Hide and Seek

Midwest Dave and East Coast Don have already reviewed books by Ian Rankin, and considering how much they raved about his writing, I had to give it a try. The first book in the Detective Inspector John Rebus series, Knots and Crosses had already reviewed, so I choose the second one, Hide and Seek (1991). There are now 20 books in the series, the last one having been published in 2015. The Hide and Seek murder mystery takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland and involves the death of a young heroin addict, Ronnie, but his fatal dose of the drug had been laced with rat poison. His body was found stretched out on the floor of an abandoned house, lying between two candles and underneath a mural on the wall that seems to indicate the occult was involved somehow. Rebus realized that this was not just a typical junkie’s death. Rebus was able to find a young woman, Tracy, who knew Ronnie – and there the detective work began. However, there is corruption to be dealt with within the police department, one which runs deep into local political figures and land developers. In the course of solving the case, Rebus, who encounters obstacles in the investigation from nearly everyone he meets, uncovers a local club where illegal fighting and betting is encouraged, all on behalf of the well-to-do members of the club. But there’s a mastermind behind all of the crime – I’ll let it go at that.

This was Rankin’s attempt to update Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and like the rave reviews written by my co-bloggers about Rankin's work, this one is a winner. His character development and plot are superior. Apparently these books will stand by themselves and do not have to be read in order, but I plan to take my time with that and read them in the order that Rankin produced them.