If this book had not boasted the name 'Ian Rankin', I doubt that I would have made it to page 150. The opening half is turgid, formulaic and frankly, tedious. The second portion is fascinating, up to Rankin's standard and well worth the read. I did wonder if this was a short story, or a novelette, which had been stretched.
Rankin has consigned his long term detective, Rebus, to history and this opus is a fill before starting a new series based around the police complaints department. In this book, the cops take a back seat, as the robbers move to the fore. The opening is a rather standard Italian Job rip off: smooth planning and tenuous reasoning lead a group of innocents into a robbery with a small time heavy with money troubles.
The second half, when the plan unravels, is much more interesting and by the end, I was thoroughly enjoying the story and, quite unusually for a crime aficionado such as myself, I did not see the twists coming: I'll say no more, as it would be a pity to spoil the conclusion. ( )

http://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2009/09... ( )

This is the first post-Rebus novel.

It is entertaining enough, and rattles along at a good pace. As ever, Rankin is excellent in his portrayal of the beautiful yet complex city of Edinburgh, with its genteel facade and seedy underbelly lurking below the touristy gloss. However, it is inevitable that the novel will be compared to his previous work, and Mike Mackenzie and Inspector Ransome are simply not as fully realised or engaging as Rebus, Rankin's legendary character.

It is a reasonable read, but not what I had been hoping for from Rankin post-Rebus. I'll await the next one with my fingers crossed. ( )

Bored, too much time on his hands, too much money available, probably best describes self made Edinburgh milllionaire Mike Mackenzie. He and two other artlovers decide to take advantage of Edinburgh's annual Doors Open Day to rob the National Gallery of Scotland's warehouse of some valuable paintings.

Realising they don't actually have the physical power to carry out the heist on their own, Mackenzie involves Chib Calloway, a second string Edinburgh gangster whom he just happened to go to school with.

But any plan is only as strong as its weakest link. And there are lots of weak links. And Mike doesn't take into account a very alert policeman looking to collar Calloway for previous misdemeanors, a gang boss with international connections to whom Calloway owes money, and a double cross by one of their own. Just at the point when Mike is congratulating himself on getting away with it all, things begin to crumble.

This is Rankin's first novel since EXIT MUSIC, in which he retired his "alter ego", D.I. Rebus. Followers were very keen to find out whether Rankin could exist without Rebus, and in the interviews that followed the release of EXIT MUSIC he was pretty coy about what Rebus' role would be in any future novels. Well, the critics are answered. There is not a sign of Rebus in DOORS OPEN.

Can Rankin write stand-alones? Well, yes, he can. He hasn't really ground to a halt or lost his touch with Rebus' retirement. This is a relatively short novel by his standards, and not really so complex. There are few signs of Rankin's social conscience, and I spent of my reading time thinking it wouldn't rank as highly in my rating system as other Rankin novels in my records. I gave 5.0 to EXIT MUSIC and DOORS OPEN isn't at that level. But the last 50 pages or so pushed the rating up for me, although I didn't particularly like the gung-ho with a romantic element of the final denouement of the heist plot. But then came the Epilogue with its write your own ending element. Niot every one will like that. But it left the door nicely open .... ( )

Mike Mackenzie feels like a minor character in a Rebus mystery. He's an intriguing creation, but his Edinburgh is much flatter, more two-dimensional and much less interesting than the one Rebus inhabits.

The other characters are all recognisable representations of their real-life counterparts, but for me none of them came to life the way that Rebus and Shiv did.

The plot is fine and the action hammers along at a cracking pace, but there is something missing. Maybe it's me. Maybe I don't want to accept that Rankin's moved on, left Rebus behind, gone for good. It is an enjoyable read, but (another caveat) I just couldn't find the heart of these characters and I suspect it was a struggle for the author too. The perfect little details that rounded out Rebus and made those stories palpable just aren't there and the impression I am left with is of too much time spent making sure that the plot worked and not enough time spent making sure that the characters did. ( )