Dead Souls: From the iconic #1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES

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Oh and what on earth does the mass murderer deported from the US to Edinburgh have to do with all this?

I didn't much care for one of the villains in this book and I didn't like how that particular thread was left at the end of the book because I really don't want to see this particular villain again. Darren Rough, a convicted pedophile,has been let out of prison and now resides in an apartment with a clear view of a playground. The biggest reason is this: Even though I absolutely believe we have free will and are wholly responsible for the decisions we make, some people are less capable of making informed decisions thanks to damage that occurred to them in their youth.Rankin being Rankin, there are a panoply of other features with which Rebus has to contend: a third case involving the missing adult son of two of Rebus' childhood friends; a fling with an old high school flame; thinly-veiled criticism of the 1% (fifteen years before it was popular); the fallout from his daughter's near-death experience in the previous book; the responsibility of the media not to turn killers into celebrities; and so on. James MacPherson’s home-grown Scottish burr is put to excellent use narrating Rankin’s 17th and possibly best crime novel featuring Det.

a pedophile is now living in the community, rousing the residents to violence; a fellow officer has committed suicide for no apparent reason; and Rebus's former girlfriend's son is missing. Meanwhile there is a trial going on of a former school in which two of the principals were involved in child abuse. Rebus chases a released pedophile when he is supposed to be trying to catch someone who has been poisoning the animals. While the many plot lines pull the narrative in disparate directions, the whole is held together by Rankin's drum-tight characterization of Rebus as a man deeply shaken in his convictions, but unwilling to fall apart. Arguably no Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott has had the commercial and critical success that Ian Rankin now enjoys.The never-ending dance of relationships and criss-crossings which took up so much space in his head.

My feeling was that, for instance you might take a break to smoke a "ciggie" once or twice - but never refer to it as a cigarette? Rankin's books are a bit gritty but I like the fact that Rebus has a conscience and a determination to put the criminals away. Interfering Oakes, who knows way too much about everything, adds a good deal of excitement, especially when he latches on to Rebus and toys with him. Knowing some answers does not really resolve the divisions and imperfections in society which it is the job of Rebus and his colleagues to police. John Rebus is beset by troubles from the past and the present in the loose and rangy 11th installment (after The Hanging Garden) of Rankin's popular (and, in England, bestselling) series.The mouth below the camera’s body was a thin line of concentration, rippling slightly as forefinger and thumb fine-tuned the apparatus. They are both rather dour characters with strong codes of ethics and morals, yet both are prepared to bend the rules to achieve just or at least satisfactory, outcomes. They really can't do anything other than be visible for a few days until money runs out on the operation, but no one who knows this killer has any doubt that he'll strike again, and the police are trying to discourage that. Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature.