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:
Posted Friday, 09 June, 2006 by Nic Lindh
Another book roundup, including some stellar athletes and soldiers, what might be the most jaded, soul-weary protagonist ever, and some grimdark fantasy.
The Internet is getting creepy, and Nic is breaking out his tinfoil hat after newspaper paywalls push him over the edge.
Nic is tired of tech sites obsessing over Apple’s financials and business strategy. So very tired.
Nic reads a book about the processed food industry and is incensed.
Computers are complicated. This brings out the irrational in people.
Nic proposes the loan word Rechthaberei be incorporated into American English.
The Core Dump is back! Books were read during the hiatus. Includes The Coldest Winter, Oh, Myyy!, Tough Sh*t, The Revolution Was Televised, The Rook, Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore, Gun Machine, Fortress Frontier, Standing in Another Man’s Grave, and The Memory of Light.
This site will return in February.
From a true patriot to a world-weary detective, a dead god, and a civilization about to sublime from the galaxy, this book roundup spans the gamut. Includes Where Men Win Glory, Wild, Inside the Box, The Black Box, Three Parts Dead, Red Country, and The Hydrogen Sonata.
Springsteen gives a concert in Phoenix. It’s fantastic.