A superb 'exit' for Inspector Rebus when Russian diplomats and poet come to Edinburgh. With the brutal murder of the Russian poet and a seemingly unrelated death of a sound recordist Rebus is hard put to get to the bottom of the crime before his retirement. His protege Siobhan Clark is head of the investigation and looks to be on track to become Rebus' successor.

Murder, power and money are at the heart of this tale with the dreaded retirement of John Rebus lurking in the background.

I hope this is not the 'end' of Rebus adventures, but if it is - how could Mr Rankin end it like that? Aargh! ( )

I was actually a bit disappointed with this. Enjoyable, but nothing like the best of the series. ( )

Inspector Rebus, book17

With this installment Mr Rankin has written a great send off, a suitable finale for his protagonist Inspector Rebus. Each chapter is a count down to his last days before retirement. True to the author's style, suspense builds till the end making this story not only entertaining but also intriguing.

Under pressure to solve the murder of a Russian poet and a local sound recordist, Rebus and Siobhan quickly find out this case is connected to the underworld led by Big Ger Cafferty, Rebus's nemesis. We follow them trying to solve the mystery and as we turn pages frantically trying to guess who committed the crime; we are plunged into a plot that is rich and complex with subtle twists. Rebus is in prime form, still argumentative, opinionated and getting in trouble with his superiors. All the characters are masterfully crafted as usual, Siobhan is as gutsy as ever and we route for her success, will she be able to replace her mentor, I am sure we will be treated to more thrilling adventures in the future ( )

The intriguing last chapter of Rebus - or is it?

rebus is so popular or so the jackets say but i don't really like the series. i listened to the first one and this one the last one. i'm going to read one and see if i like it better. ( )