Doors Open - Softcover

Author

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1409127893 ISBN 13: 9781409127895

Publisher: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Lt, 2012

Synopsis

Tie-in edition of Ian Rankin's bestselling stand-alone thriller, which became a major drama adaptation for ITV. Mike Mackenzie is a self-made man with too much time on his hands and a bit of the devil in his soul. He is looking for something to liven up the days and settles on a plot to rip-off one of the most high-profile targets in the capital - the National Gallery of Scotland. So, together with two close friends from the art world, he devises a plan to lift some of the most valuable artwork around. But of course, the real trick is to rob the place for all its worth whilst persuading the world that no crime was ever committed...

About this title

About the Author:

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 thirty-six languages and are bestsellers worldwide.Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005. In 2004, Ian won America's celebrated Edgar Award for Resurrection Men. He has also been shortlisted for the Anthony Award in the USA, won Denmark's Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir and the Deutscher Krimipreis. Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Hull and the Open University.A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts. Rankin is a number one bestseller in the UK and has received the OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons. Visit his website www.ianrankin.net or follow him on Twitter @Beathhigh

From Booklist:

Mike Mackenzie is “thirty-seven years old, rich and bored.” Having sold his software company, he hasn’t found a replacement for the thrill of high-stakes entrepreneurship; only collecting art satisfies his soul. Then barroom banter with friends—Why should great paintings languish in warehouses when they could belong to people who properly appreciate them?—suggests another pastime. Talk turns serious, and soon the unlikely thieves are ready to execute their plan, swapping originals for fakes on “Doors Open Day,” when nonpublic institutions offer tours. Mackenzie feels alive again, but as the number of conspirators grows to include professional criminals, the rank amateurs’ perfect crime begins to unravel. Fans of Rankin’s excellent, just-ended John Rebus series will likely be disappointed by this offering. While Rankin builds some suspense with a dogged DI named Ransome and a Hell’s Angel named Hate—the tension remains perfectly bearable. Mackenzie seems unfazed by the threat of jail time, characters are glib when they ought to be scared, and the tepid ending takes a page, if you will, right out of Scooby-Doo: in danger, Mackenzie buys time by explaining the plot, while the villains assist him by bloviating about how painful everyone’s death will be when eventually inflicted. Finally, in a novel where art forgery plays a starring role, the details of the forgery are too sketchy. We can’t help but wonder if Rankin is like his character here: having retired Rebus, he’s still looking for a new thrill to equal the old one. --Keir Graff

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Lt
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1409127893
• ISBN 13: 9781409127895
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 387