Exit Music (Inspector Rebus, #17)

Exit Music (Inspector Rebus #17)

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05  ·  rating details  ·  4,634 ratings  ·  376 reviews
It's late in the fall in Edinburgh and late in the career of Detective Inspector John Rebus. As he is simply trying to tie up some loose ends before his retirement, a new case lands on his desk: a dissident Russian poet has been murdered in what looks like a mugging gone wrong.

Rebus discovers that an elite delegation of Russian businessmen is in town, looking to expand it...more
Paperback, 544 pages
Published December 1st 2009 by Little, Brown and Company (first published 2007)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Rasmus
Sep 29, 2008 Rasmus rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone.
I had extremely high expectations prior to reading this book. After all, this is the culmination of a long and amazing series. Perhaps, I would say, the best series of crime novels since Chandler. Maybe even better. This was the last one. DI John Rebus's last days before retirement.

It was with a mix of dread and hope, that I picked it up and started reading. I wanted things to end well for Rebus, but I knew it wasn't going to be all rosy and happy either. It just wouldn't be Rebus, if that had b...more
Jon Mountjoy
Okay, I've read all of the Rebus series. I suspect this is the final book, given the title. I don't often read the genre, but I've grown to love the warty, very human Rebus. He fights the world, and himself. I suppose I started reading these books because Rebus is set in Edinburgh, where I live. It adds a wonderful dimension when the story takes place in streets and pubs that you know (and I've just learned about a bodysnatching lookout tower from the book). So, you'll enjoy this book if you've...more
Bettie
Another TBR busting venture. I have not got around to this one before because, basically, I didn't want to own up that the Rebus oeuvre is wound up in this.

Denial. A Parcel of Rogues

Anyway here we have Rebus battling against his arch enemy McCafferty at a time when Litvienko is in hospital in London and Russian Envoys are scattered around the various staterooms of Edinburgh hotels.



3* - Knots and Crosses (1987)
4* - Tooth and Nail (1991)
3* - Hide and Seek (1991)
3* - Strip Jack (1992)
4* - A...more
Bookmarks Magazine

This nostalgic farewell for the aging, rebellious, and popular Rebus raised an all-consuming question for critics: is this really the end to the beloved detective, or will he return? The cliffhanger ending, as well as the general belief that Rankin would never give up his adored character, suggests that Rebus could make a comeback. "Exit Music does leave the door open for more Rebus stories as well as a series featuring Siobhan, who has become more of a presence in each novel," notes the South F

...more
Pris robichaud

As We Say Goodbye, Let Me Wish You Grace and Danger, November 18, 2007

"I never knew the road that carried me along
Crazy sidewalk, concealed by pretty song
You want my life from me
I'll give you two
You'll be no strife for me
As we say goodbye
Let me wish you as you fly.

Grace and danger
Sweet grace
No danger
Sweet grace
No danger
Grace and danger."
John Martyn

John Rebus hooked me into his life with his love of music and his style, and that is how he ends his career, style with 'Exit Music'-ho...more
Judy
What did I learn from this book? Easy. Don't come into a series on the 16th and final book. Why, you may ask? Because apparently the primary characters in the book have a long and complex history of which I was ignorant. And the author did little to bring a novice reader up to speed. I was urged to read this book by a long-time reader of Ian Rankin, who, apparently, also read them in order. Anyway, the book takes place in Scotland in 2006 as Detective Inspector John Rebus is facing imminent mand...more
Nick
With mixed feelings, I started John Rebus' last case before retirement. Would he be killed off? That would not really fit with the realism that is such a strength of the series. Would he wimpier out a tired and disillusioned grumpy old man? That would not be a fitting end to such a great detective and a powerful character.

So I plunged in, even though I have not read all the other cases. (To be honest, whenever I looked at Rebus books in the shops I could never be sure if this was one I had read...more
Stanley Hopcroft
I liked this book as I have most of the rest of the series (probably only excepting 'Knots and Crosses' and the wolfman one) for most of the reasons I liked the others

- the conflict between Rebus and Authority (usually political leaders, police bosses or the rich)

- that Rebus doesn't tire of naming the dead (remembering the victims)

- because of their franknes in dealing with an age of hedonism and moral equivocation.

The books present groups of people who want the truth brought to light: Rebus a...more
Barbara Green
I was quite frankly disappointed with this book. I understand now that there will be another in the Rebus series but, at the time of publication it was considered to be the last . Now let me say I have, from the beginning, been an Ian Rankin fan which I guess could have contributed to my high level of anticipation. And when I opened the book it drew me in pretty quickly and we 'were off' as they say. The only problem for me it, like its heroe, it began to run out of steam. I wom't delineate the...more
Jim
Ian Rankin is a Scottish author whose most famous (and popular) character is Detective Inspector John Rebus, an alcoholic policeman who lives and works in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital. This book, like a number before it, focuses on Rebus at the end of his career, 10 days before retirement.

Like most literary policemen these days, Rebus has a bit of an attitude problem (which has affected his promotion prospects), but most people like him because he has the guts to speak the sort of "truth to pow...more
Ian Mapp
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Ruth
C2007: Lots of red herrings and opportunities and whilst I thought all the way through that I knew who it was, I was sadly wrong. But I was right in a way!! For my tastes, it was a tad too long. About two thirds of the way in, I was beginning to get very frustrated with all the possibilities and then the “frame” came which the blurb had already told us about and for which I had been waiting for the first two thirds of the book. One of my pet peeves. As intimated in the title, music weaves throug...more
Nicholas Whyte
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1831948...

So I reach the last of the Rebus novels, which starts a few days before our hero is due to retire, with a dissident Russian poet found battered to death late one Edinburgh night in November 2006, followed soon after by the murder of his sound engineer friend. Rebus's impending retirement echoes the impending end to the hegemony of the Scottish Labour Party, with the SNP and possible independence looming in the wings, and the investigation takes him to inve...more
Moray Barclay
The plot is marginally flaky. In the the hands of most authors this would matter, but with Ian Rankin it is irrelevent. The journey he describes is fascinating and links Scottish and international realpolitik with old-fashioned villainary; every character is completely credible, and the street wisdom and telepathy between Rebus and Siobahn is uplifting and at times quite joyful.



Rankin has wide interests. His analysis of Scottish politics is as enlightening as anything a broadsheet journalist wo...more
Claire
The last Rebus? I so hope not - he is one of the greatest creations in all of British detective fiction. It's typical Rebus to get (over)involved in a murder case that looks to be turning into an international conspiracy a mere three days before his retirement... But, as always, with Rankin's novels, things are most definately not what they seem, as Rebus gets himself suspended (leaving Siobhan in charge), and finds himself the suspect in an assault, all of which forces him onto an inexorable co...more
James Thane
This is the seventeenth and allegedly last book in Ian Rankin's excellent series featuring Edinburgh Inspector John Rebus. Rebus was already nearly sixty years old before his creator was stunned to discover that sixty was the mandatory retirement age for detectives in Scotland. Accordingly, this book finds Rebus in the autumn of the year and of his career as well.

Rebus has ten days do go when Alexander Todorov, a Russian poet, is brutally murdered after a reading. To all appearances Todorov was...more
KarenC
May 22, 2011 KarenC rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to KarenC by: Series
With the focus on Rebus's retirement it was hard not to feel a bit sad as the plot of this novel moved along. May not have been Rankin's best in the series, but it kept my attention and involvement in the story. I've liked the few Rebus books I've read, so have the chance to return to the first in the series and read straight through. By the time I return to this one I'll re-read it with some regret, knowing that all good detectives retire. Ranking, through Rebus & his colleagues, has taken...more
John
I bought this some little while ago and decided to keep it to read as my reward for finishing my nonfiction book Denying Science (coming your way this fall, plug plug); of course, Denying Science proved to be one of those rare books that took me far longer to polish off than anticipated, so, as you can imagine, by the time I allowed myself to reach Exit Music down from the shelf, I was trembling like a junkie in need of a fix. But it was worth the wait . . .

This is the book that sees Rebus's ex...more
Tmc222 Carl
Exit Music is the last of Ian Rankin's "Inspector Rebus" series, set in Edinburgh. Rebus appears in seventeen novels in all, beginning with Knots and Crosses, first published in 1987. I read a couple of novels at random from the series, and became intrigued by this intersection of hard-boiled crime fiction and Scotland's culture, now called "tartan noir" (after James Ellroy used the term in a blurb for one of the Rebus novels.) Even though there are earlier novels (and even a tv series, "Taggert...more
D. Eric
From James E. Tenuto's review on Amazon.com:

Ian Rankin has crafted one of the best mystery series ever written. While many novelists fade after half a dozen books, in "Exit Music" Rankin has kept the character of John Rebus as fresh, human, and complex in the seventeeth novel in this series as he was when he first appeared in "Knots and Crosses."

The sense of inevitability, frustration, and a man out of sorts is palpable. Rebus, ten days away from mandatory retirement, tries to tie up a career's...more
Gaby
Nearing retirement, Detective Inspector John Rebus is savoring his last days and readying himself for the change. Edinburgh may become a different place once he loses the protection of his shield; old enemies and hurts have threatened to resurface. Rebus starts to prepare, ties up loose ends, and plans how to fill his days.

Then ten days until Rebus's retirement, Rebus and Detective Sargent Siobhan Clarke suddenly land a brutal murder case. The victim is a dissident Russian poet. Though it looks...more
Barbra
It has taken me a while to work my way through the whole Rebus series but here's the last one. I will really miss Rebus and have thoroughly enjoyed the series. What a wonderful character Rankin has created - he will be sadly missed.

Back Cover Blurb:
It's late autumn in Edinburgh and late autumn in the career of Detective Inspector John Rebus. As he tries to tie up some loose ends before retirement, a murder case intrudes. A dissident Russian poet has been found dead in what looks like a mugging g...more
Tim Niland
Well, this is apparently the last hurrah for Rankin's great detective John Rebus. After sixteen novels, Rebus is set to retire. When the body of an expatriate Russian poet is found in Edinburgh, the police brass want the case closed as a simple robbery gone wrong so not to agitate potential Russian investors. Rebus, however, smells a rat, and can't let it go as retirement draws near. Soon, he's at odds with the police headquarters, Russian diplomats and his old nemesis "Big Ger" Cafferty. I'll m...more
Richard Katz
John Rebus is perhaps my favorite fictional detective. A dark and brooding Scotsman, a dry alcoholic. Not unlike Dave Robicheaux of James Lee Burke novels only more solitary. So why do we like these somewhat bitter iconoclasts? This novel - the very last in a series of 18 novels gives some of the author's insight into that. I won't give that away. As always, author Rankin draws you into a criminal investigation that is rich in characters, incredibly well plotted, and filled with evocative, dark...more
Stuart
So now I’ve finished what may be the last Rebus story. I’ll just have to go back and start at the beginning of the series again. It’s not as if I remember all the details! But as for this one: “There’s a lot less to this case than meets the eye.” So say several members of the cast of this story. Without wanting to spoil it for you, this turns out to be true, which is strange. Generally, a case builds up into something complicated. This time it built up and collapsed into something very simple. P...more
Monica
It's November 2006. Edinburgh DSI John Rebus is ten days away from retirement, tidying up loose ends. A dissident Russian poet is beaten to death in a back alley. Is it an ethnic hate crime, a political assassination, something personal or just a mugging gone wrong?

It's the full on Celtic Tiger boom - a group of Russian oligarchs is in town to negotiate major real estate deals with the cooperation of Scottish politicians and bankers. Is there a connection?

Rebus catches the case, fully aware tha...more
Tess Mertens-Johnson
This is my first Inspector Rebus book, but I hear it is the last in the series (sigh). I must read the others. I spent some time in Edinburgh, so I recall the places they spoke of. A beautiful city!
Detective Inspector John Rebus is retiring and tries to tie up some loose end. There is a murder of a Russian poet that seems to be a mugging gone wrong. By apparent coincidence a high-level delegation of Russian businessmen is in town, keen to bring business to Scotland. The politicians and bankers w...more
Rod
This is the last in a series of novels featuring an Inspector Rebus. I have seen two television adaptations of novels in this series and both were amazingly flat. I assumed this was the fault of the screen play. Having read this novel I suspect the films followed the books on which they were based very closely.

The plot is involved, but most of its convolutions are in the ‘red herring’ category and not more interesting for that. The inspector himself has a problem with authority – far from origin...more
Ronald Roseborough
This is #17, and possibly the final, in the police procedural series featuring Detective Inspector Jon Rebus and his partner Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke. The crime initially involves the murder of a Russian expatriate poet, who has taken up residence in Edinburgh, Scotland. The investigation expands to include another related murder and an attack on a local crime boss, Big Ger Cafferty. Street criminals as well as high standing financial and government leaders are equal suspects in this fa...more
Jill
Have we seen the last of John Rebus, that curmudgeon of the Edinburgh police force? He is a week from retirement when a famous Russian poet is found beaten to death outside a parking garage. Never one to worry about the fact that there are few clues, Rebus forges ahead with his investigation, stepping on toes and breaking the rules. As in most book of this series, there is a plethora of characters who may have some connection with this murder. But trying to tie it together, Rebus gets off track...more
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 99 100 next »
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
Exit Music (Inspector Rebus, #17)
Exit Music (Inspector Rebus, #17)
Exit Music (Inspector Rebus, #17)
Exit Music (Inspector Rebus, #17)
Exit Music (Inspector Rebus, #17)

33031
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, and the Rebus books are now translated into twenty-two languages and are bestsellers on several continents.

Ian Rankin has be...more
More about Ian Rankin...
Knots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus, #1) Black and Blue (Inspector Rebus, #8) Hide and Seek (Inspector Rebus, #2) Resurrection Men (Inspector Rebus, #13) The Falls (Inspector Rebus, #12)

Share This Book

Your website
“It seemed to him a very Edinburgh thing. Welcoming, but not very.” 8 people liked it
More quotes…