Product Description

KNOTS & CROSSES: Two girls have been abducted and brutally murdered. Now a third is missing. Detective Sergeant John Rebus, his own young daughter spirited away south by his disenchanted wife, is one of the policemen hunting the killer. And then the messages begin to arrive: knotted string and matchstick crosses - taunting Rebus with pieces of a puzzle only he can solve ... HIDE & SEEK: A junkie lies dead in an Edinburgh squat. Just another addict, until Inspector Rebus begins to chip away at the indifference, treachery, deceit and sleaze that lurk behind the facade of the city familiar to tourists. And only Rebus seems to care about a death that looks more like murder every day, a death that appeals to the darkest corners of his mind. TOOTH & NAIL: Drafted down to the Big Smoke thanks to a supposed expertise in the modus operandi of serial killers, Inspector Rebus is on the trail of a man who, due to his penchant for taking a bite from each of his victims, is known as the Wolfman. When Rebus is offered a profile of the Wolfman by an attractive lady psychologist, it seems too good an opportunity to turn down. But in finding an ally, he may have given his enemies an easy means of attack ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4221 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-18
• Released on: 2000-05-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 612 pages

About the Author
Ian Rankin lives with his wife and two sons in Edinburgh having returned from a six year sojourn in France.

Customer Reviews

Intriguing anthology of first three Rebus titles
An omnibus edition of Ian Rankin's first three tales of John Rebus, this is a fascinating collection for any mystery fan, and a study in technique for anyone planning or hoping to write a crime fiction novel of their own. What is most evident in this title is the way in which Rankin's skill and confidence grow, and the almost transparent efforts he makes to resolve his worries about his art and his central character.

'Knots and Crosses' is a hesitant start. Rebus, at this stage only a sergeant, gets sucked into the investigation of a series of murders in Edinburgh. Young girls are being killed, but Rebus is initially too preoccupied with his own domestic traumas to appreciate how intimately he is involved in the crimes. 'Hide and Seek' takes a now promoted Rebus into Edinburgh's seedy drugs world as he champions the right of a dead user to be treated as the victim of crime and not simply as a statistic. And in 'Tooth and Nail', Rebus is transferred down to London to help catch a serial killer who has the Met baffled.

It's fair to say that these are not classic murder mysteries. Each is flawed, each clearly evidences a working novelist coming to terms with his craft. Rebus is an engaging detective - you can see his character emerging from the novels, can see how the author plays with its various facets, trying to get a balance, trying to create a multi-dimensional figure.

And you can see Rankin coming to terms with the Edinburgh setting, growing in confidence about how to handle it, then perhaps having doubts about the city's ability to sustain a literary detective. Rankin does play with the Jeckyll and Hyde theme (paying homage to a great Edinburgh writer), and will toy with the Jack the Ripper legacy of London, almost as if he is searching for a vehicle for his writing, some way of exploring crime as a sociological and psychological phenomenon, but a phenomenon which is regularly distorted by questions of the nature of 'evil', whether as philosophical or populist concept.

"Rebus: the Early Years" is an entertaining and engaging read which will whet your appetite for future Rebus titles ("Strip Jack" will be the fourth - indeed, the next three titles are also available in omnibus form as "Three Great Novels: Strip Jack / The Black Book / Mortal Causes".

Intro to Rebus
This is a collection of the first three Rebus novels as written by Ian Rankin. The series is now past 15 books in total.

In truth these are maybe the worst Rebus novels but they serve as a useful introduction to John Rebus. They also go to show how a writer gets better over time.

Book 1 "Knots and Crosses" follows Rebus as he tries to catch a serial killer. The storyline is very simple and the text is also simple compared to Rankin's later novels. Nevertheless it is a useful introduction to the character Rebus.

Book 2 "Hide and Seek" is in the more accomplished style of the other Rebus novels. This time a drug death looks suspicious to Rebus and this leads him onto an investigation that leads to him uncovering illegal fighting. This novel is more in line with the other Rebus novels in the way that the thought processes of the characters are very detailed and the chapters are split simply by day. Also the fictitious places in Edinburgh as used in Novel 1 have disappeared to be replaced by real-life locations.

Book 3 "Tooth and Nail" seems a strange Rebus novel simply because it is set in London and not Edinburgh. Rebus is invited down from Scotland to help with a serial murder case. He is termed as an expert because of his exploits in book 1 (Note: all the books stand-alone but there are some small mentions to the previous books). This is the most accomplished book of the three and explores more the thought processes of the characters and includes more jokes that are a big part of the Rebus novels.

All together the books link together well. For example they all have a pattern in their titles (although Tooth and Nail was originally called "Wolfman" as the author writes in the useful introduction to each novel). And they serve a purpose in introducing the Rebus novels which I am sure you will all love.

My latest discovery in this genre
An excellent introduction to author, Ian Rankin, and his hero, Inspector John Rebus, both new to me. Having devoured this three-in-one, I am now ready to progress further through the sequence of stories. I believe that the "St Leonard's Years" covers the next three Rebus novels so that will be my next quest.
Of the three "Early Years" stories I preferred the first, Knots & Crosses, and the third, Tooth & Nail, to the second (Hide & Seek) which was a bit harder to get to grips with.

Thoroughly recommended to crime/thriller addicts and you certainly don't have to be Scottish to appreciate them!