The Beat Goes On: The Complete Rebus Stories: From the iconic #1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES

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Also I loved his sense of humour as well as the casual, subtle sarcasm (Scottish humour, you say?) which definitely made this read doubly enjoyable. The detective instinct of John Rebus is quite entertaining, as is with any detective that you come across. The most mundane crime scene and he could smell it like a police dog from a mile away; as if the crime was just playing in front of him. The author does a great job in portraying his innate abilites, while also not making him look like someone possessing supernatural powers. Rather creating a typically normal character who is unusually perceptive and not easily missing out on the tiny details unseen to the common eye. The stories include all kinds of mysteries, from shop-lifting to murder, and the occasional one is really more an observation of a particular aspect of Edinburgh life than a crime story. In total, they left me in no doubt that Rankin is just as much a master of the short story as the novel. I found this a completely satisfying collection, and one that I'm sure to dip in and out of many times again. The final chapter Rankin on Rebus is a really interesting insight into how/where/why Rebus was created. The thought process behind the creative process. The link between Rebus (from (the Kingdom of) Fife) and Edinburgh. I lapped it up. As per the collection, I would never choose something like this to read. But since it is in the advent book box, I accepted the challenge. The worst part about the collection was that they were all so PREDICTABLE. Rankin writes in the same way for every story. I could predict when to stop and prepare a chapter update because, of course, detective Rebus solved every single case. Amazing. Hurrah. A round of applause. Or 29 rounds, one for every short story.

There is no detective like DI Rebus. Brilliant, irascible and endlessly frustrating to both his friends and his long-suffering bosses, he has made the dark places of Edinburgh his comfort and his home for over two decades. From his beginnings as a young Detective Constable in 'Dead and Buried', right up to his dramatic - but as it turns out, not quite final - retirement in 'The Very Last Drop', we see one of the most compelling, brilliant and mesmeric characters of modern times in his every guise and very much in his element. The Gentleman's club was my favorite story. A twisted tale of suicide and pedophilia and teenage jealousy making room for an incredible mystery, with an afterthought: The first story "Dead and Buried" is set in the mid-1980s when Rebus was learning the ropes at Summerhall Police Station, and "The Very Last Drop" is set during a tour of a brewery immediately after Rebus’s retirement in Exit Music, a retirement present from Siobhan Clarke who goes with him (written to be read aloud at a charity night at Edinburgh’s Caledonian Brewery). "The Very Last Drop" was written to help the work of Royal Blind. [1]Add to that, on this occasion, the fact that the audiobook I listened to was read by the unsurpassable James Macpherson – a voice that embodies everything about the character of John Rebus, with his lilting tone and spot-on phrasing. The 30 plus stories flew by far too fast. It would feel churlish to single out favourites, so I won’t try. The overall quality is very high. The mood of the pieces varies: some stories are light and wryly amusing, others dark and unnerving. Most are of typical short story length but there is one longer tale here too. My feeling is that this collection is best read (or listened to) over an extended period, allowing space for the individual stories to breathe. I think there’s just too much density to the tales to allow constant immersion in this collection. And why spoil it, take your time and make it last. Just for fun I tried the newish Whispersync feature for Kindle with this one – that is, that if you buy the Kindle book, you can add the Audible version at a reduced cost (or for free if, like me, you have a bunch of Audible credits you haven't yet used). Technically, it didn't really sync on the Kindle Fire which was a disappointment – it meant that when switching from reading to listening I was always having to find my place. Not too much of a problem with short stories, but could be tedious in a full-length novel.

The best one, I think, is the one called "Atonement" that begins with an old retired cop telling Rebus he thinks there's something suspicious about the deaths that keep happening at his retirement home. That one took several turns that I didn't expect at all. an old story from his files "My Shopping Day" which was first published in "Herbert in Motion and Other Stories" (1997). Even though this is a great big fat doorstopper of a book -- in fact, probably exactly because this is a great big fat doorstopper of a book! -- my notes on it are going to be briefer than they might be. If you have not read any Rebus or Rankin before, this may be a good starting point, just to work out whether you enjoy his storytelling prowess, or just to see if you think Rebus will be worth your time. I can't imagine why he wouldn't be, but, you know, just in case.

In dieser Anthologie sind 31 Kurzgeschichten über Rebus versammelt, die zwischen 1990 und 2014 entstanden sind. Wir erleben Rebus also als jungen Polizisten, älter werdend, bis hin zur Pension. There is no detective like Ian Rankin's Detective Inspector John Rebus, a man The New Yorker calls "the ideal sleuth." Still, I liked this anthology exceptionally well. For one thing, because I'm a big fan of Inspector Rebus. And secondly, because almost all stories contain a good dose of humor. As a result, the atmosphere is much less gloomy than in the novels and I was able to smile a lot while reading. Richard Prather (I think) once said that every short story featuring a series character should make the reader want to buy the novels. In this, the book was a failure for me, as I'm not moved to go buy a novel. Officers from other cities, people Rebus met from time to time, would remark how cushy he had it in Edinburgh. Such a beautiful place, and prosperous. So little crime. They thought a dangerous city had to look dangerous.

Last year, after one of his friends died unexpectedly at a young age, Ian Rankin announced that he'd be taking a year or two off from novel writing to have a bit of a rest. I assume this collection of short stories has been issued to fill the void that many of us Rebus fans would have felt without a new book for the winter. And, since I haven't read any of these before, it filled that void very satisfactorily. There is no detective like DI Rebus - brilliant, irascible and endlessly frustrating both to his friends and his long-suffering bosses. For over two decades he has walked through the dark places of Edinburgh . . . But despite it being 21 days, I finally read it all, save for the last chapter which I don’t quite care about - yes I appreciate the short stories but I don’t want to know about your life. It seems mediocre. I prefer fiction.Whether you're yet to be introduced to Rebus, or have crossed paths many times, this is a thoroughly enjoyable read.