Product Description

Rebus is off the case - quite literally. A few days into a murder inquiry following the brutal death of an Edinburgh art dealer, Rebus blows up at his superior, DCS Gill Templer, and is sent into purdah. Which, in his case, means the Scottish Police College, sited on the edge of a village in central Scotland. Rebus has been sent there for 'retraining'. In other words, it's his Last Chance Saloon. He is not alone. At the college, he is put into a group of similar officers - people who have a problem with the very institution which houses them. They are given an old unsolved case to work on. It will hopefully teach them the merits of teamwork, while allowing professionals the chance to assess this unholy 'wild bunch'. But there are those in the team who have their own secrets - secrets not unconnected to the very case they've been given - and they'll stop at nothing to protect them. As if that wasn't enough, the Scottish Crime Squad have a favour to ask of Rebus. They think they've found someone who can deliver the inside info on the east coast's biggest gangster, 'Big Ger' Cafferty. All they need is a link-man, someone to act as go-between. They've decided on Rebus, whether he likes it or not. Meanwhile, back in Edinburgh, newly-promoted Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke must work the case of the murdered art dealer, a case which will take her closer to Cafferty and his world than she could ever have anticipated...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #554494 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-02
• Released on: 2001-12-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Rebus is back. Resurrection Men, the 13th DI Rebus novel, finds Ian Rankin’s doughty detective off the case. He explodes at his superior DCS Gill Templar over the increasingly frustrating murder inquiry into the savage killing of an Edinburgh art dealer and his punishment is a spell cooling his heels at the Scottish Police College in central Scotland. Rebus balks at his "retraining" but he’s not alone: he’s part of an ill-assorted group of similar officers--all with an attitude problem and a dislike of the institution they find themselves in. Given an old unsolved case to work on the group is obliged to polish up their teamwork while supervisors assess the reprobates. But some of the team have secrets not unconnected to the case they’ve been handed and Rebus finds that anything goes when it comes to keeping the past obscured.

This is Rankin in top form with Rebus rejuvenated by the edgy new milieu he’s dropped into. Complicating things, the Scottish Crime Squad asks Rebus to act as a link to someone who can deliver the inside dirt on an old nemesis, gangster "Big Ger" Cafferty. In Edinburgh, Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke has to take over the case of the murdered art dealer and, like Rebus, finds herself getting closer to the unpleasant Mr Cafferty. Forget the miscast John Hannah in the TV movies, this is the real Rebus: gritty, idiomatic and etched in prose that wastes nae a word in its redefining of the crime novel. --Barry Forshaw

Review
The maverick Edinburgh-based Inspector Rebus has been exiled for 'retraining' to the Scottish Police College after throwing a mug of tea at DCS Gill Templer during the investigation of the murder of an art dealer. Rebus and a group of other troublesome officers are given an old murder to work on in the hope that this will teach them the value of co-operation - although some in the team have secrets connected to the crime. But Rebus is suddenly pulled off the case to help the Scottish Crime Squad nail the big time gangster, M G Cafferty. Meanwhile, Rebus's Edinburgh colleagues discover a link between Cafferty and the murdered art dealer. Ian Rankin is one of the best crime writers in the world and his huge army of readers will thoroughly enjoy this totally gripping 13th Rebus novel.

About the Author
Ian Rankin was born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960. In 1997 he was awarded the Macallan Gold Dagger for Fiction for Black and Blue. His subsequent Rebus novels have all been international bestsellers. He lives with his wife and two sons in Edinburgh.

Customer Reviews

Ian, you've surpassed yourself!
Wow - what a start to the New Year! Rebus is my hero, and here he is, as crabbit and wasted as ever. Like many others, I stayed up late on Hogmanay, and into the wee small hours of the New Year, but this year I wasn't partying. Instead I absent-mindedly kissed my husband at midnight, and went straight back to my book.
I have devoured all of the Rebus books so far, and "Resurrection Men" must be one of the best crime novels ever written. A twisting, paranoid tale (as Rebus himself quotes, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you...") A story of bent cops, an old case dredged out of Rebus's past, and DS Clarke becoming more and more like her mentor. I couldn't put it down.

Risen from the Falls
After reading "The Falls", I almost felt that Rankin had written a lazy book. The Falls didn't havethe normal 2/3 stories running at once, not much of the supporting cast (Ormi, Linford, Big Ger) etc. Now, I realise that Rankin was in fact not being lazy, he was just penning his masterpeice, RESSURECTION MEN. I, unlike other readers, wasn't entirely sure of the outcome, until the very end. I was enthralled by the twists, by the wide range of charactures, esp. the new DC Davie. Siobahn gets a much greater billing (including the concluding chapter, a sign of things to come?) and you really feel what Rebus would be feeling, at each twist and turn. I loved it. It was easily his best novel, and much better than The Falls. Weak parts? None really..

Well done Ian Rankin. I for one, dont want the series to end.

Thirteen obviously isn't unlucky for Rankin!
This is very possibly the best Rebus novel yet. I sped through this book in a quick three days (well, it SEEMED quick!) This is, in my opinion, the best Rebus novel Ian Rankin has yet written.

The writing is first class yet again. The plot is possibly the best i have come across in a Rebus novel. It's all very intriguing and puzzling, and very original. Rankin adds in a few great twists along the way, at one stage completely pulling the rug out from beneath the reader.

His characters are great, as always. the "Wild bunch" are a wonderfully drawn bunch of officers, each with a very different but nonetheless interesting personality.

DS Clarke is back again, taking an even more central role than she did previously in the Falls. It is truly intriguing to watch her become more and more like Rebus every book. And Rankin writes it so well...it has been a gradual change, rather like a gigantic and sudden one, like some lesser writers might portray. Rankin has said that he plans to retire rebus in a couple of books, possibly with Clarke as his sucessor, although still maybe retaining Rebus in the background. I hope he does carry out this oft staten intention. It would be great to see how clarke is as the lead, and it would also be an experience to see a Rebus who is no longer bound by the rules of the police force, and is now free to do whatever he likes...

Rankin is a master of British (Scottish, if you wnat to be that pedantic) fiction. He is right up there with Ruth Rendell, Minette Walters, reginald Hill and Val McDermid. And he clealr yplans to stay there. That is certainly not something i shall ever come to lament.