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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780316608497
ISBN number: 0316608491
Label: Little, Brown and Company
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 528
Printing Date: January 01, 2004
Publishing house: Little, Brown and Company
Sale Popularity Level: 95133
Studio: Little, Brown and Company
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Product Description:
Inspector John Rebus has messed up badly this time, so badly that he's been sent to a kind of reform school for damaged cops. While there among the last-chancers known as 'resurrection men,' he joins a covert mission to gain evidence of a drug heist orchestrated by three of his classmates. But the group has been assigned an unsolved murder that may have resulted from Rebus's own mistake. Now Rebus can't determine if he's been set up for a fall or if his disgraced classmates are as ruthless as he suspects.
When Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke discovers that her investigation of an art dealer's murder is tied to Rebus's inquiry, the two-protÈgÈ and mentor-join forces. Soon they find themselves in the midst of an even bigger scandal than they had imagined-a plot with conspirators in every corner of Scotland and deadly implications about their colleagues.
With the brilliant eye for character and place that earned him the name 'the Dickens of Edinburgh,' Ian Rankin delivers a page-turning novel of intricate suspense.
Amazon.com Review:
Like Edinburgh inspector John Rebus, the resurrection men of the title are treading on thin ice--they've all been sent to a short course at the Scottish Police College because they've failed in some way, generally 'an issue with authority.' Rebus has been known to have issues of that nature before, which only boosts his credibility with the other cops in attendance, suspected by their bosses of being on the wrong side of the fence, on the take, or even guilty of murder on several previous occasions. The dour Inspector's agenda aims to bring the higher-ups proof of the so-called Wild Bunch's nefarious activities; in the process, his own conduct in the old case he and his college classmates must rework and revisit comes under scrutiny. A solid police procedural whose protagonist, the hero of 14 other titles in this internationally acclaimed series, continues to grow on readers who are just discovering him. --Jane Adams
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Rated by buyers 
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This is the third of the DI Rebus books I've read, and the others were much more enjoyable. The plot was clever, but the book was way too long and convoluted, and the entire thing was very depressing for me, especially the ending. A disappointment.
Rated by buyers 
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This book was so boring that I gave up. I really cannot understand how it could win the Edgar Award (usually books which won this award are good).
Rated by buyers 
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"Resurrection Men" is the fifteenth in the Detective Inspector John Rebus police procedural series by the outstanding, increasingly appreciated Scots author Ian Rankin, still a young man, lucky for us. In contrast to most Scots mystery writers at work now, Rankin sets his best-of-tartan-noir universe in the east coast Edinburgh, rather than the west coast Glasgow; it's a more beautiful, smaller city, the capital of the country, where you might expect the crime to be white collar, rather than blue. But Rebus always seems to find enough to keep busy.
As the book opens, Rebus has been sent undercover to Tulliallan Police College, where recruits are trained, and troublesome older officers sent to resurrect their careers. Sir David Strathern, chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, Rebus's permanent posting, suspects several of the officers currently at the college are dirty, and he wants Rebus to find the proof. To Rebus, of course, this a difficult assignment. Aside from the obvious, St. Leonard's, his station house, is in the midst of an engrossing enquiry: Edward Marber, local art dealer, has been done in, and many of the usual suspects are known to Rebus. The policeman finds the college assignment doubly difficult because, for the unsolved case the officers there are always given to work, they're given a case they've never been given before. It's the Rico Lomax case, it was Rebus's, and he knows much too much about it. He can't help wondering...
Rankin is a highly talented writer with a great grip of the English language, Scottish subdivision; a grasp of police work, the ability to keep these three strong subplots going at one time, that sharp Scots humor, and the toughest tartan noir outlook around. Unfortunately, "Resurrection Men" has a few too many characters, and cites unfamiliar-to-Americans police nomenclature a little too often. It took me two readings to get it, and that's with helpful tables upfront.
The youthful writer is also a sharp observer of his city's weather, ambiance, and social systems. He writes that Edinburgh cops call their morgue the "dead center," and are proud to say they work at the dead center of Edinburgh. "The building," he writes, "is tucked away on the Cowgate, one of the city's more secretive streets. Few pedestrians ever found themselves there, and the traffic was intent on being elsewhere."
The author writes further on pedestrians and traffic: a "pavement drunk" causes them to step out onto the road. "The drunk was making for the opposite pavement, stumbling blindly across the road. They both knew he'd make it. He was carrying a bottle: no way a motorist would want that flying through his windshield."
"You worked hard all week, then prayed for oblivion at the weekend," Rebus muses of his city's inhabitants. But you'd better have your wits fully about you when you tackle this book.
Rated by buyers -
I think it is fitting that I am writing this just after 'Elizabeth' who wrote in her review that this book is "more a "guy type" book." That made me laugh because I was thinking this is more of a 'gal type' book and maybe that's why a lot of it left me wanting for more.
I think of this book as a throwback to the pre- Dick Francis days of English writing. Obviously, resurrection men is a contemporary novel, but it has the feel of a forgotten genre book of yesteryear in its unfolding contemplative and methodical story. I am currently trying to make it through the Edgar award winners and finalists listed here at Amazon. Rankin made it onto this list and for that reason alone I picked it up. What I came away with on completion of this book is that it is not the normal style of writing that I am pulled towards and it is not one that I will seek out in the future. I have read a lot of English mystery/thrillers, from Francis' work to Agatha Raisin and would push you in this direction over Rankin.
About the book... This is a story that never really grabbed me. The writing and character development is good enough to take note of, and the plot is complicated and original enough to perk ones interest. The story is understated and this is nice when you compare it to the likes of Patricia Cornwells 9th or 10th book and her heroine is tracking down several rampaging serial killers at once on two continents. Here we have the classic police procedural unfolding in a too dry manner. I am not English and find more affinity with the works of the 87th precinct or Hillermans stories that here. It might just be the cultural divide that was keeping me from entirely relishing this work. All I can say is that all the components are here for a very first rate book, but for some reason, I just didn't enjoy it very much and why this is so is a mystery in itself for me.
Rated by buyers -
The book was chosen by my book club. It wasn't really my kind of read, more a "guy type" book.
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