Black & Blue by Ian Rankin
The very first crime novel that I’ve ever read and it didn’t disappointed.
I started reading this book a few months ago, but I stopped at p.4 -
‘After she was dead?’ Shand moved a little in the chair. ‘I took her clothes off and was intimate with her.’
‘With a dead body?’
‘She was still warm.’
I cannot.
I was flying to Singapore very soon at the time, and I was going to stay at a hotel alone. Ya girl was scared.
Can you even believe my first ever crime book got me shaking with just four pages. I’m so weak. But that doesn’t stop me from reading on. I put a pause on this book, and continued reading after I returned home safe and sound from Singapore.
Inspector John Rebus is juggling four cases while there’s this one case that he seems to be obsessed with; he studies them off-duty through old newspapers and reports at home. There are always trails that take him back to this one case - Bible John.
Bible John a serial killer who murdered three women after meeting him at the Barrowland Ballroom in 1960s. He left behind a trail of clues after each murder, but was never apprehended.
The story is dramatic and cinematic. The visions of the story are very vivid as if I was watching a crime drama on TV. The connection of the perspectives and scenarios are strong. There are a lot of characters and a lot is going on in Rebus’ investigation which I don’t recommend dragging on this book for too long before you forget about them, as if you’re also following him around to places. One interesting narrative - Bible John, he’s also looking into one of the cases using his own methods. With that, readers get to see his side of story, having to witness a game of cat and mouse.
The storyline steadily builds tension and suspense throughout the novel, keeping readers on the edge of their seats in this roller coaster plot. The first half of the book lays down a lot of cases background, while the second half is comparatively fast-paced and rushed, I reckon, revealing more of Rebus’ personalities and reflections as he delves deeper into the cases which involve corruption, that he starts questioning his own motives, morals, and sense of justice.
Looking at a deeper layer of the book, it touches on issues of obsession, workaholism, alcoholism, and sobriety. Rebus almost dedicates his life to work as an inspector - the only thing that he seems to find fulfilling in life. When he’s not working, he’s drinking at a bar, but still thinking about his cases - ‘trading one form of isolation for another’. His work and life seem to be inseparable, that it becomes a blur.
Eventually, when he’s become a target for another investigation, he’s slowly given up alcohol and cigarettes. At the end of the day, a person will change mostly under the circumstances of their life being tremendously affected, something big happens to them. Maybe this change of Rebus is under the good influence of his old pal, Jack, who’s oversighting Rebus.
Between work and life, there’s just one fine line. Some do what they love as work, and they don’t see it as “work”. Some see work as just work.
Work is part of life, no doubt, but will you ever let your work take away your life? The blur will always be there.
‘Work had a way of wrapping itself around you, so you were cut off from the rest of the world. People you met socially tended to treat you with suspicion or outright hostility - so you ended up mixing only with other cops, which bored your wife or girlfriend. They began to feel isolated too. It was a bastard.’
Throughout the book, you might be guessing who Bible John is, wondering if one of the characters is him. Even though Rebus eventually finds out who Bible John is but he’s never been arrested.
With each twist and turn, this book will get you hooked as it did to me when I ain’t even a crime novel fan. It’s always nice to explore different genres.
This story is based off a real life story. Until this day, this murder case is still a mystery.
Get yourself a copy: Black and Blue by Ian Rankin 📚
