The hardest thing for a book-a-year author is character development. Some authors, like Lee Child, don’t bother. Reacher is littered with vicious, psychopathic murders, which are, loosely, righteous. Other authors, like Peter James, are drifting into mediocrity losing any connexion with their original genius.

Rankin, with this book has firmly established himself as a significant author.

The Rebus character has been developed over 24 books. In this one Rankin shatters the formula and lays out the ground rules for successor novels. Rebus’s bete noir is the criminal Ger and Rankin disposes of him too with Rebus as the cause. Rankin is clearing out of the Rebus stables.

 Rebus is dead, Long live Rebus!

 It’s brilliantly written and this reader is eagerly looking forward to Rankin’s latest ‘Good Cop, Bad Criminal’ series featuring Siobhan, a female Rebus, and Andrew, the new Ger. Unless, that is, I am reading too much into the final page of the novel….Let’s hope not.