Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin

Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'And in Edinburgh of all places. I mean, you never think of that sort of thing happening in Edinburgh, do you...?'

'That sort of thing' is the brutal abduction and murder of two young girls. And now a third is missing, presumably gone to the same sad end. Detective Sergeant John Rebus, smoking and drinking too much, his own young daughter spirited away south by his disenchanted wife, is one of many policemen hunting the killer.

And then the messages begin to arrive: knotted string and matchstick crosses - taunting Rebus with pieces of a puzzle only he can solve.


My first novel by this writer and his first in the series of Rebus books. Set in the seedy side of Edinburgh it appears there is a serial killer on the loose who is leaving no clues for the police to pick up. This being the first in a series of books about Rebus it introduces us to the character and the plot of the story seems secondary. We learn that Rebus had spent 15 years in the service and before that he was in the SAS where, seemingly he has undergone a trauma that resulted in a nervous breakdown before he entered the force.

He is characterised as a sloppy looking out of shape heavy drinker and smoker who appears to be going through the motions on cases until he is pulled in to help on the serial killer case. At the same time he is receiving anonymous letters from a crank that are weird and unusual. This is where I found it a little unbelievable in that here we are in the middle of a spate of killings and he doesn't think it mildly possible that these letters he is getting are connected. He is a detective, surely it would have crossed his mind??

It was a bit slow to start but managed to go along at a reasonable pace however it lacked excitement which in my opinion let it down. It was not an overlong book and I just about managed to stay with it to the end. I think that as an intro book to Rebus it was fine, I have been told the others in the series are better so I will try another one just to see.

I did enjoy it and would like to see more of Rebus and perhaps some more complex mysteries will also develop. Easily 3.5 stars for this one. Rounded up to 4* for Goodreads and Amazon.