Review: Set in Darkness

It’s yet another dark, grey, and damp December in Scotland when an old, desiccated corpse is found in Queensberry House, one of the buildings being converted to serve as the new Scottish Parliament. Then a newly elected Member of Scottish Parliament is found bludgeoned to death close to where the corpse was found. At the same time, two rapists are haunting Edinburgh.

As is usual with Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus novels, the plot is fully loaded and the characters moving about in it are engaging and real enough that you feel you’ve met them. Set in Darkness impressively continues Rankin’s tendency of making each successive John Rebus novel tighter and tauter than what came before.

The novel should come with a warning label: Do not attempt to begin reading before going to bed. You will not be able to put it down before four a.m.

Related Core Dump reviews:

Dead Souls
The Hanging Garden
Black and Blue
Let it Bleed
Mortal Causes
The Black Book
Strip Jack
Tooth and Nail
Hide and Seek
Knots and Crosses