Book Review: Dead Souls

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Dead Souls     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon UK PB Amazon UK HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Ian Rankin
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Series: John Rebus # 11
St. Martin’s Minotaur, Oct 1999, $24.95, 406 pp.

Perhaps for the first time in his life, veteran Edinburgh Detective John Rebus feels his age and ponders retirement. His long term friend Jack Morton just died, but seems to visit him after a few drinks. A hit and run driver has left his daughter wheelchair bound with her ability to ever walk in doubt. Now his latest law enforcement efforts not only flopped, but apparently led to a murder. Finally, rising superstar Jim Margolies, who had everything, apparently killed himself by jumping off the Salisbury Crags.

Already despondent, Rebus has to deal with a deported serial killer moving into the neighborhood, which also now includes a pediophile. As Rebus thinks about his future, he investigates the murder and the alleged suicide. On the side, he looks for a missing person as a favor to a former sweetheart. Soon, Rebus connects everything as he realizes he faces a grandmaster in a game where the loser dies.

The return of Rebus is always an enjoyable experience for fans of Scottish police procedural novels. The engaging mystery includes several sub-plots that seem divergent but Rebus nicely ties them together. Still, DEAD SOULS focuses on the main character’s inner thoughts and to a lesser degree on that of the villain. Ian Rankin shows why he ranks with the top authors of the genre. He turns an emotionally weary Rebus into a real person that, in turn, makes for an entertaining skillful story.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner