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The deceased's girlfriend, Tracy, calls the police and gets in touch with Rebus, warily trying to help, concerned also for her own safety, all the while as much trouble as she is help.
This second novel in the Inspector Rebus series was intended as a companion to the first and again the literary references are evident throughout and the play of the famous novel Jekyll and Hyde works well as things unravel. Rankin wrote this after several years living in London and Hide and Seek has a distinctly bitter edge and sees John Rebus disenchanted with the materialism which is becoming synonymous with a newly prosperous Edinburgh as new money moves North. This second novel is much more cynical in tone from the off and Rebus and many of the rank and file police officers have an ingrained scepticism of authority and those who control big business. He raised his eyebrows slowly, then brought them down low over his eyes. His lips broadened into a smile which had about it a touch of the leer. She became coy.
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The story is interesting and well told as Rebus gradually unearths a few loose ends and tugs away at these strands until the bigger picture starts to appear. But the real beauty, the true quality of the writing, is in the character development and the superb dialogue. Here Rankin has created one of the enduring heroes of crime fiction, and what’s really pleasing is that even in this very early book (the series has reached 20 episodes and is still going) the quality is already abundantly clear. There were scenes here that had me laughing aloud which also included dialogue as caustic and cutting as you’ll find anywhere in literature. The full spectrum from light to absolute darkness is here. I enjoyed this 2nd entry in the Inspector Rebus series. I have a lot more reading to do as I think there are 21 books in the series.
The reason I enjoyed this one more than the first and the reason why it did not work itself to a higher rating can be pointed towards the same thing – the character of Rebus. I enjoyed this one more as we already knew him as a character, his history was in place, and we knew what to expect from him. I’m not crazy about the series, however, because I don’t particularly like Rebus as a character. There is nothing about him that screams out at me, nothing that leaves me truly invested in his story. He is okay as a means of telling a decent story, but if I’m going to really enjoy a crime series I need to love a character. Rebus takes seriously a death which looks more like a murder every day, and he begins to investigate the true circumstances of the death. As part of his investigation, Rebus finds the young woman named Tracy who knew the dead man and heard his terrifying last words: "Hide! Hide!" In the Exile on Princes Street foreword to Rebus: The Early Years, Rankin says this was his second attempt at updating Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde into then-modern Edinburgh ("one reviewer 'got it'"), and with this book he began to like Rebus as a character and thought he could use him as a recurring mouthpiece for stories about his views on Scotland. [1] Without these personal relationships, the book doesn't have quite the depth of some of the later Rebus-novels, but the crime-story and solution is decent enough. He stared at her, his eyes seeming almost to recognise her. Then he looked away again, into a distance all of his own. The word was a snakelike hiss.Shite!' he said, knowing as the word escaped his lips that it was not quite appropriate, not quite the right word for the occasion. Well, what was he, a man or a thesaurus? He was shrieking now, frantic, his face drained of all colour. She was at the top of the stairs, and he stumbled towards her, grabbing her by the arms, propelling her downstairs with unfocussed force, so that she feared they would both fall. She cried out. What was wrong with you?’ she said, but all he could think about was the minister’s handshake, that confident grip which bespoke assurances of an afterlife. As a lover of British crime thrillers, I try to read all the big names. I would like to be able to say I have read most of the big ones, yet the reality is that I have read nowhere near as many as I would like to be able to claim. I’ve been trying to amend that, and my journey into Ian Rankin is an example of me trying to better myself when it comes to one of my favourite genres.
A dead junkie is discovered on a living room floor in what we would call a drug den. In any case, an anonymous tip leads the police to a boarded up home in a housing estate, an abandoned house that drug addicts have taken over. The body also has old bruises all over. But although the usual forensics formalities involved in gathering evidence are being followed, everyone can see it is the usual junkie story. But there are a few anomalies... The corpse at the centre of the murder inquiry is that of a down and out young junkie, living -- and dying -- in utter squalor. So for that reason alone I find it impossible to enter the “really liking” territory with these books. To assist with his inquiries, Rebus reaches out to Sergeant Brian Holmes - the cop least likely to complain about Rebus's numerous demands. A nice touch is the cynical end, the knowledge that the truly rich and powerful can hush things up and save their skins (the occasional sacrifice notwithstanding) -- and Rebus' awareness of all this.
Meanwhile, Rebus' boss, Detective Superintendent Watson, has roped him in to help on an anti-drugs campaign, which lets him hob nob with the rich and powerful -- fancy lunches and parties, invitations to the most exclusive clubs. I have a big complaint about Ian Rankin’s early Rebus novels, and it is a complaint that continues to taint my enjoyment of the series. D.I. John Rebus is too erudite. He’s impossibly well read, he knows and loves fine wine, and he’s a big jazz fan; he’s way too cultured to be a D.I.. Shite!’ he said, knowing as the word escaped his lips that it was not quite appropriate, not quite the right word for the occasion. Well, what was he, a man or a thesaurus?
Rebus enlists Detective Sergeant Brian Holmes -- "Someone who didn't know Rebus well enough to complain about being kept in the dark, about being used as a shunting engine" -- to help him out, and though there is some friction between the two they make a decent team. Another part I liked was the location of Edinburgh . The book showed all the different sides of the city. (from the squats to the wealthy mansions) As I read I wondered what secondary characters in this book will be in the next book. I did like the character of Holmes. Hope he hangs in there and continues on with his police career. Rebus chose him for different tasks because he thought he wouldn't complain. Sometimes Inspector Rebus didn't treat him real well but it seemed he was gaining respect for him by the end of the book. He must have some clout. I mean, to get us the keys to this place, to set all this up. Some clout.’ A friend of mine, a long time resident of Edinburgh, used to tell me that the city has this posh and calm appearance but what lurks just below the surface, invisible to the occasional visitor, is a darker, murkier place. And this is what John Rebus discovers here. He’s recently been promoted to Inspector and, in truth, he seems rather drunk with the power of it. The main plot line concerns a dead drug addict, found in a squat. Rebus just has a feel about the scene of death and decides to sniff around a bit more than would normally seem necessary in a case seemingly as cut and dried as this. There’s also a new Superintendent to deal with and he’s co-opted John onto a small team looking at the wider issue of the city’s growing drug problems. Yes, madam?’ he inquired, carrying her by the waist out of the kitchen, towards where the bedroom and the end of the weekend waited in shadow.Rian stared at the kitchen, counting the used pots, the half-eaten lobster carcasses, the wine glasses smudged with grease.
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