I’d come across the television show for Rebus but never bothered to give it a look. According to writer Ian Rankin that seems like a very good idea. According to a quote from Rankin he never bothered with the show because he didn’t want his vision of Rebus changed deliberately or other. I imagine while reading the latest rebus novel, Standing In Another Man’s Grave, I would have kept referring to the character as John Hannah (The Mummy franchise) or Ken Stott (The Hobbit ~2013). I think that may have ruined it for me.

Rebus, in book form, is a reluctant hero or anti-hero. He’s always played things by his gut and bent the rules to bring the bad guys to justice. Things haven’t changed much for Rebus except he’s no longer a police officer. Instead we find Rebus working Cold Cases as a civilian. Think New Tricks, only without the over abundance of wit. Like most of us Rebus is showing up to the job and trudging by. It’s work, not pleasure. Then one day he’s approached by a woman who asks him to look into a missing persons case. The person missing is her daughter. Despite reaching out for help to several branches of the law no one has been able to give her the closure she needs. Rebus is the end of the road for her.

With Rebus droning through his workload and putting up with his ladder climbing boss who feels as if he’s been wrongly dumped in the thick of a pointless program, it’s no wonder he soon finds himself eager to take the case, and in Rebus fashion manages to make enough racket with the right people that he ends up out of office and back in with police headquarters and his old partner Siobhan Clarke plus her boss James Page, who Rebus manages to nickname by way of Led Zeppelin tunes.

Rebus has his foot on both sides as he works closely with Clarke and Page as well as his drinking buddy and part time hood Cafferty and is able to draw more information with the tech savvy help of new technology mixed with old copper gumption to help him sort the street buzz. A great mix of resources but an unfortunate aid considering an IA agent named Fox is looking to bust Rebus, especially when he learns that Rebus is trying to get back onto the police force. Fox knows there’s no place in the new police force for an old rule bender like Rebus and wants him kept out, not even allowed to work the cold cases as a civilian. It’s eggshell walking for Rebus as far as Fox is concerned. Rebus thinks otherwise as he moseys through leads with cool and sometimes half witty insults to anyone looking to stand in the way of progress.

Rankin’s Standing In Another Man’s Grave is a methodical book that’s helped by Rebus’ charms and the outside presence of good and bad guys looking to break his spirits as far as this case is concerned. I enjoyed the fact that Rebus isn’t a glorified hero, just an average Joe with know how and drive, reminded me a bit of John McClane. Meanwhile the background characters are seen as these stereotypical figures that slowly expand and grow into these unexpected people who you either learn to love or hate on a personal level. Rankin simply paints a black and white world that slowly evolves into color but never goes beyond the reality of true crime starring normal men and women and normal villains coming to a head after a sometimes laborious working of facts. Well worth checking out if you love British Detective shows.