Books like Strip Jack

As I continue my journey through the early episodes of this excellent crime series, I reach book 4. Detective Inspector Rebus is as curmudgeon as ever and still can’t quite bring himself to give any real respect to authority. His personal life is in some disorder too. He really must devote some time to sorting this out. Why does he make life so difficult for himself?Here he’s handed the case of some missing books (yes, he was suitably underwhelmed) and attended the storming of a brothel, where a local MP was found to be on the premises. Add to this the fact that a woman’s body has been dragged from a nearby river and you can see that there’s plenty enough crime floating around (excuse the pun) to fill a couple of hundred pages.Of course, there are complications to each of the cases, and potential linkages too. And there’s a handy batch of suspects for Rebus to focus his attention on: a group of the MP’s friends, known as ‘the pack’. The fun here, as is always the case with this series, is simply in being in the company of the cranky and quick-lipped detective. His dry one-liners come thick and fast and his tired wisdom is ever evident too. He’s a brilliant character; it almost doesn’t matter whether the plot’s any good or not.As it happens, the plot is satisfying too. It’s complex and twisty enough to keep most crime fiction fans guessing – but then Rankin is a class act, you’d expect no less. If you haven’t caught up with this series yet, then you have a major delight to come and if you’re already a seasoned aficionado but have somehow missed this one then seek it out – you wont be disappointed.