Hide and Seek (An Inspector Rebus Novel) (original 1990; edition 1997)

I've read this one before, but my memories of it were so hazy that I wasn't surprised by anything, but I didn't remember much before I read it, either. It isn't really very memorable, and Rebus as a character is less interesting than in the first book, bouncing around from hangover to hangover without even interesting blackouts to dignify himself with. I find it hard to understand how the brains of the Marlowes and Rebuses of crime fiction aren't rotted away to nothing by all the alcohol... Tartan noir, indeed.

It's entertaining enough, particularly if you like the strongly Scottish flavour or want to follow Rebus further. I'm planning to read (or reread) all of the Rebus books, because I never finished them before, and I'm told they get very, very good. Besides, I like to read all of a series, once I've started. ( )

great detective novel set in scotland ( )

Group S

After reading this second book in the series about Rebus, I am officially a fan. The plot is very suspenseful and the shady characters are extremely shady, although it's a great guessing-game which ones are and which ones aren't the baddies (and which ones are a bit of both). Rankin has a brilliant ear for dialogue and his characters are one-of-a-kind, not only in their personalities, but in their actions, their outlook, and their humor, which is my preference when it comes to stories - I can live with a hazy plot as long as the characters are as solid as they are here. The literary theme is even stronger in this installment too with a plot which parallels Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Edinburgh's dual nature (a real-life one, by the way) is developed even further. ( )

Hide is a noun. And in it, the secret of a murder is hidden. Rebus fails to find it, since he sees too many things in Hide, the verb and the name, for instance. So, instead of trying to make connection between different events, Rebus has to separate the stories and simplify apperances. Rebus is older, without a woman, and does not listen any more to alternative rock, but only to some anonymous jazz. His alcoholism is genuine, but despites the age he is still the good guy seeking the truth in the corrupted city. Links between characters are as unrealistic as ridicolous, and the book gives enough clues for the reader to understand everything about page 100. The most erotic moment is the discovery of the picture of one of the characters, naked. If you would get some thoughts after reading that, please consult your shrink. But that's Edinburgh, not Vigata or Barcelona. If Rebus would have met, only once, with Pepe Carvalho, he would have seen what he missed in life. ( )