Resurrection Men (2002)
Read Resurrection Men (2002) Online
Authors: Ian Rankin
| Resurrection Men (2002) | |
| Rebus [13] | |
| Ian Rankin | |
| Little, Brown (2002) | |
| Rating: | ★★★★☆ |
| Tags: | Fiction, Mystery Fictionttt Mysteryttt |
Amazon.com Review
Like Edinburgh inspector John Rebus, the resurrection men of the title are treading on thin ice--they've all been sent to a short course at the Scottish Police College because they've failed in some way, generally "an issue with authority." Rebus has been known to have issues of that nature before, which only boosts his credibility with the other cops in attendance, suspected by their bosses of being on the wrong side of the fence, on the take, or even guilty of murder on several previous occasions. The dour Inspector's agenda aims to bring the higher-ups proof of the so-called Wild Bunch's nefarious activities; in the process, his own conduct in the old case he and his college classmates must rework and revisit comes under scrutiny. A solid police procedural whose protagonist, the hero of 14 other titles in this internationally acclaimed series, continues to grow on readers who are just discovering him.
--Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
Rankin's moody Inspector John Rebus, unorthodox pride of the Edinburgh police, begins this latest installment in hot water. He's been sent back to the police college for "retraining," with a group of other "resurrection men," for throwing a cup of coffee at a superior in a moment of frustration. It soon becomes clear, however, that the police brass have their own agenda for Rebus. Some of his fellow officers are suspected of being on the take, and it's his mission-should he accept it-to try to infiltrate their schemes, perhaps even encourage them. Meanwhile, a murder he and the edgy Det. Sergeant Siobhan Clarke have been investigating has turned up some curious links with an apparently Teflon crime boss Rebus has been after for years. The two cases gradually come together in Rankin's skillfully woven plotting, full of his trademark tough, oblique dialogue and sudden moments of touching warmth. The book's only drawbacks are that it seems a little overextended, and that the final bloody climax lacks something in conviction, if not in tension. This isn't one of Rankin's top efforts, but even coasting, he leaves most police procedurals at the gate.
Biography From Wikipedia - Ian Rankin
Born: 28 April 1960 (age 51), Fife, Scotland
Pen name: Jack Harvey
Nationality: British
Period: 1984–present
Genres: Crime fiction
Notable work(s): Inspector Rebus, Dark Entries
Ian Rankin, OBE, DL (born 28 April 1960 in Cardenden, Fife), is a Scottish crime writer. His best known books are the Inspector Rebus novels. He has also written several pieces of literary criticism.
He attended Beath High School, Cowdenbeath. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, he moved to Tottenham, London for four years and then rural France for six while he developed his career as a novelist. He was a Literature tutor at the University of Edinburgh, where he retains an involvement with the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
The 'standard biography' of Rankin, a Scot, states that before becoming a full-time novelist he worked as a grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, college secretary and punk musician.
He lives in Edinburgh with his wife Miranda and their two sons Jack and Kit.
Rankin did not set out to be a crime writer. He thought his first novels Knots and Crosses and Hide and Seek were mainstream books, more in keeping with the Scottish traditions of Robert Louis Stevenson and even Muriel Spark (the subject of Rankin's uncompleted Ph.D. thesis). He was disconcerted by their classification as genre fiction. Scottish novelist Allan Massie, who tutored Rankin while Massie was writer-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh, reassured him by saying, who would want to be a dry academic writer when "they could be John Buchan?"
Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels are set mainly in Edinburgh. They are considered major contributions to the Tartan Noir genre. Ten of the novels were adapted as a television series on ITV, starring John Hannah as Rebus in Series 1 & 2, with Ken Stott taking on the role for Series 3-5.
In 2009, Rankin donated the short story "Fieldwork" to Oxfam's Ox-Tales project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Rankin's story was published in the Earth collection.
Ian Rankin signing copies of his debut graphic novel Dark Entries in the Edinburgh Forbidden Planet International store.
In 2009 Rankin stated on Radio Five Live that he would start work on a five- or six-issue run on the comic book Hellblazer, although he may turn the story into a stand-alone graphic novel instead. The Vertigo Comics panel at WonderCon 2009 confirmed that the story would be published as a graphic novel called Dark Entries, the second release from the company's new Vertigo Crime imprint.
In 2007, Rankin was criticised for saying, "the people writing the most graphic violence today are women. They are mostly lesbians as well, which I find interesting".
Copyright © 2002 by John Rebus Limited
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
First eBook Edition: February 2003
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group,
237 Park Avenue,
New York, NY 10017
Originally published in Great Britain by Orion Books
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
The “Little, Brown and Company” name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-7595-2787-4
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Contents
Resurrection Men
Ian Rankin
Inspector John Rebus has messed up badly this time, so badly that he’s been sent to a kind of reform school for damaged cops. While there among the last-chancers known as “resurrection men,” he joins a covert mission to gain evidence of a drug heist orchestrated by three of his classmates. But the group has been assigned an unsolved murder that may have resulted from Rebus’s own mistake. Now Rebus can’t determine if he’s been set up for a fall or if his disgraced classmates are as ruthless as he suspects.
When Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke discovers her investigation of an art dealer’s murder is tied to Rebus’s inquiry, the protégé and mentor join forces. Soon they find themselves in the midst of an even bigger scandal than they had imagined—a plot with conspirators in every corner of Scotland and deadly implications about their colleagues.
With the brilliant eye for character and place that earned him the name “the Dickens of Edinburgh,” Ian Rankin delivers a page-turning novel of intricate suspense.
A
LSO BY
I
AN
R
ANKIN
The Inspector Rebus Series
Knots & Crosses
Hide & Seek
Tooth & Nail
A Good Hanging and Other Stories
Strip Jack
The Black Book
Mortal Causes
Let It Bleed
Black & Blue
The Hanging Garden
Death Is Not the End (a novella)
Dead Souls
Set in Darkness
The Falls
Scotland is divided into several police regions. Rebus works for Lothian and Borders Police, whose “beat” covers Edinburgh and most points south until you reach the English border. The region’s HQ is based at Fettes Avenue in Edinburgh, and is often referred to by officers as “the Big House.” Other main police stations in the capital include St. Leonard’s (where Rebus is normally based), Leith (the port of Edinburgh), Gayfield Square and West End.
The officer in charge of this region is known as the chief constable. He is served, in decreasing order of rank, by a deputy chief constable (DCC), two assistant chief constables (ACCs), and various detective chief superintendents (DCSs), superintendents, chief inspectors, inspectors, sergeants and constables. If an officer works for CID (Criminal Investigation Department), then he or she will carry the prefix D (for Detective). A DCI is a detective chief inspector, DI is a detective inspector, DS a detective sergeant, and DC a detective constable. Officers not assigned to CID would wear a uniform. (Rebus sometimes refers to these unfortunates as “woolly suits.”) Lowest in the pecking order are the PC (police constable) and WPC (woman police constable).
At Tulliallan Police College
DI John Rebus - based at St. Leonard’s police station in Edinburgh
DI James “Jazz” McCullough - based in Dundee
DI Francis Gray - based in Glasgow
DS Stu Sutherland - based in Livingston
DI Thomas “Tam” Barclay - based in Falkirk
DC Allan Ward - based in Dumfries
DCI Archibald Tennant - the Resurrection Men’s boss
Andrea Thomson - career analyst
The Rico Lomax Murder Case
Eric “Rico” Lomax - murder victim
Fenella - Rico’s widow
“Chib” Kelly - Fenella’s current lover, Glasgow bar owner and criminal
Richard “Dickie” Diamond - Rico’s friend
Malky - Dickie’s nephew, barman in Edinburgh
Jenny Bell - Dickie’s onetime girlfriend
Bernie Johns - deceased Glasgow drug baron
At St. Leonard’s Police Station
DS Siobhan Clarke - (pronounced “Shiv-awn”)
DI Derek Linford - no friend to Rebus, disliked by Siobhan
DCS Gill Templer - officer in charge of St. Leonard’s
DC David Hynds - a new recruit
DS George “Hi-Ho” Silvers - officer with both eyes on approaching pension
DC Grant Hood - young and unpredictable officer with a crush on Siobhan
DC Phyllida Hawes - tough female officer, usually based at Gayfield Square
DCI Bill Pryde - second in command to DCS Gill Templer
The Edward Marber Murder Case
Edward Marber - murdered Edinburgh art dealer
Cynthia Bessant - friend of the deceased, also an art dealer
Malcolm Neilson - artist
William Allison - Neilson’s lawyer
Dominic Mann - art dealer
Eric “Brains” Bain - detective, computer specialist
Professor Gates - pathologist
Morris Gerald “Big Ger” Cafferty - Edinburgh’s preeminent gangster
The Weasel - Cafferty’s lieutenant
Aly - the Weasel’s son
Ellen Dempsey -owner of MG Cabs in Edinburgh
DI Bobby Hogan - Leith-based detective
WPC Antonia “Toni” Jackson - experienced uniformed officer at St. Leonard’s
PC John “Perry” Mason - latest recruit to the uniformed branch at St. Leonard’s
Laura Stafford - a prostitute
Donny Dow - father of Laura’s child
DS Liz Hetherington - Dundee-based detective
Ricky - manager of the Sauna Paradiso
Other Characters
Claverhouse - detective in the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency
Ormiston - Claverhouse’s partner
ACC Colin Carswell - based at police HQ
Sir David Strathern - chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police
Jean Burchill - Rebus’s current partner, museum curator