In this novel we are introduced to DS Rebus and we get his backstory as to why he's such a grumpy, tough nut. It's entertaining with a good dash of suspense, but what I found most interesting was Rankin's introduction to his coup d'essai. DId you know he had considered killing off Rebus in this story? Where would we be today?
A solid read with some exaggerations, but enough intrigue to keep the story going. ( )

This built up the tension really well. After a bit slow start, I was hooked & couldn't put it down. ( )

(1987) Very good. Scottish detective John Rebus is introduced as he is trying to solve a string of young girls being murdered. Turns out that an old friend from his days in SAS training is trying to get revenge for Rebus abandoning him in an intense training exercise that destroyed the man's life. Rebus will pay by losing his daughter as the final victim, but Rebus finds him in a library and kills him. His daughter was saved in the man's apartment. Will continue this series.KIRKUS REVIEWA compelling first novel sent in Edinburgh, where a series of killings of young girls has the city in a panic. Ex-army police detective John Rebus is in the thick of the investigation. Scarred by his elite-corps army training, a nervous breakdown and a divorce, father of teen-age Samantha, Rebus is a dogged but not too sharp investigator. The anonymous letters he starts to receive after the first murder are shrugged off as the work of a crank; he never questions the affluence of his rarely seen hypnotist brother Michael; and he never figures out the one factor common to all the victims. In the meantime, his girlfriend Gill Templet, a press liason policewoman, and hard-bitten, hard-drinking reporter Jim Stevens are smarter. It slowly becomes clear that the killer's focus is Rebus himself, who must finally confront an implacable enemy and hie own long-repressed traumatic memories. Solidly drawn characters, keen psychological insights and an intriguing, well-knit plot--along with a rather florid but individual writing style--make Rankin a newcomer to watch.Pub Date:Sept. 1st, 1987ISBN:0312536925Page count:276ppPublisher:DoubledayReview Posted Online:April 9th, 2012Kirkus Reviews Issue:Aug. 15th, 1987

I think maybe starting at the beginning was not a great move with this series. Rankin very much feels like he's finding his feet. The story rolls along at a good clip, but it's a bit disjointed and hard to see what it's all actually about. ( )

I have been told by several people that book 1 isn't great and that they get a lot better. Well, book 1 is awful. It is badly written and full of stereotypes. Rebus himself is one dimensional and utterly unlikeable. He is a sexist, heavy smoking and heavy drinking police man like so many crime characters before him. I just cant see how Rankin can recover in my eyes after this mess of a book. I will read a few more and see. ( )