Knots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus #1)

Author – Ian Rankin
Genre – Detective, Crime, Scotland
Source - Kindle
Rating - 3
Read - January 2016

I call myself a regular reader of detective fiction. It's what I read most often. Somehow though, I hadn't yet read Ian Rankin, who is one of the most well-known detective writers of the day and age. 

So yesterday, I was laid low by a bug - and since I had a couple of books of Rankin with me, I finished this, his first with the famous Inspector Rebus.

Great writing. Flawed, doomed characters - the chief protagonist, DS John Rebus, is a bloody brilliant creation. Great scenes. Pretty close to perfect as a starter to a series. 

However, as a detective mystery, standalone, this isn't exactly top-notch. 

Test 1: The mystery could not have been solved by anyone apart from Rebus. 

Test 2: Are there many things that the reader didn't know that were revealed to him/her late in the novel? Yes. 

Test 3: Was it (either) too easy (or) too vague? Yes. The latter. 

But here's the point. This wasn't a successful novel. It wasn't meant to be. It was the first novel in a series, and any reader who reads this book will be intrigued enough to read DS Rebus #2. This is the novel which builds up the character and the setting. 

And that's job well done.