced his latest character Malcolm Fox, another Scottish Police officer trying to do right by the law, I found myself nervously excited that it be good. While it was not Rebus at his best, Fox delivered exactly what I was looking for, especially for a first outing.
Too often the guys who police the Polic More...
Aug 11, 2010
Eric
rated it:
Ian Rankin's Complaints tells the story of a police department called Complaints, the cops who investigate other cops. Malcolm Fox, the main character, has a frail father and a sister in a compulsive relationship. After investigating and gleaning evidence on another popular cop, his life spirals out of control. His sister abusive live-in is killed. A wealthy but down on his luck developer disappears as if by suicide. A cop is connected to a an internet porn ring out of Australia. Soon Fox doesn'
More...
Dec 08, 2011
Margaret
rated it:
Finding this book was a real serendipity (a sample copy sent to the home office of a recently deceased book store chain - apparently the publisher missed that memo...) - it looked passingly interesting and so it went home with me. Turns out to have been a lucky find - it's a well written "police procedureal" mystery that focuses on the "Complaints" department, i.e., Internal Affairs, of the Edinburgh, Scotland police department. Author Rankin has written a number of other b
More...
Oct 15, 2010
Hippopottoman
rated it:
More fun than I'd anticipated, especially after having read Doors Open.
I felt comfortable with most of the characters pretty quickly - I think Rankin did an acceptable job of fleshing out Malcolm and his family. The coworkers weren't defined in the same level of detail, but mostly didn't need to be.
The initial setup was very promising, and I was sucked along by both Fox's and Breck's investigations.
I continued to enjoy the story as events unfolded, and it wasn't until t More...
I felt comfortable with most of the characters pretty quickly - I think Rankin did an acceptable job of fleshing out Malcolm and his family. The coworkers weren't defined in the same level of detail, but mostly didn't need to be.
The initial setup was very promising, and I was sucked along by both Fox's and Breck's investigations.
I continued to enjoy the story as events unfolded, and it wasn't until t More...
Feb 13, 2012
Dorothy
rated it:
When Inspector John Rebus rode off into the sunset to the sound of Exit Music a few years ago, I suffered withdrawal pains. How would I now get my Edinburgh fix? The other Edinburgh series that I was reading by Alexander McCall Smith just wouldn't do it for me. I needed Rankin's Edinburgh.
Well, it turns out, I didn't have too long to wait. In 2009, The Complaints came out, the first in a series featuring Malcolm Fox, a cop who investigates other cops. I have to say that I hesitated abo More...
Well, it turns out, I didn't have too long to wait. In 2009, The Complaints came out, the first in a series featuring Malcolm Fox, a cop who investigates other cops. I have to say that I hesitated abo More...
Jan 02, 2012
Nick
rated it:
Undeniably, the pages they keep on turning, and one cannot help but read, so never let it be said that Rankin cannot deliver, and he does, up to a point, in this police procedural centering on internal intrigue among the police who police internally. Informally known in Edinburgh as "The Complaints," this internal investigation unit headed by Malcolm Fox, isn't much loved by the other cops, but a strong sense of honor keeps the going.. until a rapid series of setback has Foxy on the ro
More...
Dec 22, 2011
Alistair
rated it:
I have always assumed that Rankin was the creme da la creme of crime writers but unless this book is utterly inferior to his others I was wrong .
it starts off quite promisingly but the pages became heavier and heavier as i trudged through the story about police corruption aided and abbeted by local corrupt property developers and sundry heavies . the cliches are piled high from femme fatale , , alcoholics , good cop bad cop , a little bit of contemporary social commentary on get rich quick More...
it starts off quite promisingly but the pages became heavier and heavier as i trudged through the story about police corruption aided and abbeted by local corrupt property developers and sundry heavies . the cliches are piled high from femme fatale , , alcoholics , good cop bad cop , a little bit of contemporary social commentary on get rich quick More...
Apr 07, 2011
Richard
rated it:
This odd title is actually part of the name of the Edinburgh, Scotland Lothian and Borders Police Department division where our hero, Malcolm Fox works: Complaints and Conduct - Professional Standards Unit. Yes, the cops who investigate the cops.
This very satisfying tale starts with a just completed case that just won't go away. In fact, Fox and his team are suddenly mixed up with the people who deal with Child Exploitation and from there the mysteries go viral.
The Scot slang More...
This very satisfying tale starts with a just completed case that just won't go away. In fact, Fox and his team are suddenly mixed up with the people who deal with Child Exploitation and from there the mysteries go viral.
The Scot slang More...
Jan 30, 2010
Justin
rated it:
Didn't like this book, even by the meager standards I had for it. I liked a few of the later Rebus novels alright, but this one just sunk. Didn't care about either of the detectives enough to give a damn one way or the other whether they managed to get themselves out of what turned out to be in the end a pretty lackluster fix. The whole conspiracy behind the set-up turned out to be pretty weak once it all got explained at the end. It was so convoluted and full of so many (and such thin) characte
More...
Dec 10, 2011
Monica
rated it:
I'm not going to talk about how sorry I am that Ian Rankin retired John Rebus - oh wait, I just did.
But Malcolm Fox and his thankless position in the Professional Standards Unit - Complaints and Conduct - are some solace. Fox is not Rebus, he has given up drinking, for one thing, and their musical tastes are wildly different, and his job, which he does well, is putting away dirty cops.
He is caught in an untenable position - an officer he is supposed to be investigating More...
But Malcolm Fox and his thankless position in the Professional Standards Unit - Complaints and Conduct - are some solace. Fox is not Rebus, he has given up drinking, for one thing, and their musical tastes are wildly different, and his job, which he does well, is putting away dirty cops.
He is caught in an untenable position - an officer he is supposed to be investigating More...
Dec 02, 2010
Lisa
rated it:
I'm surprised at all the reviews saying how very different Fox is from Rebus. I actually think Rankin writes him in a similar way, which is too bad because sometimes it is clear that he is trying to make Fox a very different kind of character, but that is not sustained throughout the novel.
The story is typical Rankin, which is to say it involves varying levels of corruption, characters whose lives overlap in interesting ways, and an ending that catches the bad guy but doesn't let us f More...
The story is typical Rankin, which is to say it involves varying levels of corruption, characters whose lives overlap in interesting ways, and an ending that catches the bad guy but doesn't let us f More...
Sep 03, 2011
Andrew
rated it:
While I've long been a fan of Ian Rankin's Rebus series, recently I'd started to tire of them despite the engaging locale and style. I think Rankin must have been feeling the same way, because he's started this new series about Malcolm Fox. Fox is a detective in the Complaints Dept of Lothian & Borders police. (For us North Americans the complaints is the same thing as an internal affairs dept -- the cops that investigate the cops.) I won't spoil the story, but I found it fresh and modern. Ranki
More...
