Saints of the Shadow Bible (Inspector John Rebus Series #19)

by Ian Rankin

Overview

Rebus and Malcolm Fox go head-to-head when a 30-year-old murder investigation resurfaces, forcing Rebus to confront crimes of the past.

Rebus is back on the force, albeit with a demotion and a chip on his shoulder. He is investigating a car accident when news arrives that a case from 30 years ago is being reopened. Rebus's team from those days is suspected of helping a murderer escape justice to further their own ends.

Malcolm Fox, in what will be his last case as an internal affairs cop, is tasked with finding out the truth. Past and present are about to collide in shocking and murderous fashion. What does Rebus have to hide? And whose side is he really on? His colleagues back then called themselves "The Saints," and swore a bond on something called the Shadow Bible. But times have changed and the crimes of the past may not stay hidden much longer -- and may also play a role in the present, as Scotland gears up for a referendum on independence.

Allegiances are being formed, enemies made, and huge questions asked. Who are the saints and who the sinners? And can the one ever become the other?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316224567
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	01/14/2014
Series:	Inspector John Rebus Series , #19
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	139,346
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Ian Rankin is a #1 international bestselling author. Winner of an Edgar Award and the recipient of a Gold Dagger for fiction and the Chandler-Fulbright Award, he lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife and their two sons.

Hometown:

Edinburgh, London and France

Date of Birth:

April 28, 1960

Place of Birth:

Cardenden, Scotland

Education:

Edinburgh University

Website:

http://www.ianrankin.net

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/23/2013
John Rebus comes out of retirement in Edgar-winner Rankin's stellar 20th novel featuring the Edinburgh cop (after 2013's Standing in Another Man's Grave). Rebus, though, must accept a demotion—from detective inspector to detective sergeant—not that he cares about rank. It's the case that counts, which in this entry involves "conspiracies, connections and coincidences." Malcolm Fox, the officer in charge of the Complaints department (the Scottish version of Internal Affairs), leads an investigation into whether a fast and loose group of cops in the mid-1980s known as the Saints of the Shadow Bible might have tainted a murder trial back when Rebus was a young officer. Rankin deftly ties the old case into a fresh one that begins with a seemingly routine car accident involving the daughter of a powerful businessman that soon expands to involve the suspicious death of the public face of the Scottish nationalist movement. The immense and intricate canvas includes dozens of characters, plots within plots, and multiple themes, from Scottish independence to the insidiousness of corruption, public and private. Too much may be going on at times for some readers, but distinctive characters (including Edinburgh itself) make the book memorable. "The good guys are never all good and the bad ones never all bad," says Rebus, and that certainly applies to Rebus himself, willful, determined, and droll. 8-city author tour. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

PRAISE FOR STANDING IN ANOTHER MAN'S GRAVE:

"Rankin bangs out a rich, rowdy prose...Rebus has become one of the great modern cops, a kind of Scottish cousin to Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch."—Patrick Anderson, Washington Post

"John Rebus remains one of crime fiction's crankiest, most interestingly complex figures....We can rejoice in Rebus's return—the mean streets of Edinburgh are better for it."—Adam Woog, Seattle Times

"Absorbing....Rankin is a master of the mystery universe."—Carole E. Barrowman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Rebus remains as fascinatingly complex and gruffly engaging as ever. Retirement will not suit him, or Rankin's readers."—Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

PRAISE FOR SAINTS OF THE SHADOW BIBLE


"Longtime fans of the series will savor every nuance in the subtle interplay between characters here, but Rankin doesn't forget the thriller plot, either, corkscrewing the narrative into a surprising and satisfying conclusion. Hats off to a writer who can keep a long-running series fresh by upsetting our expectations and rummaging ever deeper into the rag-and-bone shop of his characters' hearts."—Booklist

"[There is] real joy in watching Fox and Rebus dance around each other, acknowledging a burgeoning respectful rapport in spite of themselves, while the ace Siobhan Clarke - more please, Mr. Rankin! - shoulders new responsibilities."—Boston Globe

"Ian Rankin issuch a practiced and successful writer...If anything, he is at the top of his game, and Saints of the Shadow Bible is one of the best novels he has produced."—BookReporter

"Rankin shows no signs of losing steam with John Rebus...his interaction with Malcolm Fox works to build empathy for both characters, as fans discover a side of Fox not seen before...Rankin's gift with dialogue, his wit and raw examination of human nature continue to intensify, resulting in a resonant reading experience for both seasoned series devotees and new Rebus recruits."—Shelf Awareness

"This might be the best detective novel of the year."—Dayton Daily News

From the Publisher

Ian Rankin’s latest Rebus mystery is stuffed full of multiple plotlines, but James MacPherson’s pacing and various character voices keep the story rolling along with the listener hooked, and never confused. Rebus is once again an Edinburgh cop, thanks to a change in retirement policy, but at the cost of a demotion, which results in his former protégée, Siobhan Clarke, now outranking him. MacPherson’s tones make clear that Rebus is still cranky and mischievously wayward while Clarke, who has less of a Scots brogue, is more controlled. MacPherson’s fine performance includes gruff crooks, powerful businessmen, sleazy lawyers with stretched out syllables, and a slurring ex-police officer weakened by a stroke. A.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2014 - AudioFile

2014-01-04
Rebus is working the streets as a detective again—and his loyalty is on the line. When John Rebus left retirement to rejoin the Edinburgh police force, he had to take the reduced rank of detective sergeant. Siobhan Clarke, his former junior partner, is now a detective inspector and theoretically his boss in the investigation of the road accident of Jessica Traynor, a young art student. The two coppers suspect that Jessica's boyfriend, son of Justice Minister Patrick McCuskey, was driving the car and fled the scene. While Rebus is on the Traynor case and the subsequent murder of McCuskey, Malcolm Fox of Complaints is investigating Rebus and the surviving members of the Saints of the Shadow Bible, a police division that disbanded years ago. Rebus, who was only a detective constable back then, had little to do with Billy Saunders, the snitch who killed a man and walked, most likely thank to his usefulness to the Saints. Thirty years later, the snitch disappears, and Rebus must choose whether to back up his former mates while he pursues the crisscrossing mysteries. Although Rebus (Standing in Another Man's Grave, 2013, etc.) is the protagonist of this gritty procedural, you see the action through so many other eyes that the hard-living detective is less vivid a presence than in his earlier outings. But the most persistent cop in the shop will still do whatever it takes to crack a case.

Kirkus Reviews