The Naming Of The Dead: From the iconic #1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES

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On the advice of a fellow book-lover, I decided to read an Inspector Rebus book, and this was the first in the series I could easily obtain. I loved it! Having never read others in this series, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I was not lost by not previously meeting the main characters. Rebus may seem always to be running on something very near empty, but there is no sign that Rankin has lost any of the energy to continue this consistently impressive series." - David Horspool, Sunday Times Rankin again paints a corrupt world (even Bono's antipoverty crusade is suspect) in convincing shades of gray" - Will Boisvert, Entertainment Weekly

Throughout all this interaction with an intricate cast of well-drawn characters, another problem arises. Siobhan Clarke’s parents, both of whom have a long history of demonstrating and working for various causesthe peace movement, feeding the hungry, and othershave come to Edinburgh to join the multitude who are using the summit to gain publicity for their political action issues. Teddy and Eve Clarke had not approved of their only child becoming a police officer, a role they consider too conformist to the establishment. Siobhan has distanced herself from them but wants to see them. When she locates them in the Peace Camp, they are glad to see her, but they seem more engaged in what is taking place at the moment. They also seem more interested in a young woman who goes by the name of Santal, who has attached herself to them, than they are in their daughter. Meanwhile, the nearest person Rebus has to a close friend - Siobhan Clarke - is also at odds with her superiors as she attempts to find the riot cop who clobbered her liberal mother during one of the many demonstrations. She's also getting entangled with Rebus's nemesis, thuggish crime boss Big Ger Cafferty, who is showing an unhealthy interest in her while getting in the way of Rebus's investigations. Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow. He is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award, and he received two Dagger Awards for the year's best short story and the Gold Dagger for Fiction. Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, and Edinburgh. It's not a deep character study, of either Rebus or Siobhan, -- indeed, it's often almost comic-book-simple -- but Rankin presents it in confident and entertaining style.The title refers to: the ceremony Clarke's ageing left-wing parents attend, where the names of a sampling of the dead from the Iraq War are read out; the list of victims created by Rebus and Clarke as they try to unravel the crime; and also to John Rebus' evocation of grief in naming the many of his own friends and family who have died in the course of his life. By the end Rebus and Clarke have figured out all the mysteries but also realize that justice, in the traditional sense, is an elusive thing and sometimes depends more on chance than anything else.

That's a lot of plot (nor is it all of it), but the strength of the novel lies in the way that Rankin weds it to his exploration of character: we get more insight into Clarke as she struggles with her relationship with her academic parents. Throughout, Rebus is brooding on his age and increasing isolation, thinking about the unexpected death of his brother and the way he has messed up with the rest of his family.

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Along the way Cafferty repeatedly pops up and helps things along -- and threatens to pull some (including Siobhan) down as well. The Naming of The Dead (Rankin took the title from a ceremony to honour those who had died in Iraq which took place in Edinburgh in 2005) has a nice initial premise. While every cop and his dog is pulling overtime to cope with the daily marches and demonstrations surrounding the summit, Rebus has been sidelined. Who wants him getting close to world leaders? But when a body is discovered in a spooky glade in Auchterarder (the location of the summit), Rebus, as the only person left in the office, is assigned the case and finds himself visiting the G8 after all. They're joined by a few other scruffy allies, most importantly a journalist who has traded information with Rebus in the past (I look forward to someday seeing her featured in her own Rankin novel). Meanwhile they confront Rebus' nemesis, crime boss Big Ger Cafferty, who somehow knows every step they're taking. Rebus's brother has just died suddenly of an apparent stroke, so we first find him at the funeral. He had not remained very close with his brother, but they had been very tight growing up and his memories color a lot of his thinking in this book. A well-known and disliked local lad has been murdered, not to anyone's surprise or regret. He was recently out of prison and was working as muscle for the local bad guy. But Rebus and his sergeant, Siobhan, still feel they should work the murder case. It is the eve of the G8 meeting in Edinburgh, so all of Scotland is involved in that, with many police from all over being reassigned to the meeting and the protests surrounding it. Edinburgh is preparing to host a trade summit where politicians and delegates from all over the world will be attending.

Rebus is nearing retirement ("nobody would blame you for coasting"), and becomes sidelined until the apparent suicide of MP Ben Webster occurs at a high-level meeting in Edinburgh Castle. It emerges that Webster was campaigning against the arms trade, and Richard Pennen of Pennen Industries, a dealer in weapons technology, comes under suspicion. The G8 conference is taking place in Edinburgh, and while all other officers have been deployed, DI John Rebus has not. During one conference event, a young politician dies. The police are calling it suicide; Rebus isn’t so certain. That investigation is supplanted by another case. A token is found in “clootie well,” a place where items are placed in remembrance of the dead. The token, and others near it, lead to the possibility of a serial killer targeting recently-released rapists. DS Siobhan Clarke is on the hunt to the riot cop who assaulted her mother during one of the G8 demonstrations.The writing: DAMN, I wish I was cool like Ian Rankin and could write my sentences without subjects or objects and occasionally without verbs. It would make me seem so hardcore and unconventional. OH WAIT, MAYBE IT WOULD SEEM OBNOXIOUS AND VAGUELY CLICHE. You see what I did there? It's not enough, is it?" she repeated. "Just...symbolic...because there's nothing else you can do." "What are you talking about?" he asked, with a smile. "The naming of the dead," she told him, resting her head against his shoulder. (p.410.) Rebus finds the body of a man at the grounds where the conference is to be held. Later the International Development minister is found dead in the grounds of Edinburgh Castle. It is believed that he committed suicide.