Book Review: The Falls

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Falls     Amazon US HC Amazon UK PB Amazon UK HC Amazon Canada HC
Ian Rankin
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Series: John Rebus # 13
St. Martin’s, Nov 2001, $24.95, 400 pp.

For two days Philippa "Flip" Balfour has been missing, which is so out of character for the student, the police are already involved. Now it might be that the influence of her powerful father led to the early investigation by Edinburgh Inspector John Rebus.

He quickly uncovers two potential clues. One is hand carved wooden doll in a small coffin and the other is Flip’s love of participating in an Internet role playing game. John tracks the dark history of the small coffins while Detective Constable Siobhan Clarke joins the Internet crowd that Flip had belonged to before vanishing. Though information is collected on both fronts, progress on the case is slow and the police have not found the link tying the two clues together, leaving this missing person investigation look more like another one for the unsolved files.

The latest John Rebus tale contains all the right stuff that has made this one of the best on going police procedural series on the market today. John and the support cast remain fresh due to little things happening to them and around them such as a thirty-year retirement of a peer. The story line combines historical and present Edinburgh, Internet technology, and the usual clues, puns, and puzzles so that the audience walks along side Rebus as he investigates. Ian Rankin will rank among the top of all the bestseller lists with this entertaining tale.

Harriet Klausner

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