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Available
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Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. An illegal immigrant is found murdered in an Edinburgh housing scheme. Rebus is drawn into the case, but has other problems: his old police station has closed for business, and his masters would rather he retire than stick around. But as Rebus investigates, he must deal with the sleazy Edinburgh underworld, and maybe even fall in love.
User reviews
LibraryThing member louisedennis
I was interested to note in wellinghall's recent post about popular libary books that Fleshmarket Close by Iain Rankin was in the top ten and was, in fact, the only Rankin book to appear in the top ten. Does that mean people think it is the best Rankin? or just that its reached some optimal point
Fleshmarket Close is, I think, one of the better John Rebus books (Rebus being Rankin's Edinburgh detective, for the uninitiated). It's major weakness is that it relies on three cases coincidentally linking together - while I'll generally forgive two cases suddenly turning out to be linked* my patience gets stretched at three. I think I read in a writing manual somewhere that the reader will always allow you one coincidence but not two, and that appears to be the case in point here.
However I don't really read Rebus books for the plot, so long as its reasonably coherent I'm happy, I read them for Rebus himself and the Edinburgh he inhabits which is almost a character in its own right. Rebus is on form in Fleshmarket Close, in so far as an alcholic misanthropist with an instinctively vicious approach to justice can be said to be on form. I mean vicious not in the Judge Dredd beat-em-up kind of way though I'm sure Rebus wouldn't object to playing judge and jury as well as policeman. Rebus appears to have relatively little interest in making wrongdoers suffer physically, but he wants them to suffer. There is a particularly chilling moment in Fleshmarket Close where he takes a kind of revenge on the adminstrator of a detention centre for illegal imigrants. He suspects strongly that this man is involved in forced labour gangs but he also holds him to an extent to blame as the representative of the entire way in which the UK treats illegal immigrants. There is also a woman who Rebus is trying to impress. It's a complex moment for Rebus and demonstrates, in many ways, his inability to view things in the abstract - he doesn't rail against the system and has no particularly strong feeling about immigrants in general, but given some specific immigrants whom he feels to be ill-treated, and a face for the system then he shows little mercy and gives no quarter. I make Rebus sound like a difficult character to like, and I suspect he would be extremely difficult to like in real life, but on the page we see inside his head enough to empathise and to appreciate his dogged determination to mete out some sort of justice.
As for Rebus' Edinburgh, well part of my interest, of course, is having lived there though I always feel that Rebus views the city through a glass darkly. I didn't exactly live in tourist Edinburgh but I lived in genteel academic Marchmont. Reading a Rebus novel is like visiting somewhere similar but both different and darker to the place I knew which makes it an oddly nostalgic experience.
Those library reading figures suggest maybe this is a good "first" Rebus novel. I don't know. Rebus is never a particularly approachable character and this probably isn't the tightest Rebus novel in plot terms, but his side-kick Siobahn is more accessible and this book continues the trend established in the last couple of giving her a far more central role in proceedings and showing more of the proceedings through her point of view... and there have certainly been flabbier plots in the series as well.
* just as well, really, otherwise my enjoyment of CSI, and CSI:New York would be much impaired. "Do you mean to say your case is my case?" gets uttered nearly every other week.
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past publication that suddenly everyone starts borrowing it from the library?Fleshmarket Close is, I think, one of the better John Rebus books (Rebus being Rankin's Edinburgh detective, for the uninitiated). It's major weakness is that it relies on three cases coincidentally linking together - while I'll generally forgive two cases suddenly turning out to be linked* my patience gets stretched at three. I think I read in a writing manual somewhere that the reader will always allow you one coincidence but not two, and that appears to be the case in point here.
However I don't really read Rebus books for the plot, so long as its reasonably coherent I'm happy, I read them for Rebus himself and the Edinburgh he inhabits which is almost a character in its own right. Rebus is on form in Fleshmarket Close, in so far as an alcholic misanthropist with an instinctively vicious approach to justice can be said to be on form. I mean vicious not in the Judge Dredd beat-em-up kind of way though I'm sure Rebus wouldn't object to playing judge and jury as well as policeman. Rebus appears to have relatively little interest in making wrongdoers suffer physically, but he wants them to suffer. There is a particularly chilling moment in Fleshmarket Close where he takes a kind of revenge on the adminstrator of a detention centre for illegal imigrants. He suspects strongly that this man is involved in forced labour gangs but he also holds him to an extent to blame as the representative of the entire way in which the UK treats illegal immigrants. There is also a woman who Rebus is trying to impress. It's a complex moment for Rebus and demonstrates, in many ways, his inability to view things in the abstract - he doesn't rail against the system and has no particularly strong feeling about immigrants in general, but given some specific immigrants whom he feels to be ill-treated, and a face for the system then he shows little mercy and gives no quarter. I make Rebus sound like a difficult character to like, and I suspect he would be extremely difficult to like in real life, but on the page we see inside his head enough to empathise and to appreciate his dogged determination to mete out some sort of justice.
As for Rebus' Edinburgh, well part of my interest, of course, is having lived there though I always feel that Rebus views the city through a glass darkly. I didn't exactly live in tourist Edinburgh but I lived in genteel academic Marchmont. Reading a Rebus novel is like visiting somewhere similar but both different and darker to the place I knew which makes it an oddly nostalgic experience.
Those library reading figures suggest maybe this is a good "first" Rebus novel. I don't know. Rebus is never a particularly approachable character and this probably isn't the tightest Rebus novel in plot terms, but his side-kick Siobahn is more accessible and this book continues the trend established in the last couple of giving her a far more central role in proceedings and showing more of the proceedings through her point of view... and there have certainly been flabbier plots in the series as well.
* just as well, really, otherwise my enjoyment of CSI, and CSI:New York would be much impaired. "Do you mean to say your case is my case?" gets uttered nearly every other week.
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LibraryThing member panamacoffee
Whitemire - a detention center for asylum seekers, mostly from the Middle East. Knoxland - a low income housing estate, run by the Council. Fleshmarket Alley - a sleazy area in Edinburgh. The Nook - a bar in the Fleshmarket area where the skeletons of a mother and child have been recently unearthed
The mix of these places is integrated into the story, but I found it all a bit forced. Rankin's detective John Rebus and his current police partner Siobhan carry out their separate investigations - the one of Rebus starts with the skeletons, the one of Siobhan starts with the rapist - and the writing is always interesting. But it felt to me that Rankin had an agenda, and that took away from the story itself.
This is my least favorite of the Rankin books I've read so far.
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from beneath a concrete floor. The Bane - a bar in Baneville that is frequented by a recently released rapist.The mix of these places is integrated into the story, but I found it all a bit forced. Rankin's detective John Rebus and his current police partner Siobhan carry out their separate investigations - the one of Rebus starts with the skeletons, the one of Siobhan starts with the rapist - and the writing is always interesting. But it felt to me that Rankin had an agenda, and that took away from the story itself.
This is my least favorite of the Rankin books I've read so far.
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LibraryThing member Romonko
This is number 15 in this much-beloved series. I have enjoyed each and every one of the previous books in the series. Rebus is a character that is so realistic that I can't help thinking that if I walk into the Oxford Bar I'll see him there drinking a whiskey and smoking a cigarette. That is Ian
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Rankin's gift-drawing realistic, three-dimensional characters and crafting very tricky mysteries around them. In this book Rebus is working with another DI. The body of a young immigrant man was found in a dark alley in one of Edinburgh's more seedy neighbourhoods. At first glance it looks like a hate crime, but as Rebus digs, he finds it is much more complicated than it first appears. Siobhan has her own case to pursue. The body of a convicted rapist is found in another dark alley in another seedy neighbourhood. These two quite separate cases turn out be connected in some way. This series continues to satisfy at all levels. Great storytelling, wonderfully intricate plotting, remarkable characterization of both the old, loved characters, as well as new ones and a friendship between two colleagues that seems to strengthen more with each book. Can't wait to read the next one. Show Less
LibraryThing member RobertDay
I've come late to Ian Rankin and the Rebus novels (in more ways than one), and I was warned that in starting with 'Fleshmarket Close' I would be pitched into a well-established character and backstory. But I'd recently come to understand that the author was friends with two other writers whose work
I need not have worried. Rankin is so at home with his characters that by this 15th book in the series, he does not feel the need to tell, but can show instead. I quickly picked up on most of Rebus and Siobhan's character traits, and what I didn't know I could reasonably easily fill in. After all, Rebus is a Saab driver (like me), I have visited Edinburgh a few times, and I have worked with Scots on many occasions. This was all quite familiar to me.
The plot concerned two apparently unrelated cases, one of which doesn't seem to be a crime at all. But others get drawn into the picture until we have a tapestry that makes an unpleasant big picture when you stand back from it. Perhaps there's a lot of interconnectedness between the cases that might stretch credulity a bit, but this is a thriller novel after all; what would be the point of a crime novel where there was only one victim, their circumstances lacked complications and the steps leading to the apprehension of their killer were straightforward matters of filling in the boxes to see what answer pops out?
The book is shot through with Scots humour and the detail of Edinburgh police bureaucracy is particularly telling. Do not make the mistake of getting on the wrong side of the Edinburgh Drugs Squad!
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I admire - Ken MacLeod and Iain Banks - and so I felt I needed to complete my education.I need not have worried. Rankin is so at home with his characters that by this 15th book in the series, he does not feel the need to tell, but can show instead. I quickly picked up on most of Rebus and Siobhan's character traits, and what I didn't know I could reasonably easily fill in. After all, Rebus is a Saab driver (like me), I have visited Edinburgh a few times, and I have worked with Scots on many occasions. This was all quite familiar to me.
The plot concerned two apparently unrelated cases, one of which doesn't seem to be a crime at all. But others get drawn into the picture until we have a tapestry that makes an unpleasant big picture when you stand back from it. Perhaps there's a lot of interconnectedness between the cases that might stretch credulity a bit, but this is a thriller novel after all; what would be the point of a crime novel where there was only one victim, their circumstances lacked complications and the steps leading to the apprehension of their killer were straightforward matters of filling in the boxes to see what answer pops out?
The book is shot through with Scots humour and the detail of Edinburgh police bureaucracy is particularly telling. Do not make the mistake of getting on the wrong side of the Edinburgh Drugs Squad!
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LibraryThing member mbmackay
Part of the extended Inspector Rebus series, but my first time reading Ian Rankin. This is a good book - detective fiction, but so much more than a whodunnit. Edinburgh is almost a character in the book and the plot uses current issues such as racism and asylum seekers as the backdrop. Inspector
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Rebus is possibly a little too good to be true, but the reader is happy to make him into a believable character. I will be back for more Rankin and Rebus. Read June 2009. Show Less
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
The US market title is apparently Fleshmarket Alley. An illegal immigrant is murdered in an Edinburgh housing scheme and Rebus is drawn into the case, whilst sidekick Siobhan has her own problems finding a missing teenager. Two skeletons are found in Fleshmarket Close and Rankin weaves a complex
As always Rankin provides high quality characterisation and sense of place, in most cases using real Edinburgh area locations, keeping the reader guessing up to the end.
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story around these events and characters.As always Rankin provides high quality characterisation and sense of place, in most cases using real Edinburgh area locations, keeping the reader guessing up to the end.
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LibraryThing member Heptonj
This time Inspector Rebus has to deal with the delicate issues of racial prejudice and the closed-ranks of foreign immigrants when a young immigrant is murdered. There is also the question of whose bones were in the cellar of a bar.
A typically good read from Ian Rankin with a nice touch of humour
A typically good read from Ian Rankin with a nice touch of humour
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where appropriate. Show Less
LibraryThing member Joycepa
Another in the Inspector Rebus series.
Due to reorganization of his old precinct, Rebus and other St. Leonard's CID personnel have been reassigned; he and Siobhan Clarke are now operating out of Gayfield Square and find themselves in new territory. The central plot concerns the murder of an asylum
While both threads are separate, they do intertwine since the course of both investigations lead to Edinburg's sex industry, the world of strip clubs and pornography. The social issue of Scotland's asylum seekers is central to the plot and very well handled.
The plot is complex enough to satisfy the most demanding readers. Rankin really writes novels that happen to be police procedurals. But in this one, the reader gets more than a hint that both Rebus AND Rankin are getting tired of the chase.
Due to reorganization of his old precinct, Rebus and other St. Leonard's CID personnel have been reassigned; he and Siobhan Clarke are now operating out of Gayfield Square and find themselves in new territory. The central plot concerns the murder of an asylum
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seeker in an Edinburg housing project that has become housing predominantly for immigrants, many of them probably illegal; the murder is being treated as a race crime and Rebus is the only one who is serious about the investigation. Meantime, Siobhan has been drrawn into searching for a missing teenager, the younger sister of a young woman who was brutally raped and murdered a few years back; the case winds up involving the murder of the rapist and a community that is perfectly happy to cover up for whoever did it.While both threads are separate, they do intertwine since the course of both investigations lead to Edinburg's sex industry, the world of strip clubs and pornography. The social issue of Scotland's asylum seekers is central to the plot and very well handled.
The plot is complex enough to satisfy the most demanding readers. Rankin really writes novels that happen to be police procedurals. But in this one, the reader gets more than a hint that both Rebus AND Rankin are getting tired of the chase.
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LibraryThing member sarams
I liked it a little less than The Falls. But it's still a good read, and a complex story, and not obvious from the beginning- at least not to me. It's not so much the mystery that interests me but the relationships that are pictured.
LibraryThing member DaveFragments
A good detective mystery but very British.
LibraryThing member riverwillow
I just cannot fault this series of books as crime novels they are engaging and thrilling. But it is the flawed, but very real, Rebus who dominates these stories. This is a particularly good instalment.
LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen
Another stunning outing for Rebus. Like most crime fiction, this book has its moral to push; and this one, is the ease with which the honest can be corrupted.
Rebus gets to work alongside Felix Storey, an Immigration official. Mr Storey is getting a string of accurate tip-offs which lead to the
This précis misses out the two skeletons buried in a pub cellar, the disappearance of the sister of a previous murder victim, and Rebus' brief affair with a 'right on' lady, Caro Quinn but, hey, if you want the full rounded picture, read the book.
Rebus gets to work alongside Felix Storey, an Immigration official. Mr Storey is getting a string of accurate tip-offs which lead to the
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destruction of a people trafficking cartel. Just when Felix is preening himself upon his success, Rebus punctures the bubble by introducing him to his source.This précis misses out the two skeletons buried in a pub cellar, the disappearance of the sister of a previous murder victim, and Rebus' brief affair with a 'right on' lady, Caro Quinn but, hey, if you want the full rounded picture, read the book.
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LibraryThing member tripleblessings
An illegal immigrant is found murdered in an Edinburgh housing scheme; a racist attack, or something else entirely? Rebus investigates, while Siobhan is on the trail of a missing teenager, a convicted rapist, and two skeletons buried beneath a concrete floor of a pub in Fleshmarket Close. A superb
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series, dark and intriguing, with wonderful insights into life in modern Edinburgh and all of Scotland. This is the 16th Rebus mystery. Show Less
LibraryThing member mrtall
An suprisingly bad offering in what's been an otherwise dependable series.
Fleshmarket Close weighs in at 482 pages in paperback. But let's take a closer look at what we're actually getting here from Mr Rankin:
**Autotext descriptions of Inspector Rebus smoking, drinking and thinking about smoking
**Insipid dialog: 120 pages, at least. Here's a little example. Keep in mind the two characters involved are young police officers in the middle of a high-speed car chase:
-------------------------------
"What do you reckon?" she asked Young.
"You know the city better than I do," he admitted.
"I think he'll head for the park. If he stays on the streets, he'll hit a snarl-up sooner or later. In the park, there's a chance he can put his foot down, maybe lose us."
"Are you besmirching my car?"
"Last time I looked, Daewoos didn't sport four-litre engines."
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Besmirching? Sport? This single excerpt, taken verbatim from page 461, is typical of the whole book: cliche-ridden, faux-articulate, and flaccid.
**Moral preening by the author: 100 pages, at least. Not only does Rankin have Rebus speechifying all over the place, he gives him a quick fling with a tedious, self-righteous woman who serves as Rankin's mouthpiece for repetitious diatribes on the evils of Scottish society.
What's left is not much -- three interlocking plotlines that try to be far too clever, and end up predictable.
Fleshmarket Close weighs in at 482 pages in paperback. But let's take a closer look at what we're actually getting here from Mr Rankin:
**Autotext descriptions of Inspector Rebus smoking, drinking and thinking about smoking
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and drinking: at least 50 pages**Insipid dialog: 120 pages, at least. Here's a little example. Keep in mind the two characters involved are young police officers in the middle of a high-speed car chase:
-------------------------------
"What do you reckon?" she asked Young.
"You know the city better than I do," he admitted.
"I think he'll head for the park. If he stays on the streets, he'll hit a snarl-up sooner or later. In the park, there's a chance he can put his foot down, maybe lose us."
"Are you besmirching my car?"
"Last time I looked, Daewoos didn't sport four-litre engines."
--------------------------
Besmirching? Sport? This single excerpt, taken verbatim from page 461, is typical of the whole book: cliche-ridden, faux-articulate, and flaccid.
**Moral preening by the author: 100 pages, at least. Not only does Rankin have Rebus speechifying all over the place, he gives him a quick fling with a tedious, self-righteous woman who serves as Rankin's mouthpiece for repetitious diatribes on the evils of Scottish society.
What's left is not much -- three interlocking plotlines that try to be far too clever, and end up predictable.
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LibraryThing member -Eva-
Rebus is juggling the murder of an asylum seeker, some mysterious unearthed human bones, and a girl who seems to have vanished out of thin air. There are slightly too many story lines to keep track of and a huge amount of information on bureaucracy, which slows the action down somewhat. However, as
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usual, the characters, the dialogue, and the vistas are absolutely remarkable, and I have a hard time faulting any part of this series only because I have so much fun reading, even to the point that I sometimes go back and reread some of the dialogue aloud to myself. In honesty, what else could you ask from any book? Show Less
LibraryThing member veracite
Cracking. Went out and got hold of a bunch more.
LibraryThing member stuart10er
It is interesting to see what Rankin does with each book as he has Rebus explore various social issues that the author is clearly interested in. This one was about the slave labor conditions in Scotland of various illegal immigrants. Tragic stories usually. One is murdered and it leads to a tangled
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web of misdeeds by the people preying on these slaves. Excellent read. Show Less
LibraryThing member gmmartz
I loved Ian Rankin's 'Fleshmarket Alley'.....in fact, I have probably over-rated it a bit just due to the fact that it was the right book at the right time for me: a whodunnit with great characters and solid police work.
Detective Rebus is one of the great, underrated characters in this genre. He
Fleshmarket has several plot elements that somehow eventually intersect. A young immigrant man is murdered in a rough part of town while a couple of old skeletons are unearthed in another. Throw in some drugs, white slavery, refugees, immigrant integration, race, and a little romance for the main characters and you have a target rich environment for a police procedural. The action isn't breathtakingly fast, but it moves along quickly.
One reason I like the Rebus series so well is that it's based across the pond and I like to think about the differences between 'them and us'. They may talk kind of funny, but the crimes are similar what you'd see over here, except for the relative absence of guns. The legal system is obviously different, but the job of the police seems to be pretty much the same.
One really interesting topic addressed in Fleshmarket was the immigration issue. At the time it was written (in the early 2000's) Scotland was facing a lot of illegal immigration and refugees and two of the key sites in the investigations were the immigration detention center (where the illegals are 'housed') and a high-rise project in Edinburgh where legal immigrants have found housing. Both are prisons, of a sort. Anyway, immigration was an important facet of this novel and it was fascinating to see how it was covered and reacted to by the Scottish characters.
All-in-all, a fine read!
Detective Rebus is one of the great, underrated characters in this genre. He
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knows his territory (Edinburgh) and its inhabitants like the back of his hand, he comes across to his peers as gruff yet competent, and he has trouble playing nicely with his superiors. Sounds like a bunch of other characters in the crime genre, but Rebus is actually one of a kind. His gruffness is a facade in front of feelings he takes great care to hide and he has many facets to his character that are exposed through Rankin's series. I've read the Rebus novels out of sequence so I don't have a linear view of how his character has been developed, but I can say that Rankin has done a great job creating him and showing his readers exactly who he is.Fleshmarket has several plot elements that somehow eventually intersect. A young immigrant man is murdered in a rough part of town while a couple of old skeletons are unearthed in another. Throw in some drugs, white slavery, refugees, immigrant integration, race, and a little romance for the main characters and you have a target rich environment for a police procedural. The action isn't breathtakingly fast, but it moves along quickly.
One reason I like the Rebus series so well is that it's based across the pond and I like to think about the differences between 'them and us'. They may talk kind of funny, but the crimes are similar what you'd see over here, except for the relative absence of guns. The legal system is obviously different, but the job of the police seems to be pretty much the same.
One really interesting topic addressed in Fleshmarket was the immigration issue. At the time it was written (in the early 2000's) Scotland was facing a lot of illegal immigration and refugees and two of the key sites in the investigations were the immigration detention center (where the illegals are 'housed') and a high-rise project in Edinburgh where legal immigrants have found housing. Both are prisons, of a sort. Anyway, immigration was an important facet of this novel and it was fascinating to see how it was covered and reacted to by the Scottish characters.
All-in-all, a fine read!
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LibraryThing member DrLed
Synopsis: The bones of a woman and a child are found buried under the floor of a bar. Siobhan and Rebus go on the hunt for murders, finding a tangled web of human trafficking, illegal aliens, fraud, and the reappearance of Cafferty.
Review: There are lots of twists and turns in this story with a few
Review: There are lots of twists and turns in this story with a few
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red herrings along the way and a humorous ending. Show Less
LibraryThing member kerns222
It's the characters. That's how Rankin writes. But in this book dialog between cops is often a brick and the lead cops motives are murky (Why is Shiv meeting that Arsehole rich guy in a bar anyway-just take him in to the station).
Villains are interesting, but maybe a bit stock. The
But somehow the book does not hang together as his others do. I liked The Falls and Exit Music much better.
Villains are interesting, but maybe a bit stock. The
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inbetweens--witnesses, bystanders, immigrants--are neither too good nor too bad. But somehow the book does not hang together as his others do. I liked The Falls and Exit Music much better.
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LibraryThing member froschling
Vintage Rebus
All the essential elements of the Rebus genre with the added topically that is Ian Rankin's trademark.. Another great read.
All the essential elements of the Rebus genre with the added topically that is Ian Rankin's trademark.. Another great read.
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
Skeletons in the basement of a pub, a dark-skinned man stabbed to death in a housing estate and a missing girl don't seem to have a lot in common until DI Rebus and DS Clarke get involved.
Rebus and Clarke have just been moved to a new police station but there is not a lot for them to do there and
As usual with Ian Rankin's books there is lots of local colour from Edinburgh mixed in with the police procedures. At one point as I was reading, although I was physically sitting on a beach in BC I felt as though I was walking the streets with Rebus and Clarke.
Much of this book was involved with refugees and illegal immigrants seeking to remain in a safe country like Scotland. It's a scary world for many people and I thank God I was born in a wonderful country like Canada.
Rebus and Clarke have just been moved to a new police station but there is not a lot for them to do there and
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when other jurisdictions ask for their help, they are allowed to go providing they return if needed.As usual with Ian Rankin's books there is lots of local colour from Edinburgh mixed in with the police procedures. At one point as I was reading, although I was physically sitting on a beach in BC I felt as though I was walking the streets with Rebus and Clarke.
Much of this book was involved with refugees and illegal immigrants seeking to remain in a safe country like Scotland. It's a scary world for many people and I thank God I was born in a wonderful country like Canada.
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LibraryThing member SteveAldous
Strong entry in the Rebus series is a mature study of attitudes toward asylum seekers and illegal immigrants with two interwoven cases as the backdrop. The book's concluding scenes are some of the best written in the series.
Awards
British Book Award (Winner — 2005)
Theakstons Old Peculier Prize (Longlist — 2006)