The Naming of the Dead

In The Naming of the Dead, it’s 2005 and the G8 Summit is set to take place in Scotland: in the town of Auchterarder, forty miles north of Edinburgh. Security is tight, the local constabulary is on high alert and all hands are on deck to deal with protests and demonstrations. All except for Detective Inspector John Rebus, whose superiors would like nothing better than to keep him as far as possible from a significant and sensitive event attended by leaders and dignitaries from around the world. But things don’t always go as planned, and when, following a pre-summit dinner attended by some of those dignitaries, MP Ben Webster falls to his death from the battlements of Edinburgh Castle, Rebus is the only DI available to take on the show more case. Immediately Rebus locks horns with Commander Steelforth, the prickly and arrogant official in charge of security for the summit, who insists without evidence the death was a suicide. Rebus remains unconvinced and presses forward with the investigation. Meanwhile, three murders have taken place: young men killed in violent fashion, all of whom have rape convictions on their record. Rebus’s trusted colleague, Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke, is leading the investigation into the murders, and she and Rebus collaborate, on this and other matters. Inevitably, the two investigations are hampered by the summit, which consumes an enormous amount of police resources, and Rebus and Clarke are forced to take short cuts wherever they can find them. A further challenge facing the two is that Siobhan’s attention is divided: her parents have arrived from London to take part in the demonstrations, and during one event, when her parents find themselves in the midst of an unruly crowd, her mother is struck in the head, apparently by one of the riot police. With her mother in hospital, Siobhan, sidetracked from the murder investigation, makes it her mission to identify the officer who committed the assault. The story Rankin has concocted is labyrinthine and witty, but also weighty with sombre notes. All of this is taking place as Rebus is mourning the sudden death of his brother Michael from a stroke, and his thoughts often turn to his family and the mess he’s made of things. He is also getting older and can’t help but reflect on what life will be like post-retirement. As always with Rebus, the search for truth takes inconvenient turns, and at several points Siobhan and Rebus find themselves consulting with, of all people, Rebus’s arch-nemesis, the ruthless gangster Big Ger Cafferty, whose shady underworld connections enable him to ferret out information that Clarke and Rebus can’t easily, or legally, access. The novel is long and detailed, twisty and intricate, dripping with atmosphere and crammed with memorable characters, diverting encounters and crisp dialogue—and Rankin provides plenty of opportunity for Rebus to get up the nose of his superior officers. John Rebus may be aging, and not particularly gracefully, but in The Naming of the Dead he is still the same rude, irreverent thorn-in-the-side he’s always been and proves once again more than willing to cross lines to get the results he wants. show less

Well, this Rebus book, although good, didn't grab me quite as much as previous ones I have read. Having thought about it for a day I think it is because there were no references to music that I really connected with. There was music but most of it was by bands that I didn't recognize or, if I did, I never got into their music. Where is Van Morrison? or John Coltrane? Oh well, Rebus has varied and eclectic musical tastes and I guess he wasn't in the mood for my favourites.

The action in this book takes place in July of 2005 while the G8 summit was taking place in Scotland and some home grown terrorists were bombing subways and a bus in London. Almost every police officer in the British Isles was involved in providing security for the G8 show more except for Rebus but he happened to still be at work when an MP fell (or was pushed) to his death from Edinburgh Castle. So he grabbed the case despite a senior official from London interfering. Meanwhile, Siobhan was involved in the G8 security set-up and she happened to stop at an odd little place called Clootie Well near the castle where the G8 summit was to take place. Clootie means clothes and the trees about this place were festooned with scraps of cloth. Siobhan recognizes one of scraps as coming from the clothes of a recent murder victim. She calls Rebus and he comes to take a look. They agree there must be a connection with their case and call in the SOCO's to take evidence. The same London official who was in Edinburgh for the MP's death shows up at this crime scene, concerned that it will impact on the G8. Rebus and Siobhan are told to pursue the case quietly until the summit actually starts and then put it on ice. Knowing Rebus as we do, we know he will not follow direction and this time both he and Siobhan are put on suspension. Meanwhile, Siobhan's parents arrive in Edinburgh to take part in the anti-summit protests. Siobhan goes to their tent to see them but is viewed with suspicion and has her car vandalized. The local councillor, Tench, comes to her rescue but seems to be suspiciously close to one of the local hoodlums. When this hoodlum conks Siobhan's mother on the head and sends her to hospital Siobhan is out for blood.

Rankin is great at giving local colour to recent events. I remember this week quite well although I was more impacted by the bombings than the G8. I'll never be able to listen to a report about the G8 again without visualizing George Bush falling off his bicycle and doing a face plant in the dirt. I guess we won't have him to kick around for much longer though. show less

It’s July 2005, and the G8 is meeting in Edinburgh, putting the local police force in a quandary: should they continue patrolling the city or should they be deployed to help protect the world’s leaders? For DI John Rebus, the answer is simple: let’s do both. But when he and DS Siobhan Clarke find themselves investigating what appears to be shaping into a serial killer’s activities, they are stopped at every turn - by political forces, by local villain Big Ger Cafferty, by their own superiors on the police force. In the meantime, Siobhan’s hippy parents are in town for the expected protests against the G8, and this might be her chance to prove to them that her choice to become a police officer was the right thing to do…. As show more always with the Rebus books, there is a lot going on in “The Naming of the Dead,” especially with respect to the relationships between the main characters (including the villains). I had forgotten a lot about the events of 2005, which of course includes the London bombings, so it was interesting to follow the politics of the time as depicted in this book; funny how globalization has become a right-wing bugbear from having been decried from the left some 18 years ago. That aside, the intricate interplay between the characters, the plot-lines and the investigations all result in a complex, satisfying story; recommended! show less

This novel has DI John Rebus and DS Siobhan Clarke investigating the murders of three recently-released convicts against the background of the G8 summit held at Gleneagles in July 2005. As usual, there are several apparently unrelated plot threads: Siobhan's parents are in Edinburgh to take part in the protests; an MP falls to his death from the ramparts of Edinburgh castle; Big Ger Cafferty is involved in a power struggle with a councillor and evangelical preacher called Tench.
The detctive story, well-constructed as always, does seem to be something of a sideline here. The book is really a scathing attack on the futility of the whole G8 circus: politicians, police and protesters all come out of this equally badly. Seen from Rebus's show more viewpoint, any political decisions "taken" at the summit were precooked; a huge amount of money is wasted (one character comments how much AIDS vaccine could have been bought for the 150 million it cost to stage and protect the meeting); well-intentioned people like Siobhan's parents are exploited by professional agitators and undercover secret police all pursuing their own agendas that have nothing to do with relieving world poverty; police officers at the bottom end of the ladder cash in on overtime and enjoy bashing a few lefties; senior officers use "security" as a pretext for ignoring civil liberties and the rule of law, while cashing in themselves from their relationships with nebulous "defence contractors".
In the middle of all this, Rankin makes Rebus and Clarke look like the only two sane people left in Scotland, as they doggedly carry on with their investigation in spite of everything. Of course, if Rebus stopped work every time he was suspended from duty, Rankin would be out of a job too... show less

This British mystery follows inspector Rebus and a colleague as they track patches of fabric discovered at a minor tourist attraction back to the killer who cut them from victim's clothing. In the same region, a prominent politician has fallen to his death at a G8 summit; needless to say, Rebus suspects foul play.

The back drop to this detailed and cleverly-plotted story is a series of massive public demonstrations against G8 policy. Rankin places sympathetic characters on both sides of the police barricades, and throws in a collection of love interests, lowlifes, and an obstructive government official.

The heavy-drinking, wisecracking, rule-flaunting inspector is not a very likable character; it seems like he would have yielded faster show more results and burned fewer bridges if his personality wasn't stuck on "noir". Other characterizations are excellent by mystery novel standards, however, and the writing is very tight. The slow pacing (this is a British mystery, after all) may put some readers off, but I found myself reading in to the wee hours. show less

Inspector Rebus is back, meaner than ever. In a complex web of intermingling plots, Rankin explores revenge, murder and corruption: how do good cops turn bad? how does love turn to hate? Where lies the golden line between truth and lies, and is it so difficult to cross? Without ever becoming philosophical or moralistic, Rankin brilliantly shows the reader that nothing is clear cut and even people with the best intentions can find themselves in dark spaces.

The G8 has come to Gleneagles, Scotland, and protests and concerts and marches are being held across the country, including of course Edinburgh. Some of the behind-the-scenes negotiations are taking place in Scotland’s capital, and one such gathering at Edinburgh Castle ends with an MP falling to his death from the castle walls. Rebus finds the death curious and wants to investigate, but is deterred from doing so. And then there’s the serial killer who’s going around killing criminals, but again, Rebus and Clarke are deterred from investigating because of the increased scrutiny around the G8. That said… since when has Rebus followed an order to stop investigating?

This was a re-read for me; I read it in 2007, the year after it show more was published, but had forgotten most of it. This book contains the famous “Rebus makes George W. Bush fall off his bike” scene that Rankin has mentioned a couple of times during interviews at writers’ festivals. As always, it’s a well-constructed book, but I did find it harder to get through than I ordinarily would experience with a Rebus novel for a couple of reasons. On a personal level, this was a mass market paperback and wasn’t typeset in the usual “Rebus font” that the hardcover editions use, so it just felt wrong to read. On a level that’s more understandable to people who aren’t me, I found this harder to deal with from a 2020s perspective — a big thread in this is the dynamics between police and demonstrators. Because of the way this book and series is set up, we obviously get more of the police side of things, and that was not a comfortable place to be. So I’m not sure how well it’s aged from that standpoint. (The tech is outdated too, but that felt less jarring.) show less