From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives

Knots and Crosses
by
Start date
November 15, 2025
Finish date
December 7, 2025
Discussion
Buddy reads
Why we're reading this
First in this acclaimed series

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Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 478 topics — 9,233 comments total
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What Members Thought

Ellen
Aug 26, 2017 rated it it was amazing
Knots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus, #1) by Ian Rankin.

This was my first taste of Inspector Rebus, but it most definitely won't be my last!

Rebus is not an unusual character. He has his strong points which I found to be in enduring until the case is solved. At the same time he's a vulnerable person with weak points. Weak points caused by something in the past he's trying desperately to forget or at least cram into a closet and lock it shut forever.
The first little girl goes missing and later is f
...more
Susan
Set in Edinburgh, 1985, this is the first novel featuring Detective Sergeant John Rebus. In the tradition of flawed detectives, he is divorced and has a stilted relationship with his daughter, Sammy and a distant one with his only brother, Michael. Living in a flat, his mattress on the floor and books piled all around him, Rebus is a rather grumpy character who both drinks and smokes too much. Leaving the army (specifically the SAS Special Assignment Group) he has had a breakdown before joining ...more
Paul  Perry
Somehow I've never got around to reading the Rebus books. partly as I owned a couple but wasn't sure which was the first. So I checked and, on my very next charity shop crawl, found Knots and Crosses in the second shop for a quid. Result.


It's a recent edition so has a forword from the author explaining the times in which the book was written (no mobile phones, etc) and also excusing his youthful shortcomings. While there are issues with the novel, none of the things Rankin's more experienced cri
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Christine PNW
I read one of the Rebus mysteries earlier this year (Strip Jack: An Inspector Rebus Novel) and thought it was pretty good, so I decided to go back to the beginning. I put this on hold at my library, and ended up waiting about 12 weeks for my hold to come up.

It wasn't worth the wait, and the beginning was decidedly underwhelming. It seems that Rankin took his series, and his main character, in a completely different direction after this first book. Because, Inspector Rebus of Knots and Crosses is
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Teri-K
Feb 13, 2018 rated it it was ok  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: mystery
I had a feeling this wouldn't be my kind of book, and I was unfortunately right. It's well written and I can see that it would appeal to readers who liked their heroes hard-boiled and their stories bleak and "realistic". But to me it was mostly depressing and a little sordid. Rebus is an Edinburgh cop, divorced with a 12 year old daughter he barely relates to. He sleeps around some and drinks and smokes a bit too much.

The case is about the abduction of teenage girls, but it hardly figures into
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Amy
May 28, 2017 rated it liked it
Shelves: 2017
I read this while in Edinburgh so I can attest to the fact that the setting comes across perfectly. The book does suffer a little bit from it being obvious that this was his first book and I suspect he also felt very clever with all the literary references. They ended up being a little bit too much for the book.
Elise Stone
Mar 14, 2016 rated it it was amazing
I can't believe it took me so long to read this book. It's been on my TBR list for ages. It came back on my radar when it was chosen by the Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group as a group read. Although I couldn't get it from the library in time for the group read, I decided I'd read it as soon as it came in this time.

I wasn't disappointed. John Rebus is a great character, a character with depth and human failings. In this first book in the series, he's on the trail of a serial killer. He's also r
...more
Cindy
Sep 06, 2012 marked it as to-read
Beth
Jan 25, 2013 rated it liked it
Jeff
Jul 18, 2013 rated it liked it
Shelves: suspense
Rita Marcella
Nov 04, 2013 rated it it was amazing
Carys
Feb 08, 2014 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Julie
Oct 27, 2014 marked it as to-read
Kat
Oct 12, 2015 rated it liked it
Joanne
Jan 29, 2016 rated it really liked it
Frances
Aug 08, 2016 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: mystery-series
Mara Pemberton
Dec 17, 2016 marked it as to-read
Colleen  Quinn
Jun 26, 2017 rated it really liked it
Jamie
Dec 10, 2017 marked it as to-read
Patti
Mar 25, 2018 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Sonnet
Jul 17, 2018 marked it as interested
Karen M
Aug 14, 2018 marked it as library-wish-list-ebooks
Ruth
Feb 02, 2021 marked it as to-read
Shelves: 2025-thoughts