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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Organized crime violence including some brutal scenes; the past violence of WWII war crimes
Language
Some
Strong language throughout
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
A lot
Heavy and escalating drinking; Rebus's alcoholism is at a crisis point in this novel
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The question of whether justice is possible across fifty years; Rebus's confrontation with the limits of what he can protect
What this book is about
Two crime stories converge in Edinburgh: a brutal gang war for territory and a decades-old war criminal — Thomas Telford and 'The Tall Man' — who may have been living quietly in Scotland for fifty years. Rebus is investigating both, and a personal crisis involving his daughter complicates everything. Ian Rankin's ninth Rebus novel is one of the series' best — the most serious about the past, the most willing to follow the implications of Rebus's self-destructive tendencies to their logical end. The gang sections are genuinely menacing; the war criminal thread carries a different kind of weight.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
ninth in the Rebus series — character arc matters more at this point
some graphic crime violence
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