Strip Jack by Ian RankinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ian Rankin's Rebus books remind me strongly of both Scandinavian crime fiction (dark, rainy, and everyone is hiding something) and P.D. James' Dalgliesh series (Rebus is educated and has excellent instincts). John Rebus can see both sides of any crime—why it was done and why it was a poor choice. He has some sympathy for the people that he's hunting.
This is the most engaging novel so far in the series. Rankin uses the plot device of the complicated relationships of a group of school friends. Are they really friends or just frenemies? Who's sleeping with whom? Whose marriage is in danger? Who is short of cash? Who can be blackmailed and who might be perpetrating it? Who will spill the details? Rebus questions everyone, keeps his eyes open, and pieces together the picture like an excellent jigsaw puzzler.
There's just enough office politics to keep us on our toes, but not so much as to bog things down. Likewise with Rebus' domestic arrangements, although it's my prediction that Patience will have to live up to her name. I think she's merely a pause in Rebus' perpetual motion.
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