Undiscovered Scotland

 

It is July 2005, and the G8 leaders have gathered in Scotland. With daily marches, demonstrations, and scuffles, the police are at full stretch. Detective Inspector John Rebus, however, has been sidelined: until the apparent suicide of an MP coincides with clues that a serial killer may be on the loose.

With a long running series of novels, you always approach the latest to be published with a little trepidation. Will the standards of the series be maintained? Will the integrity of the central characters you have come to known and - well not exactly love, in Rebus's case - be maintained? You need have no fears about The Naming Of The Dead, Ian Rankin's 16th outing for Detective Inspector John Rebus. When it was published it became clear that it was one of the best of the Rebus novels: perhaps even THE best of them in the series up to that point.

Set against the background of the G8 summit hosted at Gleneagles in Scotland in 2005 and the demonstrations that accompanied it in Edinburgh, The Naming Of The Dead finds Rebus in his usual role as an outsider. This time he is pitted against those, including his own Chief Constable, who want to ensure that the attention of the media stays firmly on the stories the Government want told about the G8. Rebus's efforts to get to the bottom of an embarrassing, or worse, death at a political reception at Edinburgh Castle are not welcomed, and neither are his efforts to pursue Siobhan Clarke's discovery of what seems to be a serial killer at work: a serial killer who is leaving clues close to Gleneagles.

If you are looking for an excellent, enjoyable and fast-paced read that takes John Rebus one step closer to possible retirement, look no further than The Naming Of The Dead. Likewise, if you want to know how Rebus came to cause George Bush to fall off his bicycle at Gleneagles, you'll find the answer here too!