It's been emotional (Exit Music - Ian Rankin)

Member Name: count_zero

Product:	Exit Music - Ian Rankin
Date:	22/04/09 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The usual high standard Rebus adventure

Disadvantages: The end of the road?

Ah, let's slip into something more comfortable shall we? A new Inspector Rebus story is usually a time for celebration and the welcome return of the familiar. Through sixteen previous adventures we have come to know and love John Rebus and the opportunity to get into a new episode is the reading equivalent of slipping on a comfy fleece and watching a Bond film one more time.

Exit Music is the seventeenth stop on the long journey of Edinburgh's finest and as the name suggests the curtain is soon to close on his gloriously inglorious career. But before he goes gentle into that good night there is one more case and several glaring loose ends that need resolving.

The case involves the violent death of a Russian dissident poet and the loose ends include several unsolved cases and the fact that his long time nemesis, local gangster Morris Gerald Cafferty, remains at large and just beyond the reach of the long arm of the law. This last fact gnaws deep into Rebus' soul and feeds his anger and remaining ambitions.

Synopsis~
The story opens with the discovery of the badly beaten body of Alexander Todorov, the apparent victim of a mugging gone wrong. This seemingly undemanding case is given to Rebus to keep him busy for his final few days before his retirement. As he works through the statements and the victim's background he sees links to the new Scottish Parliament, a group of visiting Russian businessmen and most tantalisingly a link to his old enemy Cafferty. Could there be more to this than meets the eye? Could this simple mugging be the tip of a bigger corruption? Could - oh what am I saying. This is a John Rebus story, of course there's more to this than meets the eye and of course there is a far bigger mystery behind. That's why we love these books and we're not let down here.

The Book~
Exit Music takes Rebus fans down a well-worn path. Once again we find him becoming obsessed with a case and letting it take over his life. With no concept of work/life balance he spends his days, evenings and nights chasing down leads and hunches (not to mention grudges). If he hadn't already lost touch with family and friends he would do so all over again here. Some familiar characters return, the most important of these is Siobhan Clarke, his long time junior partner, and she is joined by a number of minor characters returning from previous stories.

The fact that Rebus and Clarke return largely unchanged from before should not be taken as a negative, throughout the series Rankin has allowed his main characters to grow and progress organically. Not much changes from book to book yet taken over the course of several episodes you see clear development and this is a credit to his skill and patience as an author.

Despite this character development and this being number 17 in the series, there is nothing in Exit Music that would exclude a newcomer. Obviously there is enjoyment for the regular getting reacquainted with the usual suspects but beyond having a head start there is no other advantage. There isn't a great deal of back story for the reader to worry about, the occasional reference to an earlier career in the army being the limit of early Rebus history and it has been a while since any of his family made an appearance in the books so beyond an innate sense of order there isn't even any real need to read the books in the right order. The only problem for a rookie reader is that if this does turn out to be the last in the series they'll have nowhere to go but backwards.

The character of John Rebus is not especially original. A hard drinking cop who plays by his own rules, he has a problem with authority but invariably gets his man. So far so familiar and the casual visitor can be forgiven for dismissing it as same old, same old. But it should be remembered that Rankin was a young and naïve writer when he started the series so perhaps he went for a safety first approach when designing his hero. Throughout the series, as Rankin has developed as a writer, so Rebus has developed as a character. Never betraying his original make up he has developed into a more complex and satisfying creation, which is brought forward a little with each episode. Some back-story is provided in the first novel but we know very little about his past and early police career and his early life is only rarely mentioned. There are some romantic diversions but these too are few and usually doomed by his obsessive nature as another case takes over his life and every waking hour. The one constant in the stories and one of the main things to give Rebus his humanity is the relationship with Siobhan Clarke. Entirely professional it is nonetheless very endearing and has passed through various guises: master/apprentice, father/daughter and as Clarke has become a senior detective herself now more equal partners. This book shows Clarke stepping out of the shadows, taking over the case from Rebus and preparing to move up to Inspector on his retirement. The character of Clarke shows sufficient independence and depth while retaining enough of the spirit of Rebus to indicate that she could make a successful spin off / continuation character. I'm sure Rankin will have considered this, I wonder which way he'll go.

There is the return of another familiar character that should not be over-looked, that of the city of Edinburgh itself. From the very beginning the Rebus stories have been very much Edinburgh stories, the streets and history of the place integral to every book. The plots, the crimes and the characters track relentlessly across the cityscape in every episode, Rankin describes locations and movement as if giving directions and road names and places fill the narrative. This benefits the novel on several levels, for those who don't know the city it provides an authenticity and sense of scale. For regular city visitors like myself it allows me to picture many of the locations and backdrops while locals and city experts can track the action and characters making the whole experience that much more vivid. Edinburgh is a city full of character, within a relatively small area there is the Georgian splendour of the New Town, overlooked by the Gothic malevolence of the castle and Arthur's Seat and in between are the mysterious disappearing bridges and subterranean streets, often buried intact as the city expanded. It is a great city in which to set a mystery series and the affection that Rankin has for the place is clear to see.

This book shows Ian Rankin near the top of his game, well written it is polished and professional in execution but perhaps lacks a little of the inspiration of other mysteries and there are better books in the series. It is, however, a satisfying novel and provides a well-judged conclusion that will appeal to the regulars who would be foolhardy not to read this. I would recommend that newcomers look to novels much earlier in the series to give themselves the best chance of getting the most from the character.

Summary: When will I see you again?