Book Review: Ian Rankin’s Exit Music

Posted February 15, 2011 by Kathy Davie in Book Reviews

I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Source: the library
Book Review: Ian Rankin’s Exit Music

Exit Music


by

Ian Rankin


It is part of the Inspector Rebus #17 series and is a detective mystery in Paperback edition that was published by Orion Books on 2008 and has 400 pages.

Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon


Other books in this series include [books_series]

Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Complaints, Impossible Dead, Standing in Another Man's Grave, A Good Hanging, Saints of the Shadow Bible, Even Dogs in the Wild, Rather Be the Devil

Seventeenth in the Inspector Rebus detective mystery series set in Edinburgh, Scotland.

My Take

Please. Please, don’t let Rebus retire…I want to read more about him! He’s too interesting a character to sit back in an armchair with his music and Scotch.

Rebus reminds me of Inspector Morse in that he’s a bit cantankerous, “knows-all” (usually true!), and he has an eye for the ladies — besides the drink and the music! As for other characters, there’s really only Siobhan Clarke who has been stuck with Rebus for most of the series as his not-quite-equal partner. We know so little about her that I don’t see her taking over the series. Other minor characters appear in the background to give it some consistency — it’s primarily Rebus with Shiv and his maneuvering to get his way in his (well, mostly his) investigations.

A fascinating look at crime in Edinburgh and an incredible tour of the city and Scottish culture and politics. If this truly is the end of Rebus…I’ll miss it.

I do have my suspicions that Rebus may be joining another squad though…

The Story

Always a pain in management’s back side (one of Rebus’ three delights in life, besides the scotch and music), this is Rebus’ last chance to clear up old cases, and especially, clear up Ger Cafferty. So when a Russian dissident poet is murdered and a possible connection to Big Ger rises, Rebus insists that there is more to the murder.