The Impossible Dead

By Ian Rankin

Published by Orion - $39.99 RRP

Malcolm Fox returns in the stunning second novel in Ian Rankin’s new series......

This was the word from the publishers last October. Even though I have still not entirely forgiven Ian Rankin for retiring John Rebus I still rank him as one of the great contemporary crime fiction writers. Somehow though this book never ever made it to the top of my reading pile until last weekend when I knocked the pile over while making the bed and hey I said, "look at this, a new Ian Rankin!"

Malcolm Fox and his team from Internal Affairs are back. They've been sent to Fife to investigate whether fellow cops covered up for a corrupt colleague, Detective Paul Carter. Carter has been found guilty of misconduct with his own uncle, also in the force, having proved to be his nephew's nemesis.

But what should be a simple job is soon complicated by intimations of conspiracy and cover-up - and a brutal murder, a murder committed with a weapon that should not even exist.

The spiralling investigation takes Fox back in time to 1985, a year of turmoil in British political life. Terrorists intent on a split between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom were becoming more brazen and ruthless, sending letterbombs and poisonous spores to government offices, plotting kidnaps and murder, and trying to stay one step ahead of the spies sent to flush them out.

Another great read from the master.

About the author

Ian Rankin's first Rebus novel was published in 1987, and the Rebus books are now translated into thirty-six languages and are bestsellers on several continents. Ian is the recipient of four CWA DAGGER AWARDS and in 2004, won America's celebrated EDGAR AWARD. He is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, Hull and Edinburgh and also received the OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.