Title A Song for the Dark Times - Family comes first even before the truth
Author Ian Rankin
Publisher. Orion Fiction an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd.
www.orionbooks.co.uk
Having enjoyed Galbraith’s tome of 927 pages and reached a break in Mantell’s Mirror and the Light I needed something different. I turned to Michelle's Book Club cultured choice of the classic Far from the Madding Crowd and I am enjoying reading it in small doses and appreciating the language. However, at the forefront of my mind, was Ian Rankin’s latest, A Song for the Dark Times. Very appropriately named and one could be forgiven for thinking it is about our two-fold troubles. Written at the time of the struggle to break free from Europe, but before Covid became the daily news it only has a passing mention of Brexit and refers to the pandemic at the very end.
I have enjoyed the stories with John Rebus, his attitude of working to his own rules and his dealings with criminality in and around Edinburgh. Ian Rankin is a fabulous story teller and the different scenarios run along with ease. Two threads to follow. Two dead, and several characters with their own agendas. He weaves them together and it hops back and forth between Edinburgh and his country locale. It works well. Without giving much of the plot away he makes us stare in the face of corruption, uses Big Ger Cafferty to introduce us to the seemingly steadfast citizens and, of course, to Police Scotland’s top people.
Included and integral to part of this book is about ‘old man Rebus’ and the importance of one family member, at last. He is still the incorrigible un-orthodox cop though but with the distinct impression that COPD has slowed him up.
The words flow at astonishing speed and for me the end came all too quickly and was dealt with rapidly. I could say all too fast. And offering, impertinence to an accomplished author there was one incident that was not fully explained. Yours to find or not; agree or disagree or not.
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