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'Rankin makes sure (the Rebus novels) move with his society, growing into a richly-plotted and densely-textured portrait of modern Scotland and its ills' THE INDEPENDENT 'A compelling, thought-provoking narrative of modern urban life' SUNDAY TIMES 'Gripping' DAILY EXPRESS 'A new Inspector Rebus novel is always worth celebrating...The tightly structured plot - this time revolving around the illicit trafficking of asylum seekers - is another plus. Thoughtful, topical and edgy' -- Christina Koning THE TIMES 'Rankin's 15th Edinburgh-based Rebus mystery shows he's as sharp and chilling as ever' DAILY MIRROR 'typically intelligent, complex and extremely gripping novel' WOMAN & HOME 'Another cracker from Ian Rankin' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Rankin has no equal when it comes to revealing human prejudices, fear and ignorance' GOOD BOOK GUIDE
Product Description
An illegal immigrant is found murdered in an Edinburgh housing scheme: a racist attack, or something else entirely? Rebus is drawn into the case, but has other problems: his old police station has closed for business, and his masters would rather he retire than stick around. But Rebus is that most stubborn of creatures. As Rebus investigates, he must visit an asylum seekers' detention centre, deal with the sleazy Edinburgh underworld, and maybe even fall in love...Siobhan meanwhile has problems of her own. A teenager has disappeared from home and Siobhan is drawn into helping the family, which will mean travelling closer than is healthy towards the web of a convicted rapist. Then there's the small matter of the two skeletons - a woman and an infant - found buried beneath a concrete cellar floor in Fleshmarket Close. The scene begins to look like an elaborate stunt - but whose, and for what purpose? And how can it tie to the murder on the unforgiving housing-scheme known as Knoxland?
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3.6 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rankin at his formidable best, April 6 2006
By Booksthatmatter "Booksthatmatter" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fleshmarket Close (Paperback)
Rankin does not put a foot wrong in what is possibly his most ambitious book yet. He manages to sustain 3, no 4, seemingly separate but highly interlinked plot-lines running: two murders; a missing teenager; and the apparent spoof burial of two fake skeletons. Fleshmarket Close directly tackles racism, asylum and immigration issues in a chillingly frank fashion. What I liked best about this book though was the way Rebus himself has become both more hardened and more humane at the same time - a very effective development. His bitter, give-a-damn demeanor now declares very loudly that he knows the system, the law delivers very little by way of real justive but he's damned if that's going to stop him trying to be its conscience. Welcome returns from characters like Big Ger Cafferty and Siobhan Clarke as well. This really is Rankin bettering his best.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mr. Rankin's Rebus Books Just Keep Getting Better, Dec 1 2006
By Vesta Irene - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fleshmarket Close (Paperback)
Detective Inspector John Rebus and DS Siobhan Clark have been relocated from their old and familiar offices to Gayfield Square, which isn't all that far away. It's a well to do district, but close to Knoxland, which is one of Edinburgh's low rent housing development's.And it's in Knoxland that an illegal immigrant is found stabbed to death. While trying to solve the case Rebus is forced to think about the fact that the powers that be would like him to retire, however police work is his life, he has nothing outside of that, so he has no intention of being made redundant, not now, not ever.
Knoxland is home to many immigrants, legal and otherwise and it's occupants have been the source of many racial attacks, so naturally it looks like a race crime. During his investigation Rebus learns much about the difficulties illegal aliens must face in Scotland. Including the legal ones, like the detention centers women and children are locked up in as they wait to find out if they are going to be allowed entry or if they're going to be deported.
Also, as this case is developing, Siobhan is approached by the mother of a teenage girl who has disappeared. Siobhan worked the prior case of the missing girl's sister three years earlier. The girl had been raped and then killed herself, so even though the case is now out of her jurisdiction, Siobhan decides to work it anyway.
And to make Rebus's and Siobhan's life even more complicated, they are called out to a bar in Fleshmarket Close (Fleshmarket Alley in the American version) where the remains of an infant and a woman have been discovered under the concrete floor during renovations.
The genius of Ian Rankin is that he can connect the dots, make us believe that as impossible as it might seem, all these cases are connected, but of course, it takes Rebus and Siobhan a while to put it all together and that makes for just one very, very good story. Mr. Rankin has given us plenty of John Rebus books and they just keep getting better.
Reviewed by Vesta Irene
3.0 out of 5 stars
Unknown Rebus, May 7 2012
By Sean Smyth - Published on Amazon.com
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Well written. I didn't get the Edinburgh I remembered but maybe this is more the underside. Very interesting the way the author makes you think about racism. The solicitor guy says " we are all racist; it depends on what we do about it". When you read it you will be aware "we are all tribal; it depends on how we handle it". The immigration officer is black and a "Londoner", another label. Another scoundrel is Irish, a rapist is Scottish and on it goes. There are good bad and ugly in all races. This is my first encounter with Rebus, the detective, and that is a disadvantage. I think I would enjoy him much more had I been familiar with his other novels. This is my fourth or fifth book set in "northern countries" Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Scotland. They are not unique and they point out that the "migration problem" must be faced. Keeping people in holding centres as described in this novel is not the way. Our society needs to be educated to get along together.
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