Go on brood, see if I care and who the bloody hell are you? (The Falls - Ian Rankin)

Member Name: KingHerrod

Product:	The Falls - Ian Rankin
Date:	14/12/01 (120 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Dark, I like dark, twisty

Disadvantages: Formulaic

As you may imagine my little friend Geoffrey the mad mohican giraffe "Oi stop calling me mad, you twit King!" Ok, my little friend Geoffrey the giraffe, with the natty mohican haircut, likes dark things, not dark as in no light, because quite frankly he is scared of the dark and sleeps with the light on, the other kind of dark, the one that you cannot put your finger on, you know dark, black, the nasty underside to life; that sort of thing. So it was Geoffrey that got me reading Ian Rankin's books about a rather grumpy Scottish police officer called John Rebus, or just Rebus to most of us. There are a whole series of these, whodunit, mystery, crime, thriller, police books and The Falls is the 12th in the series.

Now one side effect of Geoffrey reading these books is that for about a week or so afterwards he goes all dark and broody on me, often monopolising my music listening chair, my headphones and best chilled dark music. He says he just wants to be left alone to reflect on all the things that play on his mind, just like MrRebus does. To be honest the only thing playing on Geoffrey's mind is the lack of a female giraffe, but that as they say is another story.

Rankin as indicated writes in the crime thriller genre and in Rebus like Morse and Frost he has created his own central character that is the focal point for all the Rebus books, well he would be, as otherwise they wouldn't be called Rebus books now, would they? Except Rebus is darker than Morse and Frost, he is haunted by his time in the SAS, like Morse and Frost he is a loner. You do feel that Rankin has borrowed from Morse, in particular, when he is not working all Rebus seems to do is drink and brood, in Morse's case the accompaniment is classical music in Rebus's case it is dark rock. So we have our dark police officer, the man that plays by his rules and his rules alone and of course these rules are moral and just and in fact seemingly more moral
and just than the rest of the police force, rule book pah!

In The Falls the plot is similar to many crime thriller books, a rich young student (Flip) has gone missing, has she been murdered? Has she just run away from her closeted rich girl life? Has she been kidnapped for ransom? Oh yes it is a right royal mystery and in comes John Rebus and his side kick, Siobhan Clarke, a rising star in the Edinburgh police force and one who has a deep admiration for Rebus and the way he handles his investigations, another one that throws the rule book aside. How we love these maverick characters, how we all want to be like them, the maverick hero, or even perhaps in Rebus's case a kind of anti-hero.

Did I not mention that these books are set in Edinburgh? That was slack of me; yep the whole series is set in Scotland's capital city, one that to me personally is one of the best cities in the whole world. This adds to the appeal, because to be frank Edinburgh has a kind of dark brooding presence itself and the city and its locations are given a wonderful descriptive realisation by Rankin's writing and serves as a fantastic backdrop to the story. Moreover, in the Falls, the plot moves to the Scottish countryside, bringing to life some of the most beautiful parts of the UK, it is not often that a Rebus novel moves location from cities and this is a refreshing change.

The book centres on two parts of the mammoth police investigation, an internet role-playing game that Flip had been playing, run by a faceless Quizmaster who seeks to use his game as a way of controlling the game players, manipulating them to his whim; and a tiny coffin with a carved wooden doll interred inside, found close to Flip's family's estate. In a rather symbolic gesture, Siobhan takes control of the role-playing investigation, becoming immersed in the same game that Flip had been playing and Rebus takes the coffin lead, stumbling upon yet more of these macab
re objects that had appeared around Scotland throughout the years. Oh yes, the young buck takes the new, the internet, the virtual world, the future of criminal activity and the old sage, Rebus takes the old fashioned part of the investigation. Rebus becomes buried in the past, not just with his personal life (as he always is) but also with the investigation and Siobhan firmly buried in the future. As is usual in this genre of book there are twists and turns aplenty, with potential suspects plastered across the novel, but despite the proliferation of crime fiction, there is always something fresh in a Rankin novel, this time it is the shady world of the internet, the anonymity of all those you meet in this new virtual world, who are they and come to think about it who are you and who am I? My only disappointment in The Falls' complex mystery plot was that I guessed part of the conclusion fairly early on in the book, I do like to be completely flipped on my head with this type of book, but the read was still enjoyable.

Rankin's writing is always tight and expressive, his ability to write in just pure dialogue, much like Roddy Doyle can, is excellent and does a lot to bring his characters to life. There is something extremely rhythmic in the way Rankin writes, the book flows, it is easy to read, it is clever, it is witty and it is dark and unwholesome. Rankin always manages to portray his nasties as sinister and incredibly menacing, no matter who they are, be they a rich banker, a drug dealer or an old man.

Rankin excels in this genre, there are so many tired crime thrillers foisted upon the reading public, so much that is quite frankly average, boring tedious and uninspiring, Rankin does not fall into this category, he is formulaic, his characters are not that original, but he takes this traditional blend, shakes it about a bit and comes up with his own dark, brooding style that is extremely readable and very distinctive. The Falls is
not the best Rebus novel, but it is not the worst by a long way, if you like dark novels and if you like crime fiction/crime thrillers then you will like the Rebus books, although I suggest you start at the beginning of the series, because although each book is an individual novel in its own right, there is a lot of extended character development in the whole series of books.

I guess if there was an underlying theme to The Falls, it is that nobody is as they seem, everybody has a secret, everybody has their own dark underside and to a certain extent this is true.

The Falls is published by Orion, is 475 pages long (although it is a fairly easy read) and is priced at £6.99 in paperback. It is still available on the Amazon 50% off list and would make a good stocking filler, for any dark brooding giraffe.

Summary: