A Question of Blood

Rankin, Ian

ISBN 10: 0752886282 ISBN 13: 9780752886282

Publisher: Orion, 2007

Synopsis

Two seventeen-year-olds are killed by an ex-Army loner who has gone off the rails. The mystery takes Rebus into the heart of a shattered community. Ex-Army himself, Rebus becomes fascinated by the killer, and finds he is not alone. Army investigators are on the scene, and won't be shaken off. The killer had friends and enemies to spare and left behind a legacy of secrets and lies.

Rebus has more than his share of personal problems, too. He's fresh out of hospital, but won't say how it happened. Could there be a connection with a house-fire and the unfortunate death of a petty criminal who had been harassing Rebus's colleague Siobhan Clarke?

Read by James Macpherson

About this title

Review

Sometimes crime affects you directly: in A Question of Blood Inspector John Rebus is caught up in two cases that are closer to home than he would like. He is under investigation for the burning alive of a minor psychopath who threatened his attractive young sergeant Siobhan Clarke; and the son of an estranged cousin has been murdered in a high-school shooting.

As always in Rankin's novels, Rebus's bad attitude to his superiors comes back to bite him: even though doctors testify that damage to his hands is a scalding from trying drunkenly to get into an over-hot bath, it is regarded as circumstantial evidence of his possible guilt. The high-school shooting looks at first sight like another ex-SAS crazy going wild--and here Rebus's own past as an SAS washout comes to haunt him--and the constant meddling of army investigators screams cover-up. In fact, though, this is one of those occasions on which Rebus's slightly paranoid preparedness to see connections everywhere pays off and he manages to solve both crimes and a lot of other unsuspected pieces of mayhem besides. Along the way, the book offers Rankin's usual intense commentary on embattled masculinity and what it means to be a Scot, and this excellent sequence's usual portrayal of an Edinburgh where modernity rubs up against time-worn slums and ancient privilege. --Roz Kaveney

Review

Excellent (SUNDAY TIMES)

Splendidly-woven yarn...if there still are people unaware of Rankin and Rebus, this would make a great introduction (Rab Anderson SUNDAY EXPRESS)

Rankin expertly keeps us on a knife-edge...He is on top form here - unremitting pleasure (Cath Staincliffe TANGLED WEB)

He writes with a natural rhythmn which exerts an almost hypnotic effect (THE INDEPENDENT - Andrew Taylor)

You'll love every second of it (DAILY MIRROR 4-STARS)

Exemplifies the enhanced craftmanship of the author's recent work; the sheer number of handicaps Rebus overcomes and of the puzzles he solves evinces a relishable virtuosity (SUNDAY TIMES - John Dugdale)

A rich absorbing narrative in which the focus is not on who did it - that we know - but why. Artful, moving and entertaining (THE OBSERVER - Peter Gutteridge)

Ian Rankin's John Rebus...is a flawed but very human creation, and his Edinburgh and its inhabitants beautifully drawn and utterly real (IRISH INDEPENDENT - Myles McWeeney)

Exceptionally well-plotted book, which is guaranteed to hook you and keep you hooked (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH - Antonia Fraser)

Skilfully composed and powerfully written, with a vein of compassion that Rankin taps to startling and justified effect (LITERARY REVIEW - Philip Oakes)

He is an addictive writer, which accounts for his immense popularity, but he is also a serious and disturbing one...What he does after Rebus is an interesting question. To track back and offer us some of Rebus's earlier cases would be to reduce the novels to mere entertainment, hugely popular no doubt but a betrayal of his remarkable talent (THE SPECTATOR - Allan Massie)

This latest story crackles with tension, energy and suspense. And it's a credit to Rankin's writing that despite our familiarity with the detective inspector, it is quite believable that Rebus is capable of committing a violent crime to protect a friend (SUNDAY TRIBUNE (Ireland) - Lise Hand)

Seamlessly plotted, effortlessly compelling read. Rankin is in total command of his idiom. Rebus himself may be showing signs of burn-out and disaffection with conventional police procedure, but there is no indication that the series is running out of steam (MAIL ON SUNDAY - Simon Humphreys)

The real strength of Rankin's work...- is that it's a good deal more than a crime novel. The genre is simply the wrapping in which a complex story of human flaws and frailty is contained...Fortunately, A Question of Blood is just about as good as Rankin gets. As a crime novel, it stands favourable comparison with almost anything else currently being written in - or out of - the genre. Detective Inspector Rebus, I suspect, has a way to go yet (Allan Laing GLASGOW HERALD)

'He writes with a natural rhythmn which exerts an almost hypnotic effect' (Andrew Taylor THE INDEPENDENT)

Exemplifies the enhanced craftmanship of the author's recent work; the sheer number of handicaps Rebus overcomes and of the puzzles he solves evinces a relishable virtuosity (John Dugdale SUNDAY TIMES)

A rich absorbing narrative in which the focus is not on who did it - that we know - but why. Artful, moving and entertaining (Peter Gutteridge THE OBSERVER)

Retiring the DI would be a risk, but this 16th Rebus suggests that, while readers wouldn't push him, Rankin could survive that jump (Mark Lawson THE OBSERVER)

Ian Rankin's John Rebus...is a flawed but very human creation, and his Edinburgh and its inhabitants beautifully drawn and utterly real (Myles McWeeney IRISH INDEPENDENT)

Exceptionally well-plotted book, which is guaranteed to hook you and keep you hooked (Antonia Fraser SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)

Still miles ahead of most modern British crime fiction (SHERLOCK MAGAZINE)

Recent crime writers...have at their disposal all the opening for alienation afforded by the modern world - and, if one of them has to be singled out as being especially attuned to contemporary murder and social malaise, it is Ian Rankin (Patricia Craid TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT)

Skilfully composed and powerfully written, with a vein of compassion that Rankin taps to startling and justified effect (Philip Oakes LITERARY REVIEW)

He is an addictive writer, which accounts for his immense popularity, but he is also a serious and disturbing one...What he does after Rebus is an interesting question. To track back and offer us some of Rebus's earlier cases would be to reduce the novels to mere entertainment, hugely popular no doubt but a betrayal of his remarkable talent (Allan Massie THE SPECTATOR)

Rankin at his raw-edged, page-turning best. Plot strands expertly twist around each other, puzzles are puzzling and the Edinburgh/South Queensferry locations are as real and atmospheric as it gets. With Rankin you can practically smell the fag-smoke and whisky fumes (Martin Radcliffe TIME OUT)

Rankin is the thinking man's thriller writer (Vincent Banville IRISH TIMES)

This latest story crackles with tension, energy and suspense. And it's a credit to Rankin's writing that despite our familiarity with the detective inspector, it is quite believable that Rebus is capable of committing a violent crime to protect a friend (Lise Hand SUNDAY TRIBUNE (Ireland))

Nobody is better than Rankin at creating a diversion or leading readers astray only to abandon them in a cul-de-sac (Alan Taylor SUNDAY HERALD (Glasgo))

As his best, few writers can match him for imaginative, multi-layered plots....he has returned to form with a novel of startling depth...In a genre where murder is the norm, it is a testament to Rankin's talent that he succeeds in making death seem as incongruous and painful as it does in real life (Nicola Upson NEW STATESMAN)

This gritty, fast-paced novel confirms why Rankin is such an indisputable leader (Allan Radcliffe THE LIST (Scotland))

Seamlessly plotted, effortlessly compelling read. Rankin is in total command of his idiom. Rebus himself may be showing signs of burn-out and disaffection with conventional police procedure, but there is no indication that the series is running out of steam (Simon Humphreys MAIL ON SUNDAY)

Rankin is an astute social commentator and, as here, serious observation is often at its most effective when it comes in the form of exciting entertainment (TRIBUNE)

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0752886282
• ISBN 13: 9780752886282
• Binding: Audio CD