A handy omnibus of the first three Rebus mysteries. Early efforts, and that shows a bit, but they're all good quick reads. ( )

This built up the tension really well. After a bit slow start, I was hooked & couldn't put it down. ( )

Completed Knots and Crosses on 10/30/16; love the way Rebus thinks, the personal connection which he doesn't see until a woman brings it to his attention, lol. I suggest reading Rankin's forward: "Exiles on Prince Street," to learn what he thought of this particular novel.

Finished Hide and Seek on 11/3/16. Least enjoyable of 3 novels in this collection; I found it didn't flow well, as well as my personal weakness being a lack of sympathy for drug sellers /users. It also felt like Rebus was overthinking this murder. I did find Rebus' belief that photographs could steal souls intriguing.

Finished Tooth and Nail on 11/7/16. Definitely the best of the 3; Rebus is out of his comfort zone in London but still puts 100% into this difficult case. He handles it with his natural aplomb, not suffering fools, whether cops or civilians. He also gets to catch up his daughter, Sammy, and meets her boyfriend, Kenny, who Rebus instinctively knows is trouble. I love how Rankin depicts Rebus as strong and solid but allows us to see his vulnerability with his falling for Lisa.

Wonderful quick reads. ( )

KNOTS & CROSSES
Sheesh—I’m not quite sure what I should make of this. I’ve heard such high praise for Rankin’s Rebus over the years but in reading this first novel, well, it was just short of blah! Rebus is annoyingly boring and for a cop, especially one with SAS training, he seems to flounder helplessly in all aspects of police work.

The most minor of character were by far the most interesting. Maybe it was because they had the ability to focus and accomplish, traits that Rebus didn’t seem to possess.

All is not lost though. While Rankin does write in a style that was a bit unusual for this American reader, it is
slightly charming and educational. He takes the reader on an interesting tour of Edinburgh, not afraid of showing the ugly along with the beauty of that very impressive city. For that some of the above complaints are forgiven.
Two and a half Stars

HIDE & SEEK
Once again it is really difficult to get what Rankin’s on about even though this time there was more of a plot, muddled as it were. Rankin gives so little tangibility to Rebus. Holmes and McCall and even “Farmer” Watson have more going for them in the depth department.

This time around he didn’t give Edinburgh it’s due and that I found was the most disappointing of all.
Two Stars

TOOTH & NAIL
This was the quickest read yet and the best so far of the series. Much better, yet still room for VAST improvement. FINALLY, Rankin lets Rebus seem human and even humorous! While DI Flight came near to being the most interesting character, Rebus pulled ahead by barely a nose. Also, the relationship between the two Inspectors showed without a doubt that Rebus needs a partner, he was so much more interesting and capable when working with someone his equal.

While I’ll be glad to be rid of Rebus for a bit, this has given me hope that all is not lost. I’ll pickup the next in the series in the future.
Three Stars ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1295578.html

Knots and Crosses: The first Rebus book introduces us to our hero, who has a Past - two Pasts, in fact: a traumatic military experience in the SAS, and a failed marriage. The two collide in spectacular fashion; it's not so much a detective novel as a psychological account of Rebus working through his own experiences. Both Rankin and Rebus also seem to have a fascination with the intersection between police procedurality and media manipulation. All set against a richly detailed Edinburgh. A good start.

Hide and Seek: I also enjoyed Hide and Seek, which expanded one of the themes from Knots and Crosses - Rebus' relationship with his non-policeman brother - for a complex web of pairs of police/non-police brothers whose relationships cross the boundary of legality. It's also the most political of the first three novels, in that Rebus' investigation into the lonely death of a drug addict takes him into the highest echelons of Edinburgh society (there is a scene featuring the Temptation of John Rebus by the devils of social status). The ending is rather unsatisfactory for Rebus but not for the reader.

Tooth and Claw: The third book worked least well for me, taking Rebus off his home patch to London to investigate a serial killer. The London of Tooth and Claw seemed improbably small, with everyone turned out to be related to each other; its population also appeared to be entirely white. The subplot with a forensic psychologist who was not what she seemed was not very plausible. And the solution to the actual mystery was more suited to an Agatha Christie country house murder fantasy than to the gritty urban narrative that Rankin was probably trying to write. ( )