by Ian Rankin, published in 1998.This is the ninth Inspector Rebus novel and is not less fantastic than the last eight. In this volume we get to see more of Rebus’s family relationships, and it’s interesting to say the least.Maybe this is a strange comparison, but I find Rebus akin to Captain Kirk in that their first loves are not other people, but a Starship in Kirk’s case or the cases in Rebus’.There is a new player in Rebus’s town, and he is acting the bigshot. He is Tommy Telford, cool as a cucumber and afraid of nothing. All his stooges will take the fall for him and with Big Ger Cafferty in prison the territory is not as well defended as it could be - and so he is muscling in.Throw into this situation Rebus trying to help a prostitute working under Telford, and then a hit and run on his own daughter and you have the making of one pissed off Rebus out for revenge.But, with all the rules and regulations the police department must follow, and with limited resources at their disposal, finding out who the hit and run driver is could be an impossible task. Rebus has his suspicions of course, but no sane way to find out the truth.So what does he do - the insane of course. He cuts a deal with Cafferty and you can see where this is leading - to no good.All the while Rebus is supposed to be tracking down information on a supposed war criminal. And I really like Rankin’s writing because he manages to throw in real life events with a twist into his fiction. The war criminal Rebus is tracking was the SS leader who gave the order to kill all the civilians of Villefranche d’Albarrede (his fictional name for the real life horror of Oradour-sur-Glane) where all the elders were either hung or corralled into the local church and shot to death. To this day the city is untouched, a ghost town monument to the barbarism of the Nazis from World War 2.Very creepy and very authentic. So, in the Rebus novel you get not only a great rival gang war, but some historic conundrums to ponder along with Rebus.I liked this one a whole lot.Can’t wait for number ten.I think you owe it to yourself to read these novels even if you only have a passing interest in crime fiction. Rankin is fantastic.
John Rebus is a man intensely aware of his own shortcomings. This book reveals a little more of the detail of his marriage and why it failed. The mystery is that it lasted as long as it did! He has his own moral compass, which is more to do with making the world a safer place than the rule book, to which his superiors would like him to adhere. He doesn't get suspended in this instalment, but it's close! There are a number of interlinking threads but it doesn't become a maelstrom of chaos. He comes perilously close to selling his soul to find the person who ran over his daughter and scarpered. (At no point did it seem to occur to anyone that it wasn't a person of the male persuasion! Maybe feminism hadn't reached Edinburgh in 1998!) One of the threads involved the Nazi hunters, an occupation that his literally died out with the passage of time. Rankin never misses an opportunity to make your examine your own morals. To run with the herd or to stand against the herd, leading to a bullet in the head at worst or ostracism by your peers? Would we have done anything the lower orders did in their circumstances? Was it important to bring the perpetrators to trial? In my experience that's a perspective issue. The survivors of the atrocities tell me that they think it is. Each generation begets it's own war criminals but they seem to escape those with the will to track them.The other themes are as relevant today as then; importing and distributing drugs and girls, the latter with promises of a better life. Modern day slavery thrives whether we acknowledge it or not. Fiction echoes life in that if you get rid of one nasty leader, in any sense of the word, you are likely to get an even nastier one in their place. The Stones, Van Morrison and Leonard Cohen, amongst others, get to play throughout. The tracks so familiar and running through my head as I read. Whatever criticism you may have of Rebus, he has great taste in music!
What do You think about The Hanging Garden (1999)?
Nach etwa zwei Dritteln, ins Buch vertieft, fand ich: Wow, was für ein toller, erstklassiger Krimi!Kurz vor dem Ende, auf die Geschichte zurückblickend: Naja, doch da und dort etwas dick aufgetragen und nicht sehr plausibel. Auch war da und dort für die Auflösung ein „Kurzschluss“ nötig, um das Buch auf unter 500 Seiten zu halten.Aber dann hat die Geschichte auf den letzten Seiten die Kurve doch noch gekriegt, die wichtigsten Fäden wurden zu Ende verfolgt, und ich bin im Ganzen wieder zur ersten Meinung zurückgekehrt. John Rebus wird diesmal ganz schön hart rangenommen und muss das auch noch ohne seinen sonst bewährten Seelentröster, den Alkohol, durchstehen. Schlimm für ihn, aber uns Lesern gewährt Ian Rankin dadurch einige sehr persönliche Einblicke in die Seele seines Protagonisten, und diese Abschnitte sind grossartig, zum Teil echt berührend.Ich habe schon ein paar Rebus-Krimis gelesen (nicht in der Reihenfolge), aber dieser war bisher mein persönliches Highlight. Ausserdem passt der deutsche Titel diesmal perfekt.
—Isidor
Another intricate mystery from Rankin starring Rebus.The hanging garden of the title may refer to Babylon, but it also refers to a war crime the dogged detective has been assigned to look into. Is the old German who takes care of the graves at the local cemetery the same man who took part in the hanging of the town leaders and the massacre of more than 700 residents of a French village during World Two.He also decides to protect a Bosnian woman brought into Edinburgh illegally as a lady of night and who is a pawn in a turf war between new turk Tommy Telford and Rebus' nemesis Big Ger Cafferty, who is still running things from the clink. The prossie, Candice, reminds him of his daughter, who has recently returned to his life.The his daughter is put in a coma after being struck in a hit and run. Rebus thinks its a warning with Telford to butt out of his business, so Rebus makes a deal with Cafferty: find out who hurt his daughter and he;ll make sure Telford is brought down.Things start heating up when a Japanese gangsta is run over with rebus' stolen car, his daughter's boyfriend goes after Telford, and his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend bond at his daughter's beside.The war crime case seems to have ties to his organized crime case. Rebus flashes back to his own service in Northern Ireland and how close he came to committing a war crime. And loses a good friend in an operation that goes bad.
—Andreasoldier
Rebus' daughter Sammy is hit by a car and the DI cannot help but think it may be linked to a case he is working on, but which one? Rebus is simultaneously investigating whether a octogerian is a former Nazi and attempting to stave off a gang war. To succeed Rebus the still sober detective brings together a cast of characters including Jack Morton, members of the major crime squad, special branch and his frenemy Big Ger. Meanwhile Patience reappears in his life and we find out just how much he loves her.
—Timothy
