Musings/Träumereien/Devaneios

Published November 2016.

Judging by this single book, Rankin is a journeyman writer who is good at both character and plot. His main man is a police detective named John Rebus, who is, in the cliched-hallowed literary tradition of crime fiction, a pensioner with no straight arrow boss to bust his chops. There is the further cliched-hallowed implication that he has two sidekicks, Fox and Clarke, to keep him within conventional boundaries. Despite my rather sarcastic tone, I don’t really begrudge a writer these familiar parameters. Look what Shakespeare did with his little fourteen lines and a tight rhyme scheme. A “Rather Be the Devil” is an average book. The crime and its method are in a sense ripped from the headlines, but the means, method, and motive are nicely twisted. There are a number of excellent red herrings smelling up the works. As usual there are some unexpected twists-and-turns in the story, and Rankin's masterful depiction of Scotland and its people, ranging far beyond Rebus' usual Edinburgh haunts to take in the desolate countryside.

If you're into Crime Fiction, read on.