The first Rebus book I read was Set in Darkness, about 8 years ago. I read a few of the ones published after this, but then decided to start back at the beginning. So I'm in the process of reading all of the Rebus novels, in sequence, and Dead Souls is the last before I return to Set in Darkness. There have been some cracking books thus far, but this was a disappointment. It took a while to get into the book, and didn't capture the imagination as quickly as others, particuarly after the dramatic ending to The Hanging Garden. Probably one of the weaker Rebus books in my view, but still a good read. ( )

Ian Rankin gets it just about right, for me: Rebus is flawed, it's a dirty world but, we don't have to put up with too much detail.
This is a cracking tale. Rebus is helping a girlfriend, from his past, to find her run away son, he is keeping an eye upon a released paedophile, in whose murder he plays an unwanted part, and trailing a psychopath returning from years in an American prison.
Just an ordinary day, then. ( )

#10 Inspector Rebus British police procedural. For some reason, I had a hard time getting into and getting through this book. Rebus investigates the disappearance of the 19-year-old son of some old school friends from Fife, and the whole issue of “MisPers” (missing persons) is explored. While that is happening, he also contemplates the suicide death of a fellow officer who seemed to have it all going for him, and Rebus believes he was murdered for some reason. Then the subject of paedophiles and childhood abuse comes up, with that theme running through several cases, old and new. The book seemed a bit ‘bloated’ though, the storylines getting sidetracked from time to time, and this detracted from the story rather than enhancing it as sometimes is the case. Usually when I pick up a Rebus book, it’s hard for me to put it down and I’m done in a day or two. This one, I would read a couple dozen pages and become distracted, set it aside to go read something else for awhile and it took me nearly a week to get through it. ( )

#10 in the Inspector Rebus series.

The book opens with the seeming suicide of one of Rebus’ young colleagues who is also a friend, and a chase by Rebus in the zoo after a convicted pedophile who has been newly released from prison. To complicate his life even further, a serial killer who has been released from an American prison on technicalities having to do with his trial, is being returned to his “home” in Edinburg; he is considered nearly certain to kill again, but there is no cause to hold him. In addition, old friends out of his past ask him to find their son who has suddenly gone missing.

These four separate, seemingly unrelated incidents form the complex, well thought through plot. Unfortunately, the writing and the characterization does not live up either to the plot potential or to the standard of Rankin’s earlier books in the series. Rebus has degenerated into an alcoholic, blurring at least one distinction between him and other protagonists in the hard-boiled genre. People important in his past emerge, but are not terribly interesting, nor do they really add much to the story line. His love life is also a matter of indifference, both to him, his lover, and to us. What does lift the book up from boredom in this area are his relationships with his colleagues, especially his immediate supervisor and his partner.

But there is no getting away from the fact that the book is a disappointment. ( )

An excellent read. Inspector Rebus has to confront his beliefs when he realises he may not have been right in 'outing' a reformed paedophile. He also has to confront his past when a couple he went to school with request his help with their missing son. All is not well with his personal and family life.

But this does not detract from a superb tale of perverts and killers on the streets of Edinburgh and the dangers this leads Rebus and his friends and family into. ( )