Death is Not the End

In this novella, John Rebus is asked by a friend from his school days to look for the friend's missing son. So in the evenings after work, Rebus travels to his hometown in Fife to find out what happened to the young man. During the day he is tasked with finding out about what goes on behind the scenes of a shady casino.
This book has only a little more than 70 pages, but it totally gripped me just like a longer Rebus novel. The solution comes a bit out of the blue, and of course the plot cannot be developed as elaborately in such a format, but the style and characterization are very well done and I enjoyed reading it immensely.

This little novella would be a good introduction for people to Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series. The novella is a direct link to a full-length book in the series (Dead Souls). I had already read Dead Souls, so no surprises here for me, but what a great idea-write a small little book that can be read on its own outside of the series, and get more fans to your series! Ian Rankin is one of the best crime writers out there today in my opinion. His series is wonderful-great character development, wonderful plotting, gritty and hard-hitting. I also love his various sub-plots and plotting threads that get inextricably linked together as you read one of his books. So, try this little novella, and then begin a wonderful series. That is my advice.

At 73 pages this is far too short for a great Rebus. But it does offer some valuable snippets of information from Rebus's past and I enjoyed it more than the short stories in "A Good Hanging". Not a must-read unless you are a completest.

Set in Scotland, this short novella is one of Rankin's Detective Rebus crime stories. It's about gambling and, despite its title, no one dies. Perhaps Rankin's longer works are more satisfying.

Van http://mom.biblion.nl/ : Deze novelle van de wereldvermaarde Schotse misdaad- en thrillerauteur gaat eens te meer over inspecteur John Rebus. De auteur onthult dat hij de plot van de novelle ook als subplot heeft gebruikt in zijn roman 'Dode zielen'*. Roman en novelle zijn nochtans perfect los van elkaar en naast elkaar te lezen. Inspecteur Rebus gaat in zijn vrije tijd (buiten zijn district) op zoek naar de plots verdwenen zoon van oude schoolvrienden. Daardoor wordt hij op milde wijze geconfronteerd met zijn eigen verleden. Tevens zoekt hij, als 'verjaardagscadeau' voor commissaris Watson, naar een zware crimineel. In het beperkte bestek van een novelle slaagt de auteur er toch in de plot in zijn typische meeslepende stijl show more geloofwaardig uit te werken en enigszins onverwacht neer te leggen. Dit is zeker niet het spannendste Rebus-avontuur, maar zoals gewoonlijk blijft het verhaal allerminst verstoken van ironische commentaren en degelijke karakter- en gedachteobservaties, die vooral Rebus typeren als man van vlees en bloed. Voor Rebus-fans mooi meegenomen. Pocket met kleine druk. Zie ook www.ianrankin.net. - Patricia Moons show less

### Amazon.com Review

Inspector John Rebus of Edinburgh's finest has been knocking readers' socks off for years, in 10 full-length police procedurals by Ian Rankin that star the thoughtful, intelligent Scot. In this neat little novella, he does in 73 pages what many of his peers take three times as long to do--set an interesting scene, solve a crime, develop a character, and allow him to grow and change without sacrificing either pace or plot. Agreeing to track down the missing son of his high school sweetheart and her husband, a friend of his youth, Rebus takes the reader into the gritty back streets and criminal byways of Edinburgh, following Damon Mee from the nightclub where he was last seen through gambling casinos, football show more matches, and face-to-face encounters with the mobsters who may have been involved in his disappearance. Along the way Rebus confronts his own mortality, the choices he's made, and the obligations he owes his past. The theme of vanishing was spun off from *Dead Souls*, a full- length novel; according to Rankin, he wrote this brief but fully-realized piece first, then cannibalized part of it as a sub-plot for *Dead Souls*, "while altering the histories of the characters involved so that both can be read independently." Which is why American fans who haven't yet read *Dead Souls* will pick it up right after this one. *Death Is Not the End* is short enough to read on a shuttle flight and still have time for a nap. But like Rankin's other solid Rebus stories, it will stay with you even after you wake up. *--Jane Adams*

### From Publishers Weekly

Using a subplot from his last Inspector Rebus novel (1999's Dead Souls), Gold Dagger Award-winner Rankin demonstrates at novella length why his Edinburgh policeman stands at the forefront of contemporary detectives. When 23-year-old Damon Mee vanishes from Gaitanos, a popular Kirkcaldy nightclub, the young man's parents naturally ask Insp. John Rebus for help. The father went to school with Rebus, while the mother turns out to be the inspector's old flame Janis, "the only girl in his long and trouble-strewn life who'd ever managed to knock him unconscious." Locating a missing person suddenly becomes personal, as Rebus broods over the past, wondering what might have happened had he and Janis stayed together. Might the recently engaged Damon be having his own doubts about love and marriage? A stakeout of Gaitanos leads Rebus to Richard Mandelson, a shady casino manager who drives a gold Rolls-Royce. Meanwhile, Matty Paine, a croupier in Mandelson's employ, is under pressure from his boss to approach his friend Stevie Scoular, the star of the Edinburgh Rangers football team, about throwing their next game. When Rebus also asks Matty (whom he once got off a drunk-driving charge) for a favor, he finds his investigation taking an unexpected twist. Taut exposition, wry dialogue and deft plotting, together with an insider's view of the seedy underside of Edinburgh, combine to make a superior thriller, well deserving its status as part of the Criminal Records series of novellas, edited by Otto Penzler. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. show less

Book 2, Rebus Novellas