Detective John Rebus: His city is being terrorized by a baffling series of murders…and he’s tied to a maniac by an invisible knot of blood. Once John Rebus served in Britain’s elite SAS. Now he’s an Edinburgh cop who hides from his memories, misses promotions and ignores a series of crank letters. But as the ghoulish killings mount and the tabloid headlines scream, Rebus cannot stop the feverish shrieks from within his own mind. Because he isn’t just one cop trying to catch a killer, he’s the man who’s got all the pieces to the puzzle…

Knots and Crosses introduces a gifted mystery novelist, a fascinating locale and the most compellingly complex detective hero at work today. – Goodreads

My affair with Inspector Rebus continues in its typical not-chronological manner. This time in one of Kindle sales I came across the first installment of the series, an anniversary re-edition with foreword by Ian Rankin.

I must say I enjoyed the foreword as much as I enjoyed the book. Rankin definitely had fun rereading his first book, he gives us a nice and a touch ironic introduction to the story.

This is a founding story of Inspector Rebus, here we find out a lot of things that made him the human being we know from other books. And he is very human indeed, suffering, fighting, hurting. It was this part that I found most interesting.

The other main character of the book is, as always, Edinburgh. Rankin gives the city its own very distinct personality. We can almost feel the smells and tastes.

I must say that for a first crime book it is an impressive achievement, even if as Rankin himself remarks, the language he used was a tad pretentious. I’m sure I’ll be meeting Inspector Rebus again, I just hope I won’t run out of his books anytime soon.

This is book #15 of my 20 Books of Summer hosted by Cathy at 746books.

Photo by Violetta Kaszubowska