Witch Hunt [Hardcover]

In this rather tepid thriller, Britain's security services are thrown into a tizzy thanks to the mysterious female superassassin known as Witch, who changes disguises and personae at the drop of a hat, carrying out hits and gravitating ominously toward the vulnerable heads of state at a London summit. Witch should be a potent femme fatale, combining female penchants for dressup and masquerade, social infiltration and sexual manipulation with male tendencies toward violence and lone-wolf alienation. But Rankin's attempts to get inside her head fall a bit flat. Glamorous on the outside, this lady assassin is dull on the inside; Witch has a touch of feminist outrage but spends most of her time dourly mulling over the details of upcoming hits. The novel often ditches her to take up the richer psychologies of the detectives tracking her, the incessant bureaucratic infighting and turf battles among various police and intelligence agencies, and a knockabout romance between an English spy-bloke and a French spy-gamine on Witch's trail. Rankin (Resurrection Men, etc.) is more comfortable with drawing-room mystery than spy thriller here; much of the action is interior, revolving around probing interviews and crossword-puzzle clues, and the terrorist-spectacular plot eventually deflates into a family melodrama. Rankin piles on lots of absorbing assassin and police procedural sleuthing, but it's all in pursuit of a routine case.
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Creator of the Inspector Rebus novels and the number-one-selling mystery author in Great Britain, Rankin features a fresh dossier of detectives in this gritty, multilayered yarn about an ingenious femme fatale. When two ships sink on the same night--one near Folkestone, England, the other off Calais, France--retired intelligence technician Dominic Elder fears the return of his former nemesis, Witch, a crafty, cold-blooded assassin who slips in and out of foreign countries without a ripple of evidence in her wake. Rankin displays his knack for crackling dialogue as Scotland Yard Special Branch detectives Doyle and Greenleaf and neophyte intelligence technician Barclay compete for clues to Witch's whereabouts. Information from an irascible lorry driver, an edgy French cartoonist, and a Dutch terrorist leads the detectives (joined by spirited French internal security agent Dominique Herault) ever closer, as the assassin works out the details of her deadly--and deeply personal--plan. Though the Edgar-winning Rankin is best known for vividly portraying the criminal underbelly of Edinburgh (he's friendly with a cadre of Scottish law-enforcement officials), this time he tries his hand at rendering the nefarious in England, Germany, and France. Regardless of locale, Rankin's hard-boiled tales are compelling, original, and chilling as a Scottish mist. Allison Block
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Interpol have tried and failed to find the terrorist, Witch. Now the combined forces of Scotland Yard and MI5 must try the impossible to prevent a major international incident. Dominic Elder carries her autograph wherever he goes. Witch is his passion, his obsession. And being retired is no bar to his willingness to restart the hunt. MI5 know that the man who wrote the Witch file is the key to catching their quarry. But the truth isn't easy to spot. And it is only when an MI5 novice and his French counterpart piece together the smallest of clues, that Witch suddenly looks vulnerable... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Ian Rankin is a regular No.1 bestseller, and has received numerous awards, including the prestigious DIAMOND DAGGER, and in 2009 he was inducted into the CWA Hall of Fame. He lives with his family in Edinburgh, and in 2003 received an OBE for his services to literature. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

It's immediately clear why author Rankin is a multiple mystery award winner--the clean, tight writing here features crisp character development and a relentless plot. Terrorists, assassins, Scotland Yard, and MI5 take part in this multilayered story involving desire, ambition, and murder. Peter Capaldi breathes even more life into the novel, painting clear, intricate sound pictures of each character. Retired spymaster Dominic Elder is rendered as a restrained, flinty James Mason. Brash Cockney cops; nerdy, bland bureaucrats; and a dragon lady spy are all vividly portrayed, along with the title character--code name "Witch"--a twisted mercenary with style to burn. This is a fantastic listen whose plot falters only in its final reel--yet the acting never flags. D.J.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.