Friday, December 20, 2013

The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin

The Naming of the Dead (Inspector Rebus, #16)The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Looks like one of the last Rebus books. Rebus is on the verge of retirement. The G8 is meeting in Edinburgh. The whole town is in turmoil. The entire police force is busy with managing the security setup for the G8 leaders.
Rebus and Siobhan are pursuing yet another murder. This time the murdered person is a bouncer who worked for big Ger Cafferty. Along the way they discover two additional murders committed along the same lines. They realize that they are now dealing with not one, but three murder cases. They are not about to give up following up on the case although others have closed it down and are busy with the VIP security.
With the usual nonchalance Rebus and Siobhan march on taking head on anybody who tries to bottle them up. Siobhan's mother and father are there in Edinburgh for a demonstration against the policies of the G8 nations. Siobhan gets some time with them.
Siobhan is saved from the wrath and lust of a boy in the area where Siobhan's parents are put up by the councilor of the area. Rebus does not have a good opinion about the councilor.
Siobhan's mother gets smashed on the face, apparently by a police personnel deployed to control the demonstrators and Siobhan is unable to stop herself from trying to find out the person who did this.
Rebus takes help of Ellen Wylie, Siobhan's rival in the force because he finds that she has posted certain material in a website where the three killed persons, all ex convicts and sexual predators, were mentioned. This riles Siobhan.
Rebus also gets in touch with Ger Cafferty as it is his bouncer who had been killed.
Just before the beginning of the G8 meet the minister for Trade Affairs falls off the ramparts of the Edinburgh fort and Rebus is stopped from investigating it too.
As the book progresses, like other Rebus books, the connections, some tenuous, some not so tenuous, between the various disconnected events emerge.
The book has an intriguing end and leaves the reader with a feeling there is more to come. As Rebus fans let us hope so.

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