The Black Book: An Inspector Rebus Mystery (Inspector Rebus series Book 5)

The more I read, the more I enjoy them. In fact, reading them out of sequence I’d even more fun.

Ian Rankin's "The Black Book" is the 5th of his Inspector John Rebus series set in Edinburgh; this is the first of his novels I've read. Although in his early thirties when he wrote this tale, Rankin shapes Rebus with a world-weary cast, delivering a startlingly interior view of his middle-aged detective. Rebus isn't a 20s-something swashbuckler; nor has his passion died -- instead, it smoulders, burning red hot when correctly fanned, flicking encrusted ash skyward contemptuously.In this outing, Rebus has to deal with his girl-friend who's had enough of him, his returning brother (an ex-con) with no where else to stay except with John, a flat full of late teenage university students on their own for the first time (and sharing his flat he's been forced to return to). And that's just his personal life. On the job, he becomes engulfed by a five year old murder, pursuing the investigation "on his own time" (and literally, too, as he is suspended at one point from the force), which leads to a gay bar / Elvis themed restaurant and ongoing encounters with ghosts from the arson of the Central Hotel where the body was found ... with links to organised crime in the present day. As the story threads come together, Rebus's personal and professional life become entirely entangled as a key piece of evidence to the old murder lands in his hands. And that's just the start of his troubles.Rankin shifts between a third person narrative focussed on Rebus to the other characters as they uncover their own motives in the moment and on to richly detailed commentary about life and surroundings in the chief setting of Edinburgh. Dialects pop up; the Edinburgh lilt can be heard vividly; and local words are sprinkled into dialogue as a chef adds secret sauce to a favourite dish. Somehow, Rankin manages the verbal sleight-of-hand to conjure this Scottish setting in a way that seems entirely familiar, like ones own home town -- but wait, that's not true is it? And his winning character, Rebus, worms his way off the page like the best of the hard-boiled detectives, utterly convincing and sympathetic but no one's ideal of the perfect husband for your daughter. No wonder the series is occasionally dubbed "Tartan Noir"!I read the Kindle edition so I can't say it was a page turner. I can say I enjoyed, and enjoyed savouring, every e-inked turn of phrase as it flashed by, reading much further into the night on multiple occasions than is good for me. Highly recommended.

Ian Rankin's series of books about Inspector Rebus are often considered mysteries. Like most of the books, this one is clever and entertaining, but it's also less twisty than others I've read. They're also mysteries with a heavy dose of police procedural (all the more interesting because they take place in Edinburgh). I'm not sure where this lands in a John Rebus timeline, but his nemesis Cafferty seems less developed here. As an ebook reissue, this is well worth your money and you can have a good read, maybe with Irish whiskey instead of that smokey old Scotch.This book also has a wee bit of thriller in it. By this I mean that the reader knows a few things that go on that Rebus doesn't know. Writing in third person allows this. I'm not sure I'd want Rebus in first person. In his point-of-view, even in third person, one discovers a flawed character. We learn more about him and his family in this book than in some others. Siobhan is less developed too but grows satisfactorily as a character.The main story is the mystery surrounding a fire that burned down a local hotel, figuring out what name belongs to the corpse found there afterwards, and the people at different levels of Edinburgh society involved with that fire. Taut plotting, great characters, and some action in a series not known for its action. I enjoyed it. You will too. Caveat emptor: When I started reading Rankin, it took awhile to get beyond the local dialect. At the same time, I broadened my knowledge of English. For me, that's fun. Maybe not for you?

I must caveat my review. I began this series on the recommendation of a friend. I am reading it in order of release. I am giving “The Black Book” a 5-star rating not because I believe this particular book by Ian Rankin places him in the crime fiction pantheon on par with Michael Connelly, Charles Finch, Louise Penny, and Lawrence Block, but because this is the best of the series I’ve read to date. Why?Inspector John Rebus has become a more “complete” character and Rankin’s plotting seems less contrived. Of course it IS contrived, but it doesn’t feel as though I’m being manipulated at every turn. The story’s evolution enjoys a markedly more organic feel. Secondly, this Kindle edition was not fraught with the sorts of typos that even rudimentary proofreading could have among the earlier books.Candidly, I’m enjoying use of The Oxford Dictionary of English (as opposed to American English) so that 90% of unfamiliar Scots’ expressions / idiom are accessible to definition.Going forward, my reviews will use 3 stars as the mean and Rankin must “knock it out of the park” to earn 5. He just might do it given the dramatic improvement between his first and this.

The Black Book by Ian Rankin This one features Edinburgh DCI Rebus and a new officer, Siobhan Clarke, a young woman with a fabulous memory and a fitting personality. Rebus gets tossed from the house he shares with his doctor girlfriend early on, due to his work obsession and general unreliability. So he moves into his old apartment which he has rented to a bunch of students. This situation is uncomfortable, to say the least, especially when Rebus brother, Mike, gets out of jail and moves in. This is a humorous book, in many ways, but the goofiness of the criminal characters adds a lot of rather dark fun.The plot is complicated and robust, and, of course, Rebus gets warned off the case and suspended, his partner gets nearly killed, his nemesis on the police force scores points against him, and his brother and girlfriend create difficulties.This is another good Ian Rankin mystery.

One of the best ! My children are now becoming Rebus fans

Great read! Another great story-the best of the five I have read to date. It is on to number six.

So pleased I bought a number of ebooks when these new editions were released “with exclusive new material”. Ian Rankin the author writes his own introduction to The Black Book published in 1993 in April 2005. Rebus had at that time, become an established detective and the author was building on his considerable success. It is worth it for these words alone, but the extras include further notes at the end which should not be missed.I’ve been wanting to re-visit these Rebus novels for some time and chose book 5 as my starting point to begin the series. My choice was almost immediately confirmed by Rankin’s own comments and the sense that from this book his writing and stories truly blossom and his characters take on enduring worth.Edinburgh has always held some fascination for me and my thoughts returned to it this week as my daughter travelled there on a City Break. Perhaps that was the spark I needed to fall in love again with John Rebus. In these books the city takes on a character in its own right and the locations work well wonderfully with the dark side of these novels.Interestingly Big Ger the gangster here is said to be have become hard from a young age ,having grown up on the Craigmillar estate. This is no exaggeration in my mind having visited it in the mid 1970’s from rural Suffolk as a naïve teenager. My friend and I stayed with a Baptist minister and we quickly learned the police always came in fours to knock on doors. I think we were saved by our association with this respected leader of the youth mission and our cheap trainers.The Black Book is a classic novel as current and relevant now as when it was first issued. It tells of the terror in business ventures around protection money, the fear and enforcement of a gangland thug no-one would testify against and a cold case it seems even the senior police officers do not want re-opening.But this corruption and culture of silence stimulates a determined Rebus who loves nothing more than a puzzle, especially if the solution could promise to expose the nefarious activities of crime boss Morris Gerald Cafferty - Big Ger.The novel also introduces DC Siobhan Clarke who grows into Rebus’ trusty sidekick. A Lewis to his Morse but a able copper in her own right. From this point the books grow in strength with plots worthy of this genre.This was a great place to start over with Rankin’s Rebus. Having read the 4 preceding titles already and no wish to return there. I feel energised to read them now in series order. Mortal Causes is next (number 6) and we’ve reached 23 and counting plus the short stories along the way. So much to look forward to in the coming days.I’m so pleased with my decision, I only wonder why I left it so long. I hope new readers and old fans like me will find similar enthusiasm in the pages of a Rebus novel.

This is the fifth novel in the Inspector John Rebus series and after the somewhat dry subject matter dealt with in Strip Jack, this is a return to form in terms of providing both more action and plenty of the trademark Rebus wit. Significantly, it is at this juncture in the series that Ian Rankin first began to visualise his Rebus novels as a series, transition location-wise from a 'fictional' Edinburgh to the city authentic and introduced the perfect foil for Rebus in DC Siobhan Clarke. The Black Book features Rebus centre stage and without the complications of a girlfriend, meaning that it offers one of the sharpest portrayals of his early years. Whilst this fifth outing isn't as tightly plotted as it could be, feeling more like an amalgam of different threads that have been cobbled together somewhat, Rankin does manage to pull it into coherent shape along the way. Relatively directionless when it sets out with a joint surveillance operation with Trading Standards into one of the 'lieutenants' of the Big Ger empire on the go, Rebus does seem to go looking for other irons in the fire, perhaps reflecting his lack of interest in cutting down one of the lesser figures in the Cafferty empire. I have commented before on the lack of specific focus assigned to Rebus, and whilst I accept some dramatic licence, it seems unrealistic that even at the level of Inspector he can almost pick and choose his investigative pursuits. Maybe this was prior to the strict justification of resources and increased bureaucracy of the force, but it all adds to the "loose canon" persona of Rebus that Rankin hones.The fictional police station of Great London Road was razed to the ground in the fourth novel and The Black Book is the first to mark the move to St Leonard's Square. Although Rebus should be resident with girlfriend, Dr Patience Aitken at Oxford Terrace, booted out thanks to one disagreement too many, he is kipping on the sofa of the flat he rents to students in Arden Street, Marchmont. As he contemplates the "black comedy" of his life, it swiftly worsens with the arrival of his brother, Michael, back from London after a three years sojourn at Her Majesty's Pleasure and the news that his dependable DS, Brian Holmes, has received a blunt instrument to the back of the head.. Found in the car park of his regular nightly haunt, The Heartbreak Cafe, ex-girlfriend Nell suspects that the "black book" of cryptic notes, a mix of rumour and hearsay that Holmes kept on his person could provide the answer to the mystery of his unprovoked assault. Nell suspects he had worries on his mind and as Rebus waits with bated breath for the recovery of an unconscious Holmes, he focuses on the fire which destroyed the Central Hotel five years previously that is extensively covered in Holmes "black book" and something more significant than the surveillance operation; that of placing Big Ger at the scene.Added to this Rebus also handles a stabbing in a butchers with the victim unwilling to corroborate any details and the arrival of a convicted sex offender in the locality. Keeping a close eye on the surveillance operation results, albeit without putting in too much legwork, Rebus stokes these ongoing enquiries all with an eye on the bigger prize of Big Ger. With Holmes in hospital, the officer who works alongside Rebus is female DC Clarke. As a graduate with a flat bought for her by wealthy parents, DC Siobhan Clarke respects Rebus but is exasperated by his reluctance to adhere to the rules and confident enough to hold her own against her boss. Notoriously secretive and narrow-minded when he fixated on a case, Clarke is smart enough to put up with Rebus's sometimes frustrating methodology and occasionally humour him, knowing that working alongside him could teach her a few tricks about the low-life in the city. Notably Clarke and Rebus seem to strike up a relaxed rapport as they bang heads cross-referencing the case notes on Big Ger and the Central Hotel blaze and critically Rebus treats his underlings like equals, valuing their input.Morris Gerald Cafferty - Big Ger - is Edinburgh's premier gangster with a reputation that rules the city with a foreboding threat of terror. In the same respects that Rebus is a 'dinosaur' in the changing landscape of policing, Big Ger represents the old guard of gangster, with a marked respect for each other and has more in common with Rebus than either will admit to. Both men seem to enjoy jousting against each other whenever they meet, and the result is often a barrage of wit. Big Ger has a magnetic aura that adds to his towering reputation that not even John Rebus is immune to, with the reflected glory that being worthy of his company implying that you are someone to be reckoned with. Despite his desire to see Big Ger go down for a decent stretch, Rebus is as flawed as the next man on the street, and occasionally fooled by the many faces of Cafferty.Written in the wake of Rankin's spell in the US of A the puns are worse than ever with Rebus having particular amusement at the expense of the menu at The Heartbreak Cafe (King Shrimp Creole, Love Me Tenderloin, Blue Suede Choux, In The Gateaux), but as usual the nicknames of his colleagues and wrong 'uns across Edinburgh more than make up for it, from Chief Superintendent 'Farmer' Watson, Chief Inspector 'Fart' Lauderdale and, best of all, adversary DI 'Little Weed' Flower! Although in The Black Book, Rankin has delivered an assemblage of plots requiring a few too many bit part players, he once again seems to rouse Rebus into the close in order to pull this into coherent order. The result relies strongly on a few too many convenient coincidences but leaves Rebus once again coming through by the skin of his teeth and sets up his enduring adversary with the "clever scum" that is Cafferty.Review written by Rachel Hall (@hallrachel)

Any writer who uses the word "nice" twice in the same sentence should hang his head in shame. Guilty as charged, Mr Rankin. Not such a good writer as it turns out, prose is minimum publishable standard, though here and there shows he actually sat down and thought consciously about what he was writing and how he expressed it, rather than the usual stream-of-consciousness drawl. Dialogue improves book by book at this early stage of his career, and he's getting better at sly, cold humour and barbed come-backs. Read it because it's part of the set, not because it's anything special.

All the ingredients are there and Rebus never disappoints. Maybe once you expect the flashlight revealed realism it loses some impact. Maybe I found some the characters a bit incredible, that may be me, I have lived a sheltered life I'm pleased to say.

The Black Book is the fifth Ian Rankin book to feature Rebus his Edinburgh based detective and was a very enjoyable read. Rankin has already established Rebus as a loner that works best on the edges and this book builds on that. Early on his partner Brian Holmes is assaulted outside his new favourite restaurant "the heartbreak cafe". Brian's wife turns to Rebus and tells him that she thinks the attack may have been the result of something Brian was investigating. She tells Rebus that Brian had a Black Book where he kept a note of his ideas and notes on things he was working on and that the answer to the attack may be in the Black Book.From this Rankin creates a wonderful story with Rebus finding the black book and looking into a closed case in his own time that will take him to places he couldn't possibly see coming.At the same time Rebus bosses are launching another attempt at catching some of the money laundering gangsters in the area and Rebus along with a young female Detective named Siobhan Clarke will be leading the surveillance operation. Siobhan who would become Rebus sidekick in the later books makes her first appearance and the book is much better for it.All in all this was a very enjoyable book that plays a very significant part in the Rebus story. Cafferty and Siobhan are introduced properly in this book and both are significant members in the Rebus story. There are also a number of other challenges for Rebus in this book. His personal life is again a problem for him. Michael his brother is fresh out of prison and is in need of a room to stay in and his relationship with Doctor Patience is as usual traumatic.Overall this book is both an enjoyable and significant book in the Rankin back catalogue. I would strongly recommend this book to any fans of Rebus or crime fans in general.