Monday, May 14, 2007

THE FALLS by Ian Rankin (2001)

As part of my newfound obsession in reading everything Rankin before October 17th (including the newly serialized story OPEN DOORS in this past weekend's Sunday New York Times Book Review), I devoured THE FALLS. What I've come to expect with Rankin in his storytelling are broad allusions to poetry and witty use of music and lyrics to amplify mood and character development.

The daughter of a banker disappears and a bizarre little coffin is found at the fall near her family estate. Both Rebus and his partner DC Clarke are put on the case and they discover a creepy online correspondence between "Flip" and someone who refers to himself only as "Quizmaster." Siobhan contacts him and is led on an eerie journey that finds her combing the Edinburgh streets for the next cryptic clue, hoping to reveal the truth about what has happened to Flip.

A dottering retired pathologist, a dissheveled ex-boyfriend, a loopy potter, a godfather with a questionably close relationship to the victim and a medical student with a likely grudge round out the cast of potential suspects in this typically gripping narrative.

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