Monday, August 13, 2012

Reading Rankin...doggedly finding my way into Rebus' world...

I finished reading Tooth and Nail yesterday.  Of all the Rankins I have read so far, I finished this the quickest.  My first tryst with Rankin was fortuitously his first Rebus novel, Knots and Crosses, and it took me a lot of time to get into the mood of the novel and I stopped once every ten pages or so and picked it up after two or three days.  I must say I managed to complete it, but was not a satisfied reader.  I couldn't get a grip on the atmosphere and on Rebus.  I left it at that.  I wanted to read more and picked up some more Rebus novels at a book sale.  I read Strip Jack, which I finished slightly quicker than Knots and Crosses, and still no grip on Rebus.  I kept the other Rankins aside and went back to reading private detective Spenser's exploits in Robert B. Parker's novels.  Rebus kept haunting me and I went back to Rankin and started Black and Blue.  I was back to square one with Black and Blue.  I plodded through the initial pages and didn't enjoy the feeling of forced reading.  I kept it aside, but temptation took me back to it again and again and I would sadly close the book after three or four pages.  Will I ever get into Rebus' world?

Thank God for the regular Best Books Sale at Hyderabad, where I found Rankin's short stories...both volumes in one book (The Complete Short Stories - A Good Hanging & Beggars Banquet).  This book contained many Rebus stories.  I practically devoured it.  It is a voluminous book and each Rebus story is a small gem.  I was now comfortable in Rebus' world and began to slowly understand his world and his methods.  But, I didn't want to hurry back to Black and Blue.  In the meantime, Spenser provided many moments of unalloyed sleuthing pleasure, and I also discovered Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks.

Somewhere along the way, I picked up Rankin's Exit Music along with some Parkers at Frankfurt Foreign Book Sale.  Exit Music was not an intended purchase, but then I found it and thought, 'why not.'  It was vacation time for me and I was alone at home.  It was unbearably hot in Hyderabad this summer.  I read the blurb on Exit Music and discovered that it was the last in the Inspector Rebus series.  'Let me see how Rebus' career ends,' I thought and picked up Exit Music hesitantly.  I got slowly sucked into Rebus' world and towards the end, I even sacrificed my sleep and read till 4.00 in the morning and completed it in a rush.  Phew...a difficult job completed in one reading...I was happy...not that I managed to crack Rebus' mind, but I managed to enter the world and stay there for a long enough period of time at a stretch.  Of course, I could see how it all ended for Rebus...who was almost taken kicking and screaming out of his beloved police station on retirement...it was solid dogged reading...like Dravid's batting...

I now had the confidence to try and finish Black and Blue.  I went back to the novel and hung on...I discovered I was enjoying reading it and was able to relate to some extent to Rebus.  When I finished Black and Blue, it was as if I had crossed a psychological barrier...a weight lifted off my chest. 

I had also picked up a Rankin omnibus edition at the Best Books Sale.  This edition contained two Rebus novels - The Black Book & Mortal Causes.  I could now start with one of these.

On my way to Begumpet one day recently, I took a chance and went into Frankfurt Foreign Book Sale and found four Rebus novels.  Of these, Tooth and Nail caught my attention and I started with that instead of the omnibus edition.  Rebus goes to London on request in Tooth and Nail, uprooted from his familiar Edinburgh.

Why Tooth and Nail?  I don't know.  But when I looked at the chronological list of Rebus novels, I realised that Tooth and Nail follows Hide and Seek...I didn't know this.  The first Rebus novel, Knots and Crosses, was the first Rebus novel that I read.  Strip Jack comes after Tooth and Nail.  Strip Jack was the second Rebus novel I had read...

I am now reading The Black Book...

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Rankin-ed at Frankfurt...


Went to Frankfurt looking for Parkers
got Rankin-ed instead
fought tooth and nail
had a great fall
dead souls asking a question of blood

and one Robinson...asking for a piece of my heart...