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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780312976750
ISBN number: 0312976755
Label: St. Martin's Minotaur
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: 2000-10
Publishing house: St. Martin's Minotaur
Sale Popularity Level: 227142
Studio: St. Martin's Minotaur
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Product Description:
Five years ago, a mysterious fire burned Edinburgh's seed Central Hotel to ashes. Long-forgotten and unsolved, the case reappears when a charred body--with a bullet in its head--is found amongst the ruins. Inspector John Rebus knows that his superiors would rather he let sleeping dogs lie. He knows that part of the answer lies somewhere in a cryptic grey notebook. Ane he knows that to solve teh case, he'll have to peel back layer upon layer of unspeakable secrets to arrive at the truth. . .
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Rated by buyers -
This is an earlier novel by the author. I did not give it five stars because I had trouble keeping some of the characters straight as the plot moved between characters. The novel is partly a mystery, and partly deals with the love life of Inspector Rebus. When a DC working with Rebus is assaulted, Rebus looks into the matter and is drawn into a cold case. A man was murdered five years earlier, and the body was found in a burned out hotel after the fire. Rebus is assigned to investigate a case of loan sharking, and the two cases eventually come together.
The novel as an evil villain who enjoys hurting people. He has a reputation for chewing off a man's ear in a barroom brawl (they never found the ear, so draw your own conclusions). He can make people disappear. There is money involved, and a suspicion of people being paid off. There are questions of who was in the hotel at the time of the fire. Someone is applying pressure to get Rebus off the case.
Along the way, Rebus is caught up in the internal politics of the police and the back stabbing of people within the department competing for promotions (I have experienced this almost everywhere that I have worked during my career). As an added note, you do not want to get on the wrong side of Inspector Rebus. He has some ways of his own for administering justice.
Rated by buyers -
"The Black Book" is one of the earlier Rankin novels now coming out in reprint. It deserves the renewed exposure as it meets the author's high standard for zig-zagging plots and wonderfully, over-the-top characters. The protagonist Scots detective in this book (and the whole series) is a go-it-alone type, who is constantly in trouble with his superiors as he pursues unorthodox paths to track down the perps. The perps themselves are often bizaare types that appear to have waundered in from Ruth Rendell stories. "The Black Book" is a highly original, well-crafted and enjoyable read. Recommended.
Rated by buyers 
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I've read a few of these. Worst one I've read is Mortal Causes, which is pretty lame. This one is up there with the best as its pretty tight and features a great villain, Big Ger Cafferty. I also recommend Strip Jack, perhaps Rankin's best effort.
Rated by buyers -
Once again Ian Rankin has written a splendid mystery novel starring our favorite Edinburgh DI John Rebus. He drinks, he doesn't smoke, he drives, he gets hit by a car, he ends up back in his apartment which is masquerading as a college dorm and drop in, he gets hit on the head, he gets called on the carpet and suspended. But in the end he sets all things (well almost all) to right.
Three loose ends are: What is going to be the final determination for Brian Holmes, is this the end of his relationship with Dr. Patience (and the beginning with a certain DC), and will he ever be able to shut-up, behave himself so that the Farmer can promote him.
A great read, plan on finishing in two days, if you work hard at it.
Rated by buyers -
This novel is full of many different storylines all bumping togetheer as John Rebus tries to do what he does best and that's solve crimes. This includes the introduction of Morris Gerald Cafferty and DC Siobhan Clarke, who would go on to become a main part of this series in later novels.
Rebus is suffering from many things, including: trouble with his girlfriend Patience, investigating a man being stabbed and then walking into a butchers shop owned by his cousin, and his good friend DC Brian Holmes being attacked outside a restaurant. This book really holds the reader as it experiences the cold murders and attacks along with the dark "black humour" that Detective Inspector Rebus uses to get through life. Easilly readable, highly recommended.
"When a close colleague is brutally attacked, Rebus is drawn into a case involving a hotel fire, an unidentified body and a long-forgoten night of terror and murder. Pursued by dangerous ghosts and tormented by the coded secrets of the colleague's notebook, Rebus must piece together a jigsaw that no one else seems to want completed."
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