by Ian Rankin
Any ‘implags’ will be from the following: Fool’s Gold by Christopher Harvie; A Place in the Sun by Jonathan Wills; Innocent Passage: The Wreck of the Tanker Braer by Jonathan Wills and Karen Warner; Blood on the Thistle by Douglas Skelton; Bible John: Search for a Sadist by Patrick Stoddart; The Missing by Andrew O’Hagan.
Major Weir’s quote – ‘creatures tamed by cruelty’ – is actually the title of Ron Butlin’s first poetry collection.
© Rankin
ABOUT IAN RANKIN
Ian Rankin, OBE, writes a huge proportion of all the crime novels sold in the UK and has won numerous prizes, including in 2005 the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger. His work is available in over 30 languages, home sales of his books exceed one million copies a year, and several of the novels based around the character of Detective Inspector Rebus – his name meaning ‘enigmatic puzzle’ – have been successfully transferred to television.
Introduction to DI John Rebus
The first novels to feature Rebus, a flawed but resolutely humane detective, were not an overnight sensation, and success took time to arrive. But the wait became a period that allowed Ian Rankin to come of age as a writer, and to develop Rebus into a thoroughly believable, flesh-and-blood character straddling both industrial and post-industrial Scotland; a gritty yet perceptive man coping with his own demons. As Rebus struggled to keep his relationship with daughter Sammy alive following his divorce, and to cope with the imprisonment of brother Michael, while all the time trying to strike a blow for morality against a fearsome array of sinners (some justified and some not), readers began to respond in their droves. Fans admired Ian Rankin’s re-creation of a picture-postcard Edinburgh with a vicious tooth-and-claw underbelly just a heartbeat away, his believable but at the same time complex plots and, best of all, Rebus as a conflicted man trying always to solve the unsolvable, and to do the right thing.
As the series progressed, Ian Rankin refused to shy away from contentious issues such as corruption in high places, paedophilia and illegal immigration, combining his unique seal of tight plotting with a bleak realism, leavened with brooding humour.
In Rebus the reader is presented with a rich and constantly evolving portrait of a complex and troubled man, irrevocably tinged with the sense of being an outsider and, potentially, unable to escape being a ‘justified sinner’ himself. Rebus’s life is intricately related to his Scottish environs too, enriched by Ian Rankin’s attentive depiction of locations, and careful regard to Rebus’s favourite music, watering holes and books, as well as his often fraught relationships with colleagues and family. And so, alongside Rebus, the reader is taken on an often painful, sometimes hellish journey to the depths of human nature, always rooted in the minutiae of a very recognisable Scottish life.
The Oxford Bar – Rebus and many of the characters who appear in the novels are regulars of the Ox – as is Ian Rankin himself. The pub is now synonymous with the Rebus novels to the extent that one of the regular medical examiners called in to assist with investigations is named after the pub’s owner, John Gates.
Edinburgh plays an important role throughout the Rebus novels; a character itself, as brooding and as volatile as Rebus. The Edinburgh depicted in the novels is far short of the beautiful city that tourists in their thousands flood to visit. Hidden behind the historic buildings and elegant façades is the world that Rebus inhabits.
For general discussion regarding the Rebus series
How does Ian Rankin reveal himself as an author interested in using fiction to ‘tell the truths the real world can’t’?
There are similarities between the lives of the author and his protagonist – for instance, both Ian Rankin and Rebus were born in Fife, lost their mothers at an early age, have children with physical problems – so is it useful therefore to think of John Rebus and Ian Rankin as each other’s alter egos?
Could it be said that Rebus is trying to make sense in a general way of the world around him, or is he seeking answers to the ‘big questions’? And is it relevant therefore that he is a believer in God and comes from a Scottish Presbyterian background? Would Rebus see confession in both the religious and the criminal sense as similar in any way?
How does Ian Rankin explore notions of Edinburgh as a character in its own right? In what way does he contrast the glossy public and seedy private faces of the city with the public and private faces of those Rebus meets?
How does Ian Rankin use musical sources – the Elvis references in The Black Book, for instance, or the Rolling Stones allusions in Let It Bleed – as a means of character development through the series? What does Rebus’s own taste in music and books say about him as a person?
What do you think about Rebus as a character? If you have read several or more novels from the series, discuss how his character is developed.
If Rebus has a problem with notions of ‘pecking order’ and the idea of authority generally, what does it say about him that he chose careers in hierarchical institutions such as the Army and then the police?
How does Rebus relate to women: as lovers, flirtations, family members and colleagues?
Do the flashes of gallows humour as often shown by the pathologists but sometimes also in Rebus’s own comments increase or dissipate narrative tension? Does Rebus use black comedy for the same reasons the pathologists do?
Do Rebus’s personal vulnerabilities make him understanding of the frailties of others?
How does the characterisation of Rebus compare to other long-standing popular detectives from British authors such as Holmes, Poirot, Morse or Dalgleish? And are there more similarities or differences between them?
BLACK & BLUE
Stroppy as ever, Rebus ignores his ‘trouble’ over Lenny Spaven, who recently committed suicide while still proclaiming his innocence in a case from years earlier. In Rebus’s opinion the case should never have been reopened, but now it is the subject of a forthcoming TV exposé. In an attempt to avoid being hounded by journalists, Rebus allows himself to be distracted by serial killers Johnny Bible and Bible John, who prove to be adversaries of the highest order, especially as Bible John wants to get to ‘the Upstart’, Johnny Bible, before the police do.
But first Rebus must attend to the mysterious death of a man strapped to a chair and hefted from a tenement window – and before long, he finds himself in a stomach-churning ‘paraffin budgie’ on the way to a North Sea oil platform, as he follows what may be a host of spurious leads. And just to confuse things further, Rebus is forced into the unenviable position of having to call in a favour from Big Ger Cafferty, and to face some uncomfortable truths about some of his old cases. All in all, it’s not going well.
As Rebus travels around northern Scotland, at last his investigations start to bear fruit, although questions of guilt remain unclear and Rebus can only berate himself for not understanding earlier the significance of several small things.
Black & Blue won the 1997 Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award, and signalled the arrival of Ian Rankin at the top of the bestseller lists.
Discussion points for Black & Blue
Ian Rankin feels that Black & Blue is the book that all the previous Rebus novels had been leading to. Would you agree?
DS Brian Holmes makes a return – how innocent is he, and does Rebus believe him?
Black & Blue abounds with personal vendettas. Do they have parallels and patterns between them? How does Ian Rankin employ them in the structure of the story?
Rebus is himself being hunted by the journalists; do they make him feel guilty? Does he realise that what’s happening to him is not dissimilar to how he tracks down criminals?
DS Siobhan Clarke is now more confident, even telling jokes. In what other ways does this more mature attitude manifest itself?
For much of the story, Bible John is more effective at hunting Johnny Bible than the police are. Why is this?
How does Ian Rankin use the oil industry to examine Scotland’s industrial development? Wh
at does oil mean to Scotland, and to Black & Blue?
What does Rebus think about the idea of the ‘frontier police’ who keep order on the oil platforms?
How does Ian Rankin show Aberdeen to be a different type of city from Edinburgh?
Ian Rankin claims that because of frustrations in his own personal life, in Black & Blue he used Rebus as his personal ‘punchbag’. Is this apparent?
Considering the difficulties he has sustaining loving relationships with women, Rebus goes on to acknowledge that the problem lies somewhere within himself: ‘Rape was all about power; killing too, In Its way. And wasn’t power the ultimate male fantasy? And didn’t he sometimes dream of it too?’ How revealing are these comments?
Consider the ways in which Ian Rankin might use the weather as a metaphor for what is happening in the story.
Where does Rebus stand on the assertion that oil and politics cannot be separated?
What is the message that Rebus receives on the streets of Aberdeen?
Bible John makes a huge mistake and gives Rebus his business card. Should Rebus berate himself for not realising earlier the clue he’d been gifted?
Is Bible John more concerned by physical strength or attitude? Why might that be?
What is Rebus thinking when he finds himself crying? What do the people he’s identifying with say about him as a person?
What are daughter Sammy’s motives for working with ex-cons?
AN ORION EBOOK
First published in Great Britain in 1997 by Orion Books.
First published in ebook form in 2008 by Orion Books.
This updated ebook published in 2011 by Orion Books.
Copyright © John Rebus Limited 1997
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005
The right of Ian Rankin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the copyright, designs and patents act 1988.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 4091 0764 4
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