Book Review: MIDNIGHT AND BLUE by Ian Rankin

MIDNIGHT AND BLUE by Ian Rankin  (Mulholland Books, October 15, 2024) Hardcover, 352 pages. (John Rebus series #25.) ISBN # 9780316473859 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

  

The brand new John Rebus thriller from the iconic Number One bestseller Ian one of the must-read books of the year. 

John Rebus spent his life as a detective putting Edinburgh's most deadly criminals behind bars.

Now, he's going to join them...

In this tense, gripping game of cat and mouse, 'The King of Crime' (Express) returns to his much-loved creation, the inimitable John Rebus, as he faces a case unlike any other...

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PRAISE FOR THE ICONIC NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER IAN 

'Ian Rankin is a genius'

LEE CHILD

'Rebus is one of British crime writing's greatest alongside Holmes, Poirot and Morse'

DAILY MAIL

'Whatever he writes, it will be worth reading ... Rankin has redefined the genre'

GUARDIAN

'The arrival of a Rankin novel remains one of life's pleasures'

EXPRESS

'Rankin is a phenomenon'

SPECTATOR

'Worthy of Agatha Christie at her best'

SCOTSMAN

'The king of crime fiction'

SUNDAY EXPRESS

'Great fiction, full stop'

THE TIMES

My Four Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     By now, I've read enough Rebus novels to have a good feel for the character, but Ian Rankin keeps surprising me. 

     This was a great page-turner, with short chapters and enough twists and turns to keep me engaged throughout. It's also the first Rebus novel where I had no suspects for the two murders that occur. Usually I have a list of several, but that doesn't mean that I have a good track record of solving these cases. I don't. Plus, I also learned some new things about John Rebus.

     In the last novel, Rebus was found guilty of a crime and imprisoned. But that doesn't stop his natural curiosity and keen observation to get involved in trying to solve this clever spin on locked room mysteries that occurs within the prison walls. There's a second murder that takes place in the outside world of Edinburgh, and a missing teenage girl case for the local law enforcement to solve. 

     Rankin always does a marvelous job of characterization, and in this novel he really fleshes out the roles of some returning associates of Rebus, as well as some new and interesting investigators.

     Rebus is aging, but here's hoping he's good for several more novels. I'll keep reading them.