I read Ian Rankin's first Inspector Rebus book, Knots and Crosses, while on vacation and overall it was a smart, well written crime novel. The Rebus novels are considered to be Tartan Noir. What you might describe as a blending of The Wire, Dexter, and Trainspotting (if such a thing were possible). Corrupt cops. Nasty villains. A hard nosed detective. Evil lurking behind the tourist friendly facade of Edinburgh. That sort of thing.
But this one also had a weird Bourne Identity backstory dealing with our hero Rebus and his mysterious army past, and the crimes themselves were ridiculous once you had the full story and worked your way back to the beginning. In other words, I could understand the motivations of the killer, and what happened, but the murders themselves didn't fit. They were just plot devices to keep us guessing until the real story kicked in later.
From that perspective, the plot of the book felt a little too creepy and exploitative for my tastes. The novel's subplots also just exist to be red herrings, and don't really go anywhere once the mystery has been revealed (and the fact that Rebus's brother is a stage hypnotist is way too convenient a device).
But the character stuff was good, and the story moved along nicely. Rebus's drinking. His loneliness. His dark past. His divorce and feeble attempts at fatherhood. These are all very believable. And, as in The Wire, the police are all shown to be working stiffs who have more work than they can handle, and aren't really up to the task of solving crimes or saving the world. They're just lucky to get through their day and make it to the pub for that first whisky.
