Saints of the Shadow Bible - Softcover

Rankin, Ian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1409128849 ISBN 13: 9781409128847

Publisher: Orion, 2013

Synopsis

Saints of the Shadow Bible

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 CWA Daggers including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005. In 2004, Ian won America's celebrated Edgar Award. 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 No.1 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. www.ianrankin.net Twitter @Beathhigh

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* Rankin took the gutsy step in Standing in Another Man’s Grave (2013) of bringing back his much-loved maverick hero, John Rebus, and setting him opposite Malcolm Fox, internal-affairs cop, hero of The Complaints and The Impossible Dead (both 2011), and, seemingly, Rebus’ polar opposite. That experiment was a resounding success, so, naturally, Rankin ups the ante still further. This time the formerly retired Rebus, now back on the force but at a lesser rank, and Fox, facing the dissolution of his IA unit and the prospect of becoming a real detective again, find themselves working together, taking advantage of a new Scottish law allowing the reprosecution of old crimes by digging into a 30-year-old murder. Ah, but there’s a wrinkle. Rebus was a rookie at the time of the murder, the newbie in a squad of take-no-prisoners detectives who called themselves the Saints, and it looks like the new investigation may implicate the Saints, or at least some of them, in a cover-up or worse. Rebus investigating his buddies and, by extension, himself? Echoing the similar situation in which New Orleans detective Remy McSwain finds himself in Jim McBride’s 1986 film The Big Easy, Rankin’s narrative forces Rebus to come to terms with a shocking truth about himself: he’s a cop first and a maverick second, a truth seeker before a rule breaker. That’s a tough blow for the cantankerous Rebus to absorb, equaled only by the fact that he winds up respecting—even, for God’s sake, liking—the hardworking Fox. Longtime fans of the series will savor every nuance in the subtle interplay between characters here, but Rankin doesn’t forget the thriller plot, either, corkscrewing the narrative into a surprising and satisfying conclusion. Hats off to a writer who can keep a long-running series fresh by upsetting our expectations and rummaging ever deeper into the rag-and-bone shop of his characters’ hearts. --Bill Ott

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1409128849
• ISBN 13: 9781409128847
• Binding: Paperback