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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/69802.Tooth_and_Nail?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Tooth and Nail" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170712665m/69802.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/69802.Tooth_and_Nail?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Tooth and Nail</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33031.Ian_Rankin">Ian Rankin</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32789885?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>Reading an early Rebus (this is from 1992) forces one to realize how much Ian Rankin has evolved.  His Rebus novels have gotten not only longer but also much more complex.  The crimes Rebus investigates are no longer simply the acts of an individual but part of a complex mesh of social and political issues.  Rankin is able to handle this complexity because of the gifts that make the early Rebus novels worthwhile:  memorable characters, a precise sense of place, and excellent balance between the personal issues of the police and the investigation of the crime.  "Tooth and Nail" (originally published as "Wolfman") has all of these.
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<br/>There is a serial killer in London, and Rebus has been called in from Scotland because of his success in a previous case.  While in London he will also have a chance to see his teenaged daughter, who lives in the city with Rebus's ex-wife.  One of the pleasures of the novel is watching Rebus cope with being an outsider both in his work and in his family's life.  And, of course, Rebus feels himself a cultural outsider as well; his new colleagues even have trouble understanding his English.  The culture clash extends to his police work, as Rebus's intuitive--some would say reckless--methods clash with the more traditional methods of the Londoners.  Of course, Rebus's intuition proves correct, and he earns the respect of his peers.  At the end, however, he seems to take no pleasure in this; he is unable to reconnect with his daughter or continue a relationship with a woman he has met.  As he returns to Scotland, he is very much a lonely, defiant figure.  
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/51863?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Sharon's review
rating:

bookshelves: mysterythriller
status: Read in September, 2008

Reading an early Rebus (this is from 1992) forces one to realize how much Ian Rankin has evolved. His Rebus novels have gotten not only longer but also much more complex. The crimes Rebus investigates are no longer simply the acts of an individual but part of a complex mesh of social and political issues. Rankin is able to handle this complexity because of the gifts that make the early Rebus novels worthwhile: memorable characters, a precise sense of place, and excellent balance between the personal issues of the police and the investigation of the crime. "Tooth and Nail" (originally published as "Wolfman") has all of these.

There is a serial killer in London, and Rebus has been called in from Scotland because of his success in a previous case. While in London he will also have a chance to see his teenaged daughter, who lives in the city with Rebus's ex-wife. One of the pleasures of the novel is watching Rebus cope with being an outsider both in his work a...more

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