Knots and Crosses is a crime novel written by Ian Rankin in 1987. It is the first of many books in the Inspector Rebus series. John Rebus is a somewhat alcoholic, Scottish detective with a past of troubles. The series originally had 17 books. In the last one titled ”Exit Music”, Rebus retires. Though later on two more books were published, mainly focused around a new character, but in which John Rebus is still present as a civilian working with the police to help on cases.
The story of the book is very interesting. It seems, in lack of a better term, multileveled. This is due to a lot of things happening simultaneously, though they are all connected. The plot is based around an investigation of the abduction and strangling of two young girls. On the side there is also Rebus’ brother’s drug dealing, which was discovered by a journalist Jim Stevens, who suspects that John may be in the know and even support his brother’s legal activities. the plot thickens as Rebus’ former wife is attacked and his daughter kidnapped. His brother must use hypnotism to have Rebus’ to spill his past, especially his work in the SAS. Ultimately Rebus is relieved from duty due to his personal involvement in the case. After which he goes rogue to chase down his enemies.
The book is very intriguing with it’s extremely descriptive style of text. The characters seem real and relatable, which makes it a pleasant read. Since it is the debut John Rebus novel, it does a great job introducing the characters and the world in all it’s ruthlessness. Character development was also good, subtle, yet noticeable. the book felt purposeful, in the way that everything that happened seemed plausible, yet all of it carried the plot further. This, of course, is due to Ian Rankin’s what appears to be God given talent as an author, given that Knots and Crosses was only his second book. And in my opinion, a very good one at that.
All and all, a fun, exciting, a bit thrilling journey in the form of a book. Warmly suggest to anyone interested in the world of crime novels. It was such a nice read, I will definitely be continuing this series onwards 🙂