Death Is Not The End by Ian Rankin - Nov 1998

Orion, Nov 1998. Hardcover. If you've never read one of Ian Rankin's extraordinary John Rebus mysteries, "Death is Not the End" is a great introduction to the troubled Edinburgh detective and his dark world. On the surface, it's a police procedural (the Rebus books remind me of the also-excellent Bill James "Harpur and Iles" British police procedurals), but Rebus is such a loner, breaking out into his own investigations, that it's virtually a private detective novel as well. This imagery fits "Death is Not the End" especially well as the (intentional) echoes of Raymond Chandler and the theme of "vanishing"--from missing persons to long-lost youthful innocence--permeate Rankin's alcoholic, cigarette-addicted hero's search for the son of an old girlfriend. It's a quick read, but layered with such detail that this would make me want to read more Rebus mysteries even if I wasn't already a fan. This *is* pricey for a 74-page book, even a hardcover (this novella might have been better served by publishing it as trade paperback original). Rankin also re-used part of this plot for a recent novel ("Dead Souls"). Some may see this as a cheap excuse to get you to buy the same plot twice; I prefer to look at it as an interesting exercise in covering the same themes in a different manner and from different angles. It is by no means the best or definitive Rebus--one of the full-length novels must surely fill that role. Still, if you're a Rankin fan and completist you'll definitely want this one, and it makes a great introduction to suggest to your friends searching for a captivating crime series and a brilliant author.