Blood Hunt [Hardcover]

Admirers of Edgar-winner Rankin's bestselling series featuring Edinburgh's Insp. John Rebus (Fleshmarket Alley, etc.) may be disappointed by this stand-alone suspense novel, which has more in common with the works of Frederick Forsyth and Robert Ludlum. Gordon Reeve, an ex–Special Forces soldier with serious anger management issues, has settled down to a tranquil second career running a survival camp in a remote part of Scotland. When he learns that his journalist brother, Jim, with whom he hadn't been close for years, has shot himself in California, Reeve resolves to seek answers. Once in the U.S., Reeve begins to suspect that his brother was murdered because of an investigative piece he was working on involving a major chemical company. But that Grisham-like plot is soon made secondary to a game of cat and mouse Reeve plays with a deranged former military colleague, leading to an anticlimactic and predictable ending. Rankin's gifts as a writer will have many quickly turning the pages, but longtime fans will hope for a return to form in his next outing. (Mar.)
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Fans of Rankin's gold-standard Inspector Rebus series need to know that Blood Hunt is not the latest installment. With the author's name deservedly the perfect marketing tool, the publishers are reprinting another book (like Witch Hunt, 2004) that Rankin, writing as Jack Harvey, originally published in the UK in the 1990s. Unlike the Rebus procedurals, which pit a contrarian cop against his own demons in an unrelentingly gritty Edinburgh, this globe-trotting tale delivers more traditional thrills. Gordon Reeve is an ex-SAS soldier who now makes his living training weekend warriors in rural Scotland. Told that his brother has committed suicide in California, Reeve goes to the funeral and quickly decides that the investigative reporter was murdered. Trying to get the story and then revenge, he finds himself pitted against both an amoral chemical conglomerate and an unwelcome face from his own past. Reeve is no Rebus--though he battles his ferocious temper, he's too efficient a killing machine to be as deeply interesting--but those who like their thrillers fast and chilling will be in miserable bliss. This 10-year-old novel ties in perfectly to today's concerns about multinationals and big-business science--the poisons in men's hearts that leach out into the world. Not Rankin's best but still awfully good. Keir Graff
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'Rankin uses his laconic prose as a literary paint stripper, scouring away pretensions to reveal the unwholesome reality beneath' - INDEPENDENT --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

It begins with a phone call. Gordon Reeve's brother has been found dead in his car in San Diego. The car was locked from the inside, a gun was in his hand. In the US to identify the body Gordon realises that his brother has been murdered. What's more, it's soon obvious that his own life is in danger. Once back in Scotland he finds out his home has been bugged by professionals. But Reeve is a professional too. Ex-SAS, he was half of a two-man unit with someone he came to fear, then to hate. It looks like his nemesis is back...

Ian Rankin was born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960. In 1997 he was awarded the Macallan Gold Dagger for Fiction for BLACK AND BLUE. His subsequent Rebus novels have all been international bestsellers. He lives with his wife and two sons in Edinburgh. In 2003, Ian received an OBE for his services to literature. Steven Pacey is best known for his role as Del Tarrant in the third and fourth seasons of the sci-fi series Blake's 7. He has worked extensively in Theatre, TV and film for many years and in 2009 played opposite Graham Norton in La Cage Aux Folles at London's Playhouse Theatre. He has read numerous audiobooks including all of Matthew Reilly's previous abridged audios.

If you've been yearning for a fast-paced story coupled with a crisp read, your hunt is over. In this departure from Rankin's usual John Rebus mysteries, ex-SAS operative Gordon Reeve (a killer in one of the Inspector Rebus books) transports himself to San Diego when he learns his estranged brother has committed suicide there. It soon becomes evident that his brother's death was not self-inflicted. As Reeve identifies the motive and hunts down the killers, Christian Rodska delivers a notable performance as the tough Briton. His rich, sometimes gravelly voice is always in command. He also handles the varied characters expertly. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.