DI Rebus is in a hot spot, literally, after turning up with both hand burns a day after an incredibly annoying felon dies in a fire in his own apartment. Said felon has been annoying Rebus’ junior DC Siobhan Clark, one might even say stalking and harrasing her, and Rebus was seen drinking with the dead man on the evening of the fire.
Then Ian Rankin turns up the heat in A Question of Blood by giving us a high profile schoolhouse murder, an ex-SAS soldier seemingly gone postal and killing two boys and wounding another. The survivor’s father is a Member of Parliament, and further, was arrested in a prostie sweep a few months previously leaving him with a fairly negative relationship with the police.
One of the killed boys was the son of John’s cousin, allowing Rankin to highlight the DI’s complete lack of connection to any other humans outside of work. Rebus is asked by the lead detective on the killings to consult even though he’s sort of suspended over that dead felon. With his hands burned, Clark is reduced to being his driver, door opener and cigarette lighter and used often for her feminine attractions to get men speaking when they’d otherwise not. As always, there are aspects of the school murders that don’t sit well with Rebus.
The two need to discover the truth behind that apartment fire and make sure that the truth of the school killings is swept under in the rush to put paid to a horrific crime.
recommended
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