As One Door Closes.... (Doors Open - Ian Rankin)

Member Name: kenjohn

Product:	Doors Open - Ian Rankin
Date:	15/12/08 (254 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellently crafted crime novel

Disadvantages: Not a lot!

What do you do if you're a best selling crime author who has just closed the door on your most successful character after 17 novels and a lifespan covering 20 years?

This is the question that faced Scots author Ian Rankin when he finally closed the door on Detective Inspector John Rebus of the Lothian's and Borders Police back in 2007 with the final novel in the Rebus series, appropriately called "Exit Music".

Well, if you're Ian Rankin, you immediately sit down and pen another cracking crime novel, this time without the hard drinking, chain smoking, womanising, Detective Inspector as your leading character; and appropriately you call it "Doors Open". Of course, Rankin hasn't strayed too far from basics and what made him so successful, and sets the novel squarely in his home city of Edinburgh in Scotland.

The central character of the novel is Mike Mackenzie, a young dot com millionaire with time on his hands now he has sold off his software company. You know what they say; "the devil makes work for idle hands" (well, they say it in Scotland) and art loving Mackenzie has plenty of free time and a bulging bank account, and is fast growing very bored with the lifestyle of a idle playboy and man about town.

To spice up his life he comes up with a plan to relieve the National Gallery of Scotland of some of its prestigious (and expensive!) paintings in a daring heist and inveigles a couple of his wealthy friends in the art and financial world to join him. The beauty of the plan is that Mackenzie has no intention of ever getting caught, the difficult trick being to convince the authorities that no paintings are actually missing!

Unfortunately, while Mackenzie might have the logic and ability to conceive of such a plan, he lacks the criminal contacts and cop on to actually turn it into a reality, and so involves one of the biggest gangsters in the city to provide the muscle and criminal know how. This is when things begin to go haywire, and double cross follows double cross in a novel which winds its way to a nail biting conclusion.

So what did I think of the book, and does Rankin successfully manage the transformation from a "one character" author following the demise of Rebus?

Let's deal with the second part of the question first. The truth is that Rankin never really *WAS* a one character author. It's true that Rebus was/is his single most successful character, and the one who brought him both riches and prestige as a writer. (Including various literary awards and an O.B.E. in 2002) But early in his career he also wrote three other novels under the pseudonym "Jack Harvey" which though not best sellers at the time were none the less excellent crime fiction in their own right. (They sell better now than they did when they were first published in the early 1990's) In "Doors Open" Rankin has shown that he is not a "one man" writer, and that he can produce a superbly crafted and well written crime thriller without recourse to the legendary Inspector Rebus.

The book was serialised in the New York Times before it came out in hardback and paperback in September 2008, and immediately shot to the top of the bestseller lists. Of course, as the UK's top selling crime writer this was almost a certainty with his first non-Rebus novel simply because of the curiosity value. A better indication of whether or not he is still so beloved by the book reading public will be to watch how well his second non-Rebus novel sells. (Which is due for publication some time in 2009)

And did I like the book? You bet I did. Rankin has lost none of his literary ability, and still has the best selling crime author's touch of riveting the reader to the page, eager to discover "what's next". Rebus or no Rebus, I personally believe that Ian Rankin will still be a top crime author for decades to come.

"Doors Open" is available at all the usual online sources (Amazon, eBay, etc) and at all decent bookshops. Currently selling at Amazon in the UK for £9.49 (hardback) and at £8.99 (paperback) it's also available as an audio book for the blind and those with poor sight at £17.49.

Highly recommended to all Ian Rankin and crime novel fans.

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© KenJ Dec 2008

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Summary: Another cracking crime novel from the UK's best crime author