A Song for the Dark Times: The Brand New Must-Read Rebus Thriller

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A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts, on Channel 4 in 2002. This time his interest is doubled because the missing man is his daughter's husband and, although she is as rude to him as she ever was, he is desperate to help her. His former colleague, for whom he was an erstwhile mentor, who is now proving to be a lifelong friend. Not only did she and Keith have a moderately blazing row before, on account of her having a fling with the Svengali-like head of a local commune, but Keith has become increasingly obsessed with a local history project involving a Second World War internment camp, 1033. There is nothing that Rebus will not do for Sammy, despite their rocky relationship and her young daughter, Carrie, setting off in his rickety old Saab, listening to a CD music compilation put together for him by Siobhan, under the title of 'Songs for the Dark Times'.

The way in which Big Ger is brought into the story is very carefully and cleverly done, the potential from what happens certainly makes for an intriguing opening for the next book in the series. Once journalists get their hands on them,those curt, day-to-day messages can be just a tad embarrassing — as this week’s expletive-laden evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry confirms. This may express what the other reviewers are getting at—that Rebus's jaundiced view of the world is just what is needed now.I keep expecting each Rebus book to be the last but I am happy to see there is another one in preparation for later this year. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Rankin is also very good at class disparity, and although there are some testy exchanges between Clarke and the entitled students, the highlight is Fox musing – I won’t say to whom – about “a wall between you and them that you can’t seem to scale, and Christ knows you’ve tried”. There is some interesting stuff about POW camps in Scotland during the war as the history of that time becomes very relevant to Rebus’s enquiries, but Rankin never overdoes it. It turns out that ill health has caught up with our gritty Scotsman, and COPD* means “he was finding the stairs too much of a chore” getting to and from his tenement flat. In A Song for the Dark Times, Rankin not only introduces many supporting characters where one may need a scorecard to keep them straight, he also continues to utilize previously introduced characters, including reliable villain Big Ger Cafferty, who shows no signs of slowing down and remains as crafty and dangerous as usual.When hi The Guardian noted the publication only in a roundup of thrillers, praising it (like Kelly) primarily for keeping Rebus going. It takes the Detectives into a murky world of property development, wealthy investors, battles over land ownership and development and within the sights of a certain Big Ger Cafferty. Sammy's relationship with Keith had become strained and troubled, making her the prime suspect of his murder, which ensures that Rebus investigates as he oscillates between the role of cop and father with Sammy. I have been craving a really good read with a great plot and strong characters and certainly got it with this book.

After reading a couple of rather disappointing new books from long-established authors I approached this with a little trepidation, but I enjoyed it very much. A deep sense of grief, love and compassion is felt on the final track, the only composition from Steve, all others composed by J. The phrase "dark times" was meant to refer to the era of Brexit, autocratic leaders, and so on, as of 2019, but the book was published in 2020, in a period of COVID-19 lockdowns.

It's his instinct as a ather, but more so as the Detective who cannot take a step back, the reason we all love hims as a character in the first place. The storylines are tight, and enough bread crumbs are dropped that a careful reader will have a good shortlist of suspects for the crimes.

As Clarke and Fox continue their investigation another classic Rankin character is rolled out in Morris ‘Big Ger’ Cafferty. He’s no longer drinking as heavily, he’s settling into a new apartment and he has the company of a dog…Brillo. The books featured on this site are aimed primarily at readers aged 13 or above and therefore you must be 13 years or over to sign up to our newsletter. He is, therefore having to make changes to his way of life, including giving up smoking and cutting down on the booze.

The Rebus books gave Rankin an opportunity to depict Scotland, in particular Edinburgh, in high, often bloody colour.