Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14532 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

TIME OUT
'Just as Rebus keeps getting his man, Rankin keeps not only hitting his mark, but defining it'

Review
'Rankin's home provided him with a brilliant backdrop for a crime novel: Edinburgh during the crazy week in 2005 when the G8 came to town' (LITERARY REVIEW )

'Masterly...Ian Rankin's finest novel. It is more than a crime novel, or rather, Rankin's achievement is to show, convincingly, how crime permeates society' (THE SCOTSMAN )

'The Naming of the Dead is Ian Rankin's Exile on Main Street: dark, murky and less immediate than his other novels, but still zinging with wit and his inimitable gift for plot. His richest and most complex work to date, it comes close to trascending genre fiction' (SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY )

'Rebus's latest adventure is as gripping as ever' (THE LONDON PAPER )

'Rebus may seem to be running on something very near empty, but there is no sign that Rankin has lost any of the energy to continue this consistently impressive series' (SUNDAY TIMES )

'This may be Rankin's 19th Rebus book, but while there's still plenty of life in the old devil yet, Siobhan Clarke is proving that she is more than capable of taking up the baton' (DAILY MIRROR )

'Rankin deftly inserts Rebus into the true story of that week, culminating, as it did in the London bombings of July 7. An excellent performance, for a cop on the verge of extinction' (Marcel Berlins THE TIMES )

'combines the page-turning appeal of a modern police procedural with the moral complexity of a political novel' (John Boyne THE IRISH TIMES )

'Politics crashes head on into Inspector Rebus's usual interests (solving grisly murders and supping pints) in the latest of this award-winning series. The Naming of the Dead set against the 2005 G8 Summit, is yet another irresistable page-turner from the UK's best crime novelist' (MAIL ON SUNDAY )

'Not only an intriguing murder-mystery but an excellent piece of reportage. Ian Rankin, despite his dodgy musical tastes, has produced yet another class act' (Mark Sanderson EVENING STANDARD )

'This one with its heady mix of crime and current affairs, is staggering. He is now at the top of his game and has almost catapulted himself out of the more limited crime genre altogether' (DAILY MAIL )

'Rankin is on top form here, with a suitably scornful attitude to Bob Geldof and the wishy-washy Live8 endeavour. Excellent stuff' (DUBLIN EVENING HERALD )

'This is Rankin at his hard-bitten best' (METRO LONDON )

'Rankin is on top form: in a stellar career, this is the best Rebus yet' (SAGA )

'Classic Rankin, and if you're in love with the unchangeable Rebus, you'll relish it. It's page-turning, complicated crime' (Frances Fyfield THE INDEPEDENT )

'Classic Rebus' (SHE )

'Crime writing at its best' (WOMAN AND HOME )

'as much a political thriller as a crime mystery. His vivid descriptions of the so-called Battle of Princes Street are as good as any newspaper reports written at the time' (Allan Laing GLASGOW HERALD )

'The plot is another Rankin corker, complex yet convincing, and played out on this occasion over only nine days against the backdrop of last year's G8 summit at Gleneagles, with its retinue of concerts and marches against poverty...The best crime novel you'll read this year' (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

'Impeccably plotted, dripping with suspense and never afraid to get down and dirty this book is further proof a nation will weep when Rebus hangs up his cuffs' (Shari Low DAILY RECORD )

'Rankin brings his characters to life with precision, and handles the novel's complex thematic relationships with his usual skill' (TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT )

'Rankin's mischievous sense of humour is strongly evident too with an inspired Ann Summers/Basque separatists gag' (FQ )

'a big, sometimes elegiac, read' (Peter Gutteridge THE OBSERVER )

'Rankin just gets better. The topicality and eye for detail are awesome' (Jilly Cooper THE OBSERVER - Books of the Year )

'Ian Rankin is back on splendid form with The Naming of the Dead' (THE SPECTATOR )

'Just as Rebus keeps getting his man, Rankin keeps not only hitting his mark, but defining it' (TIME OUT )

'Rankin is on top form here, with a suitably scornful attitude to Bob Geldof and the wishy-washy live 8 endeavour. Excellent stuff' (EVENING HERALD DUBLIN )

RED
'Gripping stuff to keep brain cells turning on the beach'

Customer Reviews

Like A Fine Wine It Get's Better With Age
I'm a huge fan of Rankin's books and like most who read one have read them all. It's always been a key point of the series that Rankin has aged his central character in real time and here we start to realise just how close we are to the end of the career of John Rebus.
I have to say that I think this is possibly the best in the series since Black and Blue, it benefits from being set in reality in this case Edinburgh during the G8 summit. Tony Blair is the prime minister etc only adds to being sucked into the book.
I like this aspect as Rankin makes mention of current music and TV culture even CSI gets a mention from Rebus.

This book is as much about Siobhan as it is about Rebus and we continue to see that Rankin will be able to continue this series even without the man who was the central character. One principle character is Edinburgh and the setting isn't going to change.

I don't want to give away the ending as like all the stories there is plenty of twists and turns but I like that with Rankin the crimes are always based on real reasons like money, love and revenge.

I usually read these books in a couple of days but this time I purposely read this slower savouring every word like the fine wine this book is with only one Rankin book a year and possibly only one more Rebus story to come it's going to be tough to find another series as good as this one has consistently been.

Rebus and Rankin -- Brilliant, yet again.
Ian Rankin is surely ahead of his fellow crime writers if only in the amount of books that he has written that are consistently of a high standard. This is Rankin's 16th Rebus book since 1988, an asthonishing amount by by anyone standards -- not mentioning the other books not featuring Rebus.

This latest edition in the Rebus series sees the Scottsman nearing retirement only for a mysterious set of murders to drag him back in to murky world of criminality -- all set against the backdrop of the G8 summit. This book sees Rankin and Rebus on top form, and Rankin, in particular, uses the G8 and the protest marches that surround it to great effect.

Considering that this is the penultimate Rebus novel it seems to me that Rankin is grooming Siobhan Clarke to succeed Rebus when the old man finally retires -- or worse. She is given a more central role, like the previous few books, and we are seeing new and interesting sides to her.

Quite how Rankin keeps such a high standard is beyond me, but be sure not to miss out on the latest Rebus books before the character is finally seen off.

Cafferty's Back and He's Nasty!
It's ironic that The Naming of the Dead has come so late in the series, since some of the later novels in it -namely, The Falls and Fleshmarket Close- have been a little weaker than the rest, as if the series was running out of steam. But this latest installment truly is Ian Rankin at his brilliant best, weaving absolutely everything in to it which made Rebus so damned good in the first place - and Cafferty's back!

For me, this is one of Ian's most balanced pieces of writing: drama, incident, suspense, mystery, political comment and intrigue, musical trivia and very sharp observation - it's all there in the right doses to keep you hooked from start to finish. Set against the G8 summit, Rebus is on the hunt for a serial killer who's been bumping off convicted rapists. He's been kept well away from the summit but it doesn't stop him from making that brilliant nuisance he does of himself and rubbing the right people up the wrong way !!

I think i've made myself clear enough. I simply loved this book!