When Haggard is questioned by DI Clarke, however, he claims he becomes violent because he has PTSD from the situation at Tynecastle Station. A quite astonishing first novel which injects the reader into the heart of the darkness which was Sarajevo at the height of the Yugoslav conflict. The deceased is the twenty-two-year-old concierge at The Rise, a twelve-story luxury apartment building in London. As the story opens, the incumbent of that role has been found dead in the foyer, having suffered a heavy head wound.

By the end, we know what crime Rebus is accused of committing, but we don’t know the outcome of the trial, and there are still some miscreants who have not been charged. I also toured the paperback of my William McIlvanney novel, The Dark Remains, and enjoyed a summer break in Belgium – plenty of art and plenty of beer.

Haggard is willing to do whatever it takes to avoid charges, including hanging out his colleagues to dry, he is willing to air the station's dirty linen, naming names, including a barely concealed allusion to Rebus himself.

There are numerous threads featuring characters that fans of Rebus will be familiar with that include, DI Siobhan Clarke, former protege and long time close friend, Malcolm Fox, here working for the Assistant Chief Constable, looking to protect the reputation of Police Scotland. And Malcolm Fox is on her heels, worried about how this could affect the reputation of Police Scotland. Rebus shares top billing this time with Siobhan Clarke, the eager Detective Inspector who has been his long time friend.Rebus’s old nemesis, underworld figure Cafferty, wants to hire him to find a man who is supposedly dead. No, we did a lot of Zoomy type stuff and texted and met a couple of times, but he had his own ideas and the director and Gregory were talking to him about how to play the role. The world has just reopened after the Covid pandemic, and Rebus is avoiding going to the doctor about his deteriorating health, prefering to pretend it’s just heartburn.

An outstanding creation' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH It is August in Edinburgh and the Festival is in full swing. With fresh characters, female lead DS Gish and sidekick older male detective Milton, The Rise, is designed to be read in a single sitting and a luxury high rise development in London is the setting for a fast-paced race to find a killer. Then again, A Heart Full of Headstones was released in paperback, so there was a bit of promoting to do.I did have an ARC so maybe the final version will redeem itself, but I'd rather have never read a John Rebus again than read this one. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the Queen Elizabeth Hall, so please leave large bags at home. Officer Haggard has been threatening to bring all those hidden sins out in the open if charges against him for domestic abuse are not dropped. From there follows several paths, Siobhan Clarke is investigating an officer who has been charged with domestic violence and who in turn threatens to spill the beans on corruption in Police Scotland. Rankin wove a very intricate tale about these residents which set this armchair detective in many different directions very quickly.

Unfortunately The Rise appears to be only available on Kindle or Audible, but it is well worth hunting down. This novel exudes a wonderfully vivid sense of place and leads the reader inside the head of its teenage hero . As Karen digs deeper, she uncovers a spiralling game of betrayal and revenge, while around her the pandemic wreaks havoc and causes some tragic outcomes. Clarke is investigating the murder of an ex-policeman who had been threatening to blow the gaff on the goings on at the notorious Tynecastle Station.No matter how hard you try, there's never enough time to read everything and certain authors will always slip past you. With grim determination, Gillian works her way through an elite set of suspects, including, a dodgy Russian oligarch, a lonely actress, an Arab princess, the family of a notorious career criminal and the reclusive building’s developer. As DS Gish continues her investigation into 'The Rise', it seems horribly certain that one of the residents must be the killer. The trial, which begins the book, is left up in the air, which either means that the series ends here or will continue.