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A Question of Blood: An Inspector Rebus Novel
Unavailable
A Question of Blood: An Inspector Rebus Novel
Unavailable
A Question of Blood: An Inspector Rebus Novel
Audiobook13 hours

A Question of Blood: An Inspector Rebus Novel

Written by Ian Rankin

Narrated by James Macpherson

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

When a former soldier and recluse murders two 17-year-old students at a posh Edinburgh boarding school, Inspector John Rebus immediately suspects there is more to the case than meets the eye.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 24, 2015
ISBN9781478985921
Unavailable
A Question of Blood: An Inspector Rebus Novel
Author

Ian Rankin

Ian Rankin is the worldwide #1 bestselling writer of the Inspector Rebus books, including Knots and Crosses, Let It Bleed, Black and Blue, Set in Darkness, Resurrection Men, A Question of Blood, The Falls and Exit Music. He is also the author of The Complaints and Doors Open. He has won an Edgar Award, a Gold Dagger for fiction, a Diamond Dagger for career excellence, and the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contributions to literature. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife and their two sons.

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Rating: 3.8877069751773052 out of 5 stars
4/5

423 ratings19 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I can't seem to get enough of Rankin and Rebus! This is the 14th installment. Series should be read in order. Three plots in this one but the main plot is a school shooting. Lots of dry wit and humor. Characters are well-drawn and fascinating. Lots of twists and red herrings with a surprise ending. One of his better books. I recommend this series to those who like their mystery/thrillers dark and gritty.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Rebus is back and this time it's personal!There was a certain poignancy about re-reading this novel which opens with the immediate aftermath of a gunman entering a prestigious private school and killing two pupils and wounding another before turning his weapon on himself as news broke of yet another mass-shooting on an American campus, this time in Roseburg, Oregon. On the other hand, that is now such a frequent occurrence that almost any time I might have revisited this novel would have clashed with such an outrage.The gunman was identified as Lee Herdman, a readily-recognised figure around South Queensferry where he owned a motor boat and gave water skiing lessons and took tourists for trips around the various islets in the Firth of Forth at breakneck speed. After news of the killings broke it very soon emerged that Herdman was an ex-soldier and had, in fact, been a member of the SAS. Very soon the killings are being described as a combat veteran 'losing his marbles' or 'throwing a maddie'.It is not Rebus's case but he is pressed to assist the investigation in view of his own experiences in the army, and his (failed) attempt many years before to join the SAS. He is, however, beset with other problems. His hands have been hideously scalded, leaving him virtually helpless and unable to perform even the simplest of manual tasks. Meanwhile, a small-time criminal who had been stalking Rebus's colleague Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke and making her life a misery, is found burnt to death in his own home, having been seen drinking with Rebus earlier that evening. It doesn't take the senior management team at Lothian and Borders Police long to add two and two together, though it is not clear whether they are making four or five. In the meantime, he and Clarke are helping out with the school killing, uncovering a morass of tensions within the school and among the pupils' families.This novel features all of Rankin's customary skill. The descriptions of Edinburgh are as clear and haunting as ever, and the two glorious bridges seem to loom over South Queensferry in a menacing way. There are several subplots, all of which are dextrously managed, and the characters are as plausible as ever.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Good reliable crime fiction. Characters are well drawn, although Rebus has become almost a caricature. Plot is well developed and complex enough to keep the reader interested, and believable enough for the ending to be both exciting and plausible.Read Jan 2015
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The 14th book in this wonderful series, and it is just as fresh now as at was at the beginning. It's even better though because we've had 13 books to get to know the irascible Rebus and his sidekick Siobhan. This book starts out with Rebus and Siobhan trying to figure out what caused an ex-SAS soldier to walk into a private school and kill two boys and wound another and then turn the gun on himself. As Siobhan says, "There is no mystery here". But it turns out that there is indeed a mystery here and before they've finished solving it, Rebus finds himself in trouble with the higher-ups again, and both find themselves in some physical danger. It was enough to keep me turning pages, and I had to stay up late to finish the book. That's Ian Rankin's Rebus does to me. This book also provides us with more insight into Rebus' past and family life. Rankin's skill as an author manifests itself in the book with extremely tight plotting and his extraordinary character development. Rebus continues to intrigue. I read these books for the great mystery, but also for the sharp portrayal of a character that has come to seem real to me. Rankin is a master at creating three-dimensional, realistic characters. All good enough reasons to justify, to me anyway, my addiction to this series.2014
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Synopsis: Rebus has scalded his hands and few believe that he didn't burn them while murdering a felon. While his hands heal he must help find out why a man walked into a school and shot three students then committed suicide. He must also find out if this man was bringing guns and drugs into the country.Review: A nicely twisted story with lots of off shoots that lend interest and sometimes hints to the mysteries.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Inspector Rebus murder/mystery.A private school killing. A former special forces soldier goes into the school, kills two students and wounds a third before turning the gun on himself. Rebus is asked to help figure out why he did it. But, a man who had been threatening and stalking Siobhan has just been found dead in his home, having been burned to death in a fire, and Rebus was with him in his house just before the fire started, and he now has burns on both his hands with only a poor explanation of how he got them.Another fine book in this series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Great Rebus story about a vet who seems to go crazy and shoots 3 boys at a high school. Things are never quite what they seem on the services as Rebus tangles with the Customs police and the security arm of the Army. Liked this one alot.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found out the correct way, if that exists, of reading this series. These books are all about dialogue. Conviviality between two kindred souls is what drives this series. The plot is relegated to the background. The murder of this very book is solved, not through skill, but through procedure of the most routine kind. All the trials of the detective, Rebus, all the angst and discomfiture is made gone away through simple police work, not intuition. I was amazed that I didn't mind that. The way to enjoy these books is to engage with what the characters are doing. Sometimes it's Rebus and Siobhan musing. Sometimes it's the former and Hogan. Sometimes, only more rare, it's Rebus and his one time lover, but now boss, Gill Templer. I was satiated by the approach of Ian Rankin, and I'm now a fan.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In A Question of Blood, Detective Inspector John Rebus once again finds himself in hot water, suspected of murder, facing suspension and in DCS Gill Templer’s bad books. The main plot centres on an apparently senseless shooting at a school. Rebus and his sidekick Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke are called upon to help with the investigation of the shooting. Meanwhile, a criminal who has been stalking and hassling Clarke turns up dead, and the circumstances of this murder make Rebus a natural suspect. The story is somewhat labyrinthine, but the narrative is atmospheric and briskly told, filled with fascinating detail and memorable and eccentric characters. Few crime writers can equal Ian Rankin when it comes to setting. The Edinburgh of the Rankin novels is one of the most vividly drawn cities in literature. A Question of Blood is another compelling and thoroughly enjoyable entry in the Rebus series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A former special ops soldier has walked into a school, shot and killed 2 students, and wounded a third student before turning the gun on himself. The question for Inspector Rebus is why--were the students targeted or were they random victims? Was there a motive, or did the soldier just have a psychological breakdown? And Rebus must work the case all the while being under suspicion of murder himself.I'm not a completist when it comes to Inspector Rebus, though I've read several in no particular order. I enjoyed this one--it's well-plotted, and I liked Rebus's sidekick Siobhan, who I'm not sure is a new character or a regular.Recommended.3 stars
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good solid Rebus, hard to fault. Page-turning storyline, efficient but evocative prose, perhaps some of the secondary characters were a bit two-dimensional.Really wanted to give this a 3.75, but hey-ho.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The book opens with Rebus in hospital with bad burns to both his hands. He claims he fell into a bathtub filled with scalding water but it looks suspicious because a bad guy who had been bothering Siobhan died in a fire the same night Rebus went to hospital. Being under suspicion is nothing new to Rebus nor is working when he is physically not fit. So he ends up at work just as a call comes in asking for his help in an investigation into a school shooting. The shooter was ex-Forces and so is Rebus so it's thought he might have some insight. Because of his hands he can't drive so Siobhan has to accompany him.Two boys were killed and another one, the son of an MP, was badly injured. The shooter killed himself when he finished the killings. As Rebus and Siobhan go over the details Rebus realizes that one of the boys who was killed is a relative, the son of a cousin. He's been out of touch with this cousin for years but he goes to see him to find a broken man. As the investigation continues there seems to be no reason for the killer to have shot these boys. He didn't even know the ones he killed. The MP's son used to hang out with him, go to parties but they had had no falling out. Meanwhile the fire investigation is finding that Rebus drank with the dead man hours before the fire started and Rebus even went back to his house. Rebus insists that he was alive when he left there but he's suspended (again!). Siobhan is wondering if the burned body was even her harrasser because she is getting anonymous notes from someone who seems to know a lot about her.The break in the case for Rebus is something insignificant but he believes he is close to understanding the killer's motivations. Then the forensics expert calls with some puzzling blood spatter evidence and suddenly the case is turned on its head. Rebus is also able to clear himself of the fire death by getting the real killer's sidekick to confess. Siobhan has another close call but she's okay and Rebus, in a rare show of emotion, picks her up and hugs her.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Rebus is sent to investigate a spree killing in a private school, one that involves his own family. The stakes are high for our hero in this installment and it should make for a tight read, but somehow the writing isn't really up to par - Rebus' involvement with the mystery seems to be almost less dogged than in other cases. There are some really grand emotional moments for Rebus, though, as well as a few great laughs and it's definitely a very good installment in a really great series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It was not the page turner I thought it would be at least for me but the last part was worth reading the book for!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    First Rankin book I've read. enjoyed it immensely. Looking forward to reading more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "A Question of Blood" (Ian Rankin’s 14th John Rebus novel) is a complicated police procedural told in seven parts, one part for each day it takes Rebus and Siobhan Clarke to close the books on the Edinburgh school shooting that claims the lives of two students. The case does not appear to be a difficult one because one of the three students in the room at the time of the murders has survived to tell what he saw and the alleged murderer, an outsider, has killed himself at the scene. For Rebus and his Edinburgh police colleagues it is a question of why, not who.John Rebus, always the outsider even among his peers, is determined to answer that question and soon finds himself in conflict not only with certain of his fellow officers but with two Army investigators that seem determined to cause him as much personal grief as possible. For a loner, though, Rebus does have one or two loyal friends willing to cover his back when he needs it most. One of those friends is in charge of the school shooting investigation and is willing to use Rebus in an “unofficial” capacity even though, midway through the investigation, Rebus has been suspended by his superiors. The other is Siobhan Clarke, the young policewoman for whom Rebus has formed a rather unlikely attachment.It is precisely this emotional attachment to Siobhan that gets Rebus into so much trouble. He is so determined to stop the career criminal that has been threatening her that one night he is seen leaving the man’s home at precisely the wrong moment. As a result of this connection to the stalker, if Rebus is to figure out the why of the school murders, he is going to have to avoid the phone calls and visits of the investigators whose job it is to determine whether or not he is guilty of violent criminal activity. "A Question of Blood," at its heart, is a book about relationships, families, loners and friends. John Rebus is not close to anyone in his family and can count his friends on one hand. In his own way, he probably loves Siobhan Clarke but there is no way he ever could, or would, express his feelings to her. Some of his friends are much like Rebus; they spend too much time in pubs or sitting alone at home drinking themselves toward the next hangover – and they rather enjoy the lifestyle. Rankin’s Edinburgh is the perfect city for loners. It is a dark, wet and rowdy place, and its streets are populated by teenage thugs that respect no one unwilling to mix it up with them. Rebus can only stomach what he sees because of his deep sense of outrage about what is happening to his city and those around him. Police work is all he has left and, even though he does as much as he can to protect the innocents of Edinburgh, he senses that his is a losing battle. He accepts his fate, however, and is a little unnerved by the emotions he finds himself feeling and expressing at the end of day seven."A Question of Blood" is a satisfying police procedural with an extra twist or two but John Rebus fans will enjoy it most because of the opportunity it gives them to spend some time with their old friend. For such a loner, John Rebus is an easy guy to like.Rated at: 4.0
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Rebus is, unquestionably, the king of the defective detectives. Rebus' drink problem is continuous - and worsens over time. His army history is eked out bit by painful bit and even his few working relationships cause him angst.This story all falls neatly into place over the last few pages, as any good whodunnit should. A few moments of reflection would lead to the unlikeliness of this jigsaw puzzle fit of all the lose ends but, Rankin is clever; he doesn't give you that time. The novel builds to a crescendo; one solution after another tumbling from the tangled web of the story. This is a superb read and one that I will, undoubtedly, revisit in a few years when my memory has forgotten its intricacies.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I like Rebus' grittiness and recklessness. Much like Connelly's Inspector Bosch, he is a lone wolf who will go to great lengths to solve the puzzle. The novel has a cast of interesting, colourful and well-rounded characters, a clever twist at the end and a solid plot. The only thing I didn't quite care for were the numerous threads of inlaid stories - two separate intrigues which in the end did not come together. It wasn't confusing, merely overdone.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another Rebus tale told with Rankin's usual panache and striking evocation of Edinburgh. This time an ex-soldier kills two teenagers at a private school. Book tied in to the TV portrayal of Rebus by John Hannah.