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![The Falls: From the iconic #1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES (Inspector Rebus Book 12) by [Ian Rankin]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/516-ySA+X1L._SY346_.jpg)
The Falls: From the iconic #1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES (Inspector Rebus Book 12) Kindle Edition
Ian Rankin (Author) See search results for this author |
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The twelfth Inspector Rebus bestseller - a powerfully gripping novel where past and present collide...
From the No.1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES
'This is, quite simply, crime writing of the highest order' DAILY EXPRESS
'The unopposed champion of the British police procedural' GUARDIAN
A student has gone missing in Edinburgh. She's not just any student, though, but the daughter of well-to-do and influential bankers. There's almost nothing to go on until DI John Rebus gets an unmistakable gut feeling that there's more to this than just another runaway spaced out on unaccustomed freedom.
Two leads emerge: a carved wooden doll in a toy coffin, found in the student's home village, and an internet role-playing game. The ancient and the modern, brought together by uncomfortable circumstance...
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherOrion
- Publication date18 Sept. 2008
- File size3387 KB
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Product description
Amazon Review
When a student vanishes in Edinburgh, there is pressure on Rebus to find her, particularly as she is the scion of a family of extremely rich bankers. Needless to say, this is more than just the case of a spoilt rich girl breaking out of the cage of family responsibilities, and a carved wooden doll in a coffin found in her home village leads Rebus to the Internet role-playing game that she was involved in. And when DC Siobhan Clarke, a key member of Rebus' team, tackles the Virtual Quizmaster, Rankin finds himself struggling to save her from the same fate as the missing girl.
Consummate plotting has always been Rankin's trademark, and that skill is put to maximum use here. The balance between developing the characterisation of the ill-assorted team of coppers that Rebus assembles and the labyrinthine twists of the plot is maintained with an iron hand, and Rankin's mordant eye remains as keen as ever: "You okay, John?" Curt reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. Rebus shook his head slowly, eyes squeezed shut. Curt didn't make it out the first time, so Rebus had to repeat what he said next: "I don't believe in heaven." That was the horror of it. This life was the only one you got. No redemption afterwards, no chance of wiping the slate clean and starting over. Rebus said "There is no justice in the world." "You'd know more about that than I would", Curt replied.
--Barry Forshaw
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Synopsis
Synopsis
Amazon.co.uk Review
When a student vanishes in Edinburgh, there is pressure on Rebus to find her, particularly as she is the scion of a family of extremely rich bankers. Needless to say, this is more than just the case of a spoilt rich girl breaking out of the cage of family responsibilities, and a carved wooden doll in a coffin found in her home village leads Rebus to the Internet role-playing game that she was involved in. And when DC Siobhan Clarke, a key member of Rebus' team, tackles the Virtual Quizmaster, Rankin finds himself struggling to save her from the same fate as the missing girl.
Consummate plotting has always been Rankin's trademark, and that skill is put to maximum use here. The balance between developing the characterisation of the ill-assorted team of coppers that Rebus assembles and the labyrinthine twists of the plot is maintained with an iron hand, and Rankin's mordant eye remains as keen as ever: "You okay, John?" Curt reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. Rebus shook his head slowly, eyes squeezed shut. Curt didn't make it out the first time, so Rebus had to repeat what he said next: "I don't believe in heaven." That was the horror of it. This life was the only one you got. No redemption afterwards, no chance of wiping the slate clean and starting over. Rebus said "There is no justice in the world." "You'd know more about that than I would", Curt replied.
--Barry Forshaw
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.Review
Review
The Falls, the 12th full-length Inspector Rebus story, finds his creator, Ian Rankin, at his brilliant, mordant best, with the dark heart of the city featuring almost as strongly as Rebus himself (Antonia Fraser SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)
A complex mystery novel, as you would expect from Rankin, one of a handful of truly outstanding British mystery writers . . . Terrific (OBSERVER)
An extraordinarily rich addition to crime literature (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)
Rankin continues to be unsurpassed among living British crime writers . . . He makes the reader feel part of the scene, and enhances the experience with his virtuosity with dialogue . . . But all these virtues would count for little if Rankin didn't also possess the most important asset of them all - the ability to tell a damned good story (Marcel Berlins THE TIMES)
A very skilful entertainment . . . its clues are as learned and cross-word-puzzling as any in John Buchan (TLS)
The Falls is an inventive and absorbing book . . . Once again the city, cast in shadows and light, is centre stage, as complex and brooding as Rebus himself . . . Ian Rankin, a crime writer with style, has produced another highly enjoyable and exciting book (THE SCOTSMAN)
It is a fact universally acknowledged that Ian Rankin leads the field in the category of British humanistic crime writing . . . his ability to wrap together diverse ingredients into a plot-sandwich bulging with flavour is ingenious (SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY)
Rankin has an intuitive grasp of the dark magic of narrative: at its simplest, you read the books because you want to know what will happen. He writes beautifully, too . . . Few would disagree that Ian Rankin is making a contribution to crime fiction that will last. His novels are playing a significant part in redefining Scotland's image of itself in literature. He is one of a handful of British crime writes whose books are not only commercially successful but also build a strong case for why crime fiction, at its best, can and should be considered as literature (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)
Whatever it is that makes a good crime writer, Ian Rankin has it in spades (IRISH TIMES) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Inside Flap
"A modern Dickens...A remarkable achievement."-The Daily Mail
"A dark and gritty read that never disappoints."--San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner
Set In Darkness
"Rebus is surely one of the most rounded, warts-and-all characters in modern crime fiction...those who want to plunge deeply into a world of convincing characters and brilliantly rendered atmospherics can't do much better than this."-Washington Post Book World
"Ian Rankin is one of the shrewdest writers working the mystery turf."-Chicago Tribune
"The Falls...pushes all the crime fiction buttons while delivering the heady whiff of real life as it is lived. Pity readers of 'serious' fiction who would look down their noses at this gritty detective story. They don't know what they're missing."-Philadelphia Inquirer
"Brilliant...mesmerizing...think Patricia Cornwell/Kay Scarpetta with a bit of Walter Mosley tossed in."-Fort Worth Morning Star-Telegram
"Mr. Rankin has created a character in John Rebus who makes crime fiction a joy to read."
--Dallas Morning News
"Gritty...intensely paced...powerful."-Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Sharply plotted...among the most consistently well-plotted, fully realized series in the genre. Rankin is at the top of his form in The Falls."-Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
"The plot is worthy of the series: raging and racing and teetering on the edge of falling apart, before Rankin slams the reader with a final masterful twist."-Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Set in Darkness is filled with memorable sequences, well-drawn characters, and enough Scots words...to make some readers think of John Buchan's Thirty Nine Steps."-Wall Street Journal
"Gritty...atmospheric...you can't go wrong with Rankin."-Orlando Sentinel
"[A] consistent level of excellence unmatched in the field of British crime fiction."-The Times of London
"Rankin's best novel to date."-New Statesman
"A series whose time has come...complex, humane, and gripping, this is a perfect introduction to the art of Ian Rankin, head capo of the Scots mystery MacMafia."-Manchester Guardian
"One of the very best practitioners of police procedurals around today." -Library Journal, starred review
"Like Philip Marlowe, Rebus is a knight in search of a hidden truth'."-Newark Star Ledger
"A novelist of great scope, depth, and power...brilliant."-Jonathan Kellerman
"Ian Rankin brings a compelling voice to the genre." -BookPage
"The murder mystery is intelligent and entertaining, and the characters...retain that feeling of genuineness while dealing with power-struggles and intrigue."-BookBrowser
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
From the Back Cover
When the privileged daughter of a merchant banker disappears, a search through her e-mails uncovers her secret life-and a bizarre correspondence with an on-line game player who delights in macabre puzzles. The first game was for the girl. The next one is for Inspector John Rebus, a man haunted by the impenetrable riddles of his own troubled past. But the lead is soon complicated by an unexpected twist.
"Rankin is the master of the moody, modern police procedural, working on the same high plateau as Ruth Rendell, Reginald Hill, and P.D. James." -The Wall Street Journal
A hand-carved wooden doll in an eight-inch coffin is found on the grounds of the victim's home-a clue that links her vanishing to the deaths of four other women, and to a centuries-old offense that still scars the grisly history of Edinburgh.
"[A] Brilliant Series."-Entertainment Weekly
From the shadowy world of an Internet stalker to the quicksand of lies in the missing girl's dissolute family, Rebus is led into the soul of evil. And to a shattering crime that only he, a man who treads the fine line between investigative brilliance and personal oblivion, could ever hope to understand.
"Finish one of Rankin's book, and you'll feel you've been taken inside the river body of Edinburgh from top to the darkest bottom, a journey that calls Charles Dickens and Wilke Collins to mind as often as it does Inspector Morse." -Los Angeles Times
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Review
The Falls, the 12th full-length Inspector Rebus story, finds his creator, Ian Rankin, at his brilliant, mordant best, with the dark heart of the city featuring almost as strongly as Rebus himself (Antonia Fraser SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)
A complex mystery novel, as you would expect from Rankin, one of a handful of truly outstanding British mystery writers . . . Terrific (OBSERVER)
An extraordinarily rich addition to crime literature (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)
Rankin continues to be unsurpassed among living British crime writers . . . He makes the reader feel part of the scene, and enhances the experience with his virtuosity with dialogue . . . But all these virtues would count for little if Rankin didn't also possess the most important asset of them all - the ability to tell a damned good story (Marcel Berlins THE TIMES)
A very skilful entertainment . . . its clues are as learned and cross-word-puzzling as any in John Buchan (TLS)
The Falls is an inventive and absorbing book . . . Once again the city, cast in shadows and light, is centre stage, as complex and brooding as Rebus himself . . . Ian Rankin, a crime writer with style, has produced another highly enjoyable and exciting book (THE SCOTSMAN)
It is a fact universally acknowledged that Ian Rankin leads the field in the category of British humanistic crime writing . . . his ability to wrap together diverse ingredients into a plot-sandwich bulging with flavour is ingenious (SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY)
Rankin has an intuitive grasp of the dark magic of narrative: at its simplest, you read the books because you want to know what will happen. He writes beautifully, too . . . Few would disagree that Ian Rankin is making a contribution to crime fiction that will last. His novels are playing a significant part in redefining Scotland's image of itself in literature. He is one of a handful of British crime writes whose books are not only commercially successful but also build a strong case for why crime fiction, at its best, can and should be considered as literature (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)
Whatever it is that makes a good crime writer, Ian Rankin has it in spades (IRISH TIMES) --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Book Description
About the Author
Review
Product details
- ASIN : B002VBV1TA
- Publisher : Orion (18 Sept. 2008)
- Language : English
- File size : 3387 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 516 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 6,879 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 1 in Cybernetics
- 18 in Law (Kindle Store)
- 37 in Gothic Romance (Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Ian James Rankin, OBE, DL, FRSE (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia. Photo byTimDuncan (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
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In this story Rebus is investigating the disappearance of a student who appears to have been set a challenge in an online game set my the mysterious Quizmaster. His collegue Siobhan Clarke is tasked with invesigating this and to see whether it has any relevance to the case whilst Rebus tries to ascertain the link between the coffins which are found by a site known as The Falls. The premise is really fascinating but Rankin manages to invest the story with such interesting characters that I felt the tension was continually being ratcheted up. On top of this, the office politics of the police force adds another dimension as someone appears to be tipping off the press about the case and Siobhan's new assistant seems particularly creepy.
I found this book impossible to put down. The story grabbed my attention from the first few pages yet once the investigation is underway it becomes a page-turner. I felt that this was also the best story out of all the Rebus series and, as good as the others are are describing the sordid underbelly of Edinburgh, there were so many elements of this case that seemed mysterious that the book ultimately became a distraction from my other tasks as I was anxious to find out what was happening. The plot is one of Rankin's finest and I felt that the conclusion over the last 70 to 80 pages see-sawed backwards and forwards between various suspects which was rivetting. A whole mutlitude of secrets are eventually made apparent and I felt that the conclusion was Rankin's most nail-biting.
As with Philip Kerr, I am finding Ian Rakin's books so good that I have been ordering more even before I have finished the one I have been reading. I love the character of Rebus and think that the dialogue is one of the components which make this series stand out. Having said that, I would assume that this book is a highlight in the series. Thoroughly recommended.
I have just finished a DCI RYAN novel where the villain drowns with the all St. Cuthbert’s relics including his gospel book of St John which must have perished . It is not mentioned and only his cross is recovered by divers .
The Falls focuses on Rebus as he waves goodbye to retiring colleagues and looks over his shoulder at a young, smart breed of detective aided by technology. When a local socialite studying at Edinburgh University goes missing it's Rebus and Siobhan who head the investigation. As they dig deeper they discover clues that link the disappearance with several others over three decades and a mysterious internet role-playing game.
The Falls was for me much more a cerebral experience over a thriller read. There was very little in the way of suspense all the way through. The premise of the missing person, the historical crimes and the internet quizmaster were mildly engaging. The Fall's was written just after the Da Vinci code mayhem and felt like a weaker or enforced use of the puzzle format. The absolute strength of the book and I suspect of Rankin's writing in general, is the ability to convey the thoughts and personalities of the detectives, giving us soul and psychology as they deliberate the case and struggle to manage their private lives. The focus is always on the job so you don't get any of the tedious soap operatics found in many books currently trying to accomplish the same.
There is something almost cathartic about The Falls I suspect will resonate more with any audience that has knocked their heads against the obstacles life places in our way. The characters are flawed and hopeful, unique and smart. It is the characters that had me transfixed through the book not the whodunnit. When I turned the last page I wanted to read other books in the series to discover their journey.
Hope this was helpful.
The plot itself focuses on the disappearance of the young and rich university student Philippa Balfour who seemingly has vanished into thin air. One moment plotting and getting ready for a night out the next gone. To add further pressure the Balfour family are the kind that have their own secrets and have enough money and influence to insure that the team are feeling the strain to get results and fast.
A fascinating part element of the book is once again seeing the way Rankin has developed Siobhan Clark. No longer just Rebus sidekick she is now a standalone member of the team and whilst her and Rebus still have a bond Siobhan in this book is following her own leads and keeping her own secrets.
All in all I found this book to be much easier to read than the previous Rankin book and a very enjoyable novel. The development of Siobhan her investigation into the internet game involving Quiz Master was a particular highlight and I would very much recommend this book to any fans of the crime genre.