BOOK REVIEW: Standing in Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin

Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin
Series: Inspector Rebus #18
Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Detective

There are few authors who after becoming bestsellers keep on improving as a writer. With them, their characters grow, their stories become unforgettable and its a bliss for the readers. Rankin is one of them. After he got his hard work paid of with the publishing of Black and Blue in 1997 rewarding him Crime Writers’ Association’s Gold Dagger for best crime novel. Since then,  having reading almost every novel written by Rankin that includes his creation of John Rebus, a Detective Inspector who is known for bending rules, and getting the cases he is assigned, under his skin.

Standing in Another Man’s Grave, came three years back and is listed as the 18th book in John Rebus series. It is also a book that brings back John Rebus from retirement, brings back another interesting, twisted crime full of lies and real-life characters. And of course, John Rebus’ own demons. Many of the Rebus fans are interested in that. Few are more curious about his demons than of the crime solved by him.

This book is one of the major leap in the life John Rebus, if he has been made of flesh and bone rather than by Rankin’s imagination. It brings Rebus back to life. He has become old as his Saab, officially not a cop anymore, working for the SCRU department under CID as a semi-official investigator, handling cold cases, cases which are still unsolved, has cut his boozing, has cut his smoking, but not at all rusty. Ghosts of the past such as Big Ger Cafferty a semi-retired gangster who in his prime use to run Edinburgh, are still mingling with Rebus. They occasionally patch for a drink, but Rebus consider him nothing more than a ghost from his own past.

Even though he is retired, Rebus still hasn’t lost his mojo. He is still eager to put bad guys behind bar, and is still brave and let the cases go under his skin. With Siobhan Clarke, Rebus solves several MisPers (missing persons) crime that is traumatising affected respective families for more than a decade. After five years out in the cold of retirement, Rebus manages his way to wangle his way back. The plot is as good, some old skeletons are discovered underneath never-locked overlooked coffins, the characters are interesting especially the role Cafferty plays and the introduction of Malcolm Fox from The Complaints. On reading the book I observed how much I missed DI Siobhan Clarke as much as I did Rebus.
There is a significance to the title ‘Standing in Another man’s Grave’, and on reading the whole book you will observe how a misheard line in a song can do wonders with one’s imagination and wit.

3 out of 5!