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Ian Rankin just keeps writing outstanding stories. Once again Inspector John Rebus of the Edinburgh police is faced with tough cases and some tough decisions. He's handed a file on the case of a man accused of being a World War II war criminal, and now living in Edinburgh. The novel describes, in moving, explicit terms, the atrocity perpetrated on a small French village. In an attempt to determine whether the man in question is the war criminal, Rebus has to follow an old trail and then deal with a higher authority out of London. While this is going on Rebus has also got to try to maintain his contacts with two rival gangs about to go to violent territorial war. The balancing act Rankin describes and the moral and ethical questions Rebus must deal with are fascinating to behold. Rankin is a strong, literate writer, who evokes the inner turmoil of his characters as they try to do what's right, second guess themselves, parade what-ifs through their sleeping minds, and deal with dangerous personal temptations. Yet for all of the personal anxieties brought out in Rankin's stories, they do not flag, but hurtle along in splendid fashion, keeping the reader enthralled to the end. This is not an easy book to read, in its gritty depiction of fictional reality, but the questions of morality and ethical issues are relevant and important. I give this one a strong favorable recommendation. INNER PASSAGES A SUPERIOR MYSTERY http://www.Minnesotacrimewave.org
Reviewed by Carl Brookins, November 2002
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