'Even Dogs In The Wild', Ian Rankin

Retirement can kill you, as John Rebus knows all too well, trying as he is to make a life for himself after handing in his warrant card. Even his decades-old nemesis, Big Ger Cafferty is starting to slow down, allowing a new generation of hard men to take control the streets of Edinburgh. But when, out of the blue, someone takes a shot at the old gangland boss, Rebus finds himself liaising between the new breed of cops at Police Scotland, and the old style criminals of his past. And when it looks as though war will break out on the streets of the capital, the question is, can old style policing and dogged detective work still save the day?

Rankin, the master of tartan noir, takes a dark, murky, and disturbing walk through some of Edinburgh’s seedier recent history, and cuts especially close to the bone on occasion in his latest instalment in his bestselling series. With characters as brooding as the landscape they inhabit, Rankin proves that there’s plenty of life in the old dog yet.

'Even Dogs In The Wild' was released in Trade Paperback in Australia in November 2015.

Please note: a version of this review appeared in Issue No 500 of The Big Issue (Australia) on 10 December 2015.