Pink-Eye Books

Lately I've been leaning more on Amazon reviews to sort through the vast inventory of mystery writing now available, particularly for writers that I don't know much about, but also for well-known and prolific authors like Ian Rankin. That as a preface to my real enjoyment of "The Hanging Garden," which I ordered based on reviews posted here.

This 1998 John Rebus yarn has the characteristic layered plot lines and beautifully detailed character studies of Rankin's better novels. The setting is Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland, though this a rough landscape, which fits the gritty stories being told. It surely doesn't encourage much thought of tourism there the way an Alexander McCall-Smith story might.

As for the protagonist, Detective Inspector John Rebus, this novel catches him at a transitional point in his life. He's on the wagon, dealing with a lot of self-guilt and a serious crisis involving his daughter and reviewing the aftermath of a failed marriage. He is still a driven man professionally, which ultimately leads to the resolution of the several plot lines that Rankin has structured into the book.

Way above average crime novel. Highly recommended.

It's perhaps a bit inaccurate to call the Rebus novels "mysteries" in that there is often little mystery to the goings-on. Rankin is a very good writer, but what he does best is setting up strong, shocking, and sometimes moving police precedurals around seeming mysteries. Like the other Rebus books I've read, the resolution to the main mysteries is a bit weak, especially when compared to the other events in the book.

So that alone puts the Rebus books a bit below the Morse or Dalgleish novels. However, John Rebus is almost as memorable as a plainclothesman as his English counterparts, rougher around the edges than either, hard to take but sympathetic. He makes the books move as he bounces around, as we see him through the eyes of his colleagues and his enemies. He's not an easy hero to like, but is an easy man to feel for. The rest of the cast, some totally heinous, others much more pure, set him to sharp relief. And the setting, while most likely not at all the true Edinburgh, helps a lot too.

Compared to American novles of this ilk, this series is a stunning gem. Mystery and police drama fans alike could do far worse.

Welcome to the dark side of Edinburgh! Once again Inspector John Rebus has a job in the Scottish City. This time it seems that he is painfully, personally involved - his daughter, Sammy, is in a coma after being hit by a car. And he had been hiding a Bosnian girl made prostitute by one of the gangs fighting for dominance over the city, in her apartment...

In "The Hanging Garden" (the first Rankin book I have tried - very encouraging!) perhaps the most interesting thing is the personality of Inspector Rebus and his private phobias and the reminiscences of past mistakes, which seem to overwhelm him quite often as he is immersing himself deeper and deeper into his work. Now he is trying to find out if Joseph Lintz, the retired professor and German immigrant, is a mass murderer from World War II and at the same time to put the Edinburgh emerging mobster, Tommy Telford, behind bars. The Japanese mafia, Yakuza, appears at the scene, as well as the Serbian disfigured gangster Jake Tarawicz from Newcastle, a corrupted Dr Colquhoun, Rebus' ex-wife, Sammy's nosy journalist boyfriend... There is a little too much thrown in for my taste, the plot is very twisted and seems that the author entangled himself too much in it at some point.

Nevertheless, it is worth reading for all those who like Rebus and his complicated mind. His psychological portrait is one of the best in the contemporary mystery fiction. The Edinburgh from Rankin's novels is also much different from its tourist side (which I saw and loved), much more shady and dirty, with all the social classes present and great descriptions of various locations.

Eagles: There's a new kid in town

Thomas (Tommy) Telford has come to Edinburgh, and is in the process of taking over Morris Gerald (Big Ger) Cafferty's turf. One of the first casualties turns out to be Rebus' daughter Samantha. It's been hard enough for John, having his daughter working with ex-cons but now she's taken up with a writer-cum-journalist.

While investigating a potential escaped nazi, who came to scotland just after the war and taught at a local college. His investigation leads him to Telfond's mentor, Jake Tarawicz who is based in Newcastle, some Japanese Yakuza who are looking to buy a golf course in the area. During this time he also rescues a prossie who turns out to be an illegal Bosnian, smuggled over the border and forced to work in the sex trade.

With everyone and his brother (and sister) involved in one or two of the concurrent cases he is working on, John is busier than a one armed bartender. He's been on the wagon for five months and has only slipped once. His sponsor, Jack Morton is there at the phone when he needs him, and on the job undercover.

It's hard to believe that in 335 pages, he manages to deal with his daughter's trauma, his ex-wife, ex(?)girlfriend Patience, the hooker, his brother, Siobhan, Jack, Abernathey from London, an ad-hoc member of a Jewish group tracking down nazis, members of three gangs, their bosses and lieutenants, and a problem with customs in Inverness airport. Surprisingly, no one seems to get short-schrift.

As the series has gone along, it has continued to be new and different, without the books becoming formulaic. Let's hope this continues.

Ian Rankin, The Hanging Garden (St. Martin's Press, 1998)

In a couple of months of reading almost nothing save mysteries, The Hanging Garden stood out as the best of the lot. Rankin is capable of weaving clues into a narrative with the deftest hand in a British mystery author since Colin Wilson, and his characters are more than engaging enough; as with most series mysteries, reading them out of order is liable to drop the reader into the middle of a plotline, and so it is here. The soap opera quality is not, however, as intrusive as it is in, say, the Spenser novels of Robert Parker. Funny, unexpectedly sweet at times, and more contemplative than your usual mystery novel. Rankin is something of a change of pace for the mystery reader, and a refreshing one he is. *** ½

If you're like me, you're a huge Pink Floyd fan. I've already read the major biographies, so I checked out this book. What a book it is? It offers articles written about the band and their members from the beginning to now. It's fun to read the older articles and agree or disagree with the writers. There's also an interesting section with quotes and reviews on every Pink Floyd or member solo song through 1994. An excellent book.

I am a pink floyd lover. However, i did not know much about the band's history. I have read this book and at times it can be confusing. The dates constatnly junp around and this can confuse you. I also have read a "Saucerful of Secrets." Unfortunatly i read this after this book. I recommend reading "Saucerfull" before this book. It gives you more of a chronological history of the band. Bruno's book is everything written about pink floyd gathered into on big scrap book. Interesting but confusing.