Ian Rankin latest Rebus novel Midnight and Blue is as well written as any of its twenty-four predecessors and should please any aficianados as well as any casual readers. Rebus continues to dominate the story with his usual provocative and annoying manner albeit increasingly tinged with a sense of his own mortality. Age is catching up with him and he is now an inmate of the Trinity prison in Edinburgh having been convicted of the attempted murder of his old sparring partner Morris Cafferty. In prison, surrounded by so many he has helped put inside, he is well aware of his vulnerability especially as he no longer has the physical strength of his earlier years.
However, despite his vulnerability he cannot help himself from investigating the murder that has taken place in a nearby cell. As with all the Rebus novels the atmospherics are as rewarding as the actual plots. Rankin brings the prison alive in all its aspects: whether the sounds and smells, the politics of the prison staff and the equally devious politics of the inmates, the endless low-level corruption and scams one kind or another, the frequent violence, the complex relationships between staff and inmates and the often discreditable connections between members of the prison community and the world beyond the prison gates.
In short, Rankin exposes all the murk and darkness to be found when large numbers of violent men are confined together with not enough to keep them occupied and where everyone and everything has a price. That said, Rankin does not allow the atmospherics to get in the way of the narrative.
The plot of Midnight and Blue has all the complexity and surprises that are one of the hallmarks of Rankin’s novels. The murder inside the prison becomes linked with another murder outside, at first apparently completely unconnected, in a way that is both unexpected as well as realistic. This second murder also provides him with an entré for one of Rebus’s principal erstwhile colleague – Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke – who has been a constant in Rebus’s career even after his retirement from the Service. Communication between them relies on the provision of burner phones provided by Darryl Christie, a fellow prisoner and one time rival of the late Morris Cafferty. The involvement of Siobhan Clarke, still full of energy and ambition, provides an effective counterpoint to the world weariness of Rebus.
As with any of the Rebus series Rankin always stimulates questions in the mind of his readers. In the case of Midnight and Blue how will Rebus manage the detection of a murder inside a closed room inside a prison? How will he regain the trust of his erstwhile colleagues from that prison cell? How as an ex-member of the ‘polis’ will he navigate the inevitable threats from some of his fellow prisoners? How will he survive in the shadow of Christie whose help he needs? Rebus remains, even in prison, a fascinating character. It all makes for a compelling read.
Midnight and Blue is out now in hardback, published by Orion. For more information, including stockists, please visit www.orionbooks.co.uk.
Header photo: Trinity Prison interior (courtesy of Creative Commons)
