"Immortalist" <reanimater_2... at (no spam) yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:72d6e0db-0a24-41e6-9054-af9979e82815 at (no spam) k10g2000prm.googlegroups.com...
On May 13, 10:06 pm, PopFly <canfanor... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
Start quote:
"...Remember your nursery rhymes? 'When I am rich, say the bells of
Shoreditch.'"
http://tinyurl.com/5mupmx
Yes, Rebus had a vague memory. A memory of his mother, holding him on
her knee, or maybe it was his father, singing him songs and bouncing
the knee in time. It had never happened that way, but he had a memory
of it all the same.
- Ian Rankin, Tooth and Nail
End quote.
What do you think, people? Can you have a memory of something that
never happened?
If you say yes, how common do you think it is?
"Ian Rankin's series of Inspector John Rebus novels are often praised
specifically for his use of Rebus' home turf, Edinburgh, so it's a surprise
that in this early volume from the series (number three) Rankin sends his
hero to London and barely allows him to set foot in Scotland for the entire
length of the novel. It does allow him to present Rebus as even more of a
fish out of water, and play up the Scottish angle (a Scotsman in London,
barely comprehensible to the locals), but it does feel a bit odd.
Rebus gets summoned to work on a London case because of his previous
success working a serial killer case (see Knots and Crosses -- though note
that that was a very different sort of killer) -- and that's what they have
on their hands here, someone they call the 'Wolfman' (as the novel was also
originally titled). As is often his wont, Rankin provides scenes from the
killer's perspective as well, short sections describing the misdeeds; it is
useful here (sort of) because it alerts readers to what appears to be a
fundamental misunderstanding by the police of who they are dealing with.
The book is a decent police procedural, as the killer appears to be a
few steps ahead of the police (and is very good at not leaving clues
behind), while the police -- and especially Rebus -- try to get the Wolfman
to slip up. It's a decent cat and mouse game. A psychologist (who isn't
exactly what she seems to be) also gets involved in the case -- and with
Rebus -- adding to the psychological speculations about the nature of the
beast.
The culture clash between the London police and out-of-towner Rebus
is more than a running gag -- the sort of stuff Rankin does well. A bit less
successful are Rankin's encounters with his former wife and daughter, now
living in London. The fact that sixteen year-old Samantha is involved with
an inappropriate character -- who has some ties to someone else involved
with the police -- naturally comes into play, if not very impressively.
Naturally, Rankin sends his hero into the worst housing estate in
town, with the usual predictable results -- he just can't help but include
such a scene in the book, not that it serves much of a purpose (except for
him to get to paint a nicely horrid picture of the unto-its-own world
anarchy of British council estates, a favourite Rankin-theme). Naturally,
also, there's a final confrontation between the killer and Rebus, in which
Rebus is in mortal peril -- Rankin appears unable to tie up his novels any
other way.
Despite so many near-formulaic touches, Tooth and Nail is a good,
entertaining read. The doses of humour, the local colour, the culture clash,
and Rebus' own personal torment (not too heavy here) -- and a decent mystery
behind it all -- make for a satisfying and better than average volume in the
series."
