A Heart Full of Headstones: The #1 bestselling series that inspired BBC One’s REBUS (A Rebus Novel)

Haven’t read an Ian Rankin book for some time, but after reading this book I had to question why. It’s a gripping story and couldn’t put the book down. Highly recommend it.

Rebus and Big Ger, who is coming out on top?I'd say this might be the best Rebus so far, but hopefully there will be one more: this one allows for it.

Beautifully written, as you'd expect, but what a cruel fate for our taciturn Scot. Please, Ian, don't leave him to die or be murdered in jail.

Former Detective Inspector John Rebus is back, but facing an unprecedented challenge. As the twenty-third novel in the series opens, Rebus (now retired and suffering from COPD) is in court for a criminal trial. While that may seem a familiar enough scenario for him, this time he is in the dock, and his prospects look bleak.From that opening the story moves back a little way back into the past, with a serving police from Edinburgh’s Tynecastle police station under investigation for allegations of domestic violence. Knowing how grim a time a former police officer is likely to have if sent to prison, the officer claims that his behaviour had been influenced by PTSD suffered as a consequence of what he had witnessed during his time at Tynecastle, about which all sorts of complaints had been made in the past. In a bid to try to limit the potential damage that such testimony might make if aired in court, the upper echelons at Police Scotland (*the newly created national constabulary covering the whole of the country) have assigned Detective Inspector Fox, formerly of ‘The Complaints’ (as the internal affairs department is known throughout the force), to investigate allegations of corruption at Tynecastle.Fox is never reluctant to investigate the misdeeds of fellow officers, particularly when there is the additional spur of potential promotion if he can secure a positive outcome. The officers in Tynecastle are aware of his reputation, and band together to offer a concerted defence, checking on with former colleagues who have now retired. Of course, who should turn out to have worked there in the past but Rebus himself, although he was never part of the more corrupt inner circle.Meanwhile, firmer gangland supremo Maurice Gerald (‘Big Ger’) Cafferty, confined to a wheelchair following a shooting a year or so previously, has asked Rebus to try to find someone who had fled from Edinburgh some years ago, after having been found to have ripped Cafferty off. Rebus can not work out Cafferty’s motives, but out of interest agrees to do some delving. The deeper he digs, the closer the two storylines seem to become.Ian Rankin has taken the reader into similar territory before, most notably in [Saints of the Shadow Bible] where similar allegations about rogue police officers taking the law into their own hands had been made. This book offers a slightly different perspective on the issue, and further insights into Rebus’s past as a junior detective.As always with Rankin and Rebus, the tension is maintained throughout, and several different plotlines are carefully interlaced. I felt that this did not quite match up to its predecessor, [A Song for the Dark Times], but then that was one of the strongest individual instalments in the sequence. This is certainly a strong addition to the set

The latest instalment in Ian Rankin’s long-running Rebus series and quite possibly one of the best. It seems that as the detective’s health has declined, Rankin’s writing has gone from strength to strength.We start with Rebus in the doc, on trial for an unspecified crime. We then go back in detail over eight days’ worth of events leading up to the reason why he’s on trial. This is very much the darker side of Edinburgh life, a world of cheap rental properties, seedy pubs, night clubs and drug dealers. At the heart of the investigation the murder of a corrupt cop.There are of course the characters we’ve come to know and love, Siobhan Clarke, Malcolm Fox and Big Ger Cafferty – the latter paralleling Rebus in physical decline.This is a slow-burner of a book but the tension crackles through almost every page. Once you start you won’t want to put it down.

I loved the way the triter kept me guessing. Very moorish once picked up.

I think any fan of crime fiction will enjoy A Heart Full of Headstones regardless of whether or not they have read any of the preceding novels featuring the, now retired, Edinburgh detective John Rebus. Why? Because this is a terrific, multi-layered crime novel, with a gripping plot and a cast of credible, if not always pleasant, characters.The plot had me hooked from virtually the first page; Rebus is on trial but we are not told for what crime or crimes he has been charged. The story then goes back in time and we are soon embroiled in tales of murder, drug dealing, possible police corruption and cover-up. The story ends back in the present day with Rebus' trial but we do not learn of the outcome ... in other words the book ends on a cliff hanger. Now normally novels that end on a cliff hanger leave me fuming as I feel it is a slightly underhand approach of getting you to buy the next novel. But this didn't happen in this instance as the storyline is so gripping and the outcome so unexpected, I found myself actually wanting to find out what happens next rather than feeling I had been hoodwinked by the author into buying another book in the series.Besides having an intriguing storyline and some very dramatic action-packed, page-turning scenes, the story also has a cast of credible characters. Some of the characters will be familiar to anyone who has read previous Rebus stories but what I particularly liked was the way a number of different human conditions are portrayed and how it affects attitudes and behaviour. For example Rebus and Cafferty (a criminal that Rebus has crossed swords with in the past) are both suffering in their old age from different medical conditions that now limit their abilities to act / react to events compared to when they were younger, while another character claims to be suffering from PTSD as a result of their time spent policing.I felt that in some respects the story has a slightly despondent air about it: it is set at the time when Scotland is emerging from the period of COVID lockdowns and people are unsure whether or not they should be still wearing face masks, keeping their distance from one another in social gatherings etc.; besides the obvious themes of justice and retribution the story also touches upon atonement for past mistakes, and finally the references to the music and musicians that Rebus likes reminds him (and those of us of a similar vintage) of times now long past.So if you are looking for a crime story that is full of atmosphere, credible characters and a gripping plot, then I think you will enjoy this book, but just be aware the ending will leave you wanting to find out what happens next. Let us hope the wait won't be too long!

A reasonable story following a week worn path. Enjoyed it but nothing new really. Committed Rebus fans, like me, will enjoy it.