Book Review - Knots & Crosses (Ian Rankin)

This is a review of Ian Rankin's 1987 novel, Knots and Crosses, the first in the John Rebus series.

The story takes place in Edinburgh, where a serial killer is targeting pre-teen girls and strangling them. The police are baffled by both the seemingly random nature of the crimes and the lack of a sexual element. Meanwhile, DS John Rebus is being hounded by anonymous letters as well as a journalist who suspects he's involved in a drug-dealing operation.

This is quite an unusual crime novel. In the introduction to the 1999 omnibus, Ian Rankin says that he didn't set out to write a crime novel and was surprised when the book was categorised as such. It certainly shows as Knots and Crosses is far less preoccupied with the mechanics of the investigation than with the analysis of Rebus himself.

From the get-go, Rankin establishes Rebus as a deeply damaged individual. He has a disastrous relationship with his brother, ex-wife and daughter, still suffers PTSD from a period in the SAS, and has a poisonously cynical attitude to the city around him. Rankin avoids wallowing in his protagonists' misery however, and keeps the plot moving at a brisk pace to ensure the reader is never bored. Rebus' little bouts of depression (and there are more than a few) are enough to establish the character to the reader, but never feel drag on to the point that they feel self-indulgent.

The actual investigation is left to the supporting characters, mostly Rebus' fellow DS Jack Morton. Rebus spends most of his energy struggling to connect with his remaining family, while puzzling over the sinister but oddly vague letters he keeps receiving.

In a darkly comic twist, Rebus is also unknowingly being followed by journalist Jim Stevens, who suspects he's involved in a drug ring. Stevens has a similarly unfulfilling life situation, but expends his energy on his work. This manifests itself in an obsession with a drug story he's not even attached to, as well as pining for a female DI that Rebus is involved with. In a way, Stevens is a slightly more interesting character than Rebus as he's more proactive and drives the plot more, as opposed to Rebus who mopes around waiting for the plot to happen. That may sound like criticism but it's really not, as Rebus' self-paralysing depression becomes a mjor plot point (and again, Rankin knows not to push this trait too far to make him insufferable).

As with many crime authors, Rankin gives as much personality to the setting as his characters. Rebus projects his misery on to Edinburgh itself, seeing the whole city as an enabler for appalling crime. It says a lot for Rebus' state of mind that he begins to see his own trauma reflected on the environment. I was glad however, that Rankin didn't stuff the book full of geographical pointers and map references (as say, Ben Aaronovitch does for London). While I'm sure this can be a lot of fun for readers familiar with the setting, it can be quite alienating to those with no knowledge of it.

Knots and Crosses is certainly not a happy book, but I still found it to be great reading. Rankin knows how to balance plot with introspection without making things self-indulgent, and also creates a very evocative setting. Highly recommended.