Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88743 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-26
• Released on: 2007-07-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 515 pages

NEWS OF THE WORLD
'Unquestionably a best from Rankin, The Naming of the Dead goes way beyond the scope of even the greatest crime thrillers to become an essential state-of-the-nation take on 21st century Britain. This is possibly the best novel you will read in your life full stop. Yes, it is that good'

Review
'Unquestionably a best from Rankin, The Naming of the Dead goes way beyond the scope of even the greatest crime thrillers to become an essential state-of-the-nation take on 21st century Britain. This is possibly the best novel you will read in your life full stop. Yes, it is that good' (NEWS OF THE WORLD )

'Rebus and Rankin are on the top of their form' (MAIL ON SUNDAY )

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

'He has taken a momentous few days in recent British history (not just the G8 and the protests, but also the success of the Olympic bid followed a day later by the London bombings) and effortlessly interwoven the political and the criminal' (SUNDAY TIMES )

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!