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Book Reviews Title Dead
Souls Fiction-Net
Rating Buy It
From Amazon.co.uk - BUY
NOW! Cover
Story A call from an
old friend brings back memories and more than a
little guilt for D.I John Rebus of the Lothian and
Borders police. Suddenly it seems Edinburgh's
streets are crowded with the lost and
forgotten. Stalking a
poisoner at the local zoo, Rebus hits upon a freed
paedophile, camera in hand. Outing the man rouses
the vigilantes and leaves Rebus with mixed feelings
and another weight on his conscience. But the straw
that looks like breaking Rebus' back comes courtesy
of the U.S government. Feted by the tabloid press
and put under Rebus' watchful eye, a convicted
murderer is looking to play games with Rebus as his
pawn… We
Say This is number
ten in the series of novels featuring Inspector
Rebus. I would guess, that to really appreciate
this book you need to have read at least some of
the other nine - unfortunately, I haven't. Also,
I'm not a big fan of crime writing generally - it
has to be something totally different from the
usual format in order to attract my attention
("Complicity" by Iain Banks would be a good
example). "Dead Souls" didn't stand out in any way
- it is well written and the narrative fast-paced
but I still found it dull. Inspector Rebus
is everything I hoped he wouldn't be - a
tough-as-old-boots renegade policeman, a
hard-drinker who knows more about what goes on down
on the "streets" than his few superiors who sit
behind desks all day. There is only a hint of
sensitivity buried deep inside him - this is
crassly indicated by a failed marriage, a daughter
in a wheelchair and a reunion with a long-lost
love. This character should come with a
cliché warning attached. The same could be
said for other characters - his stuffy superior,
the slimy journalist, the battleaxe mother from the
flats and any number of the male characters,
running around with vendettas and scores to
settle. Just as the
characters are run-of-the-mill, the plot holds no
surprises - a suicide (murder?), a teen runaway and
the topical issue of a paedophile in the community.
Fans of this sort of thing may love the book -
involving themselves totally in the drama of
'whodunit' and the question of will the good guy
get his man? However, for me, there has to be
something else to latch onto and though I did enjoy
the dialogue and some of the darker descriptions of
life in Edinburgh, I didn't feel that other
elements of the novel lived up to the level set in
the style of the writing. Review by: Rachel
Taylor |
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