Customer Reviews
Number Seventeen in the Rebus Series - By: J. Chippindale, 08 Nov 2007 
Ian Rankin was bornin the Kingdom of Fifein 1960. His list of books is now into the thirties & this book is number seventeenin his enormously popular Rebus series. He lives with his wife & two sonsin Edinburgh.
I have not read very many of Ian Rankin's novels, Inspector Rebus or otherwise. What I can say is that the two or three of his most recent novels that I have read have been extremely enjoyable. Exit Music setin Edinburgh is like a breath of fresh air after being fed a diet of American thrillers setin the smog filled streets of New York or San Francisco.
The book opens with DI Rebus winding down & attempting to tie up any loose ends before his impending retirement, but then a murder takes place & retirement for Rebus seems just that little bit further away. The murder appears at first sight be a mugging gone wrong & involves the death of a Russian poet. The death coincides with the visit of a delegation of Russian businessmen. The politicians who run Edinburgh want the case cleaned up as quickly & quietly as possible.
Rebus is not about to take his finger off the pulse just yet & the more he digs, the more convinced he becomes that this is not a random attack & this seems to be confirmed when a second killing takes place. This case is turning ugly & complicated. Why did it have to happen a few days before his retirement. That is the question Rebus keeps asking himself . . . ?
One of Rankin's finest - By: T. Krings, 09 Oct 2007 James MacPherson is the Frank Sinatra auf audio books! His readings are always superb but this time it is his best yet. He gives an authentic voice to each character & understands the dynamics of the book perfectly. The five CD format is a good abridgement of the book. The storyin itself is interesting & well told- better than the last instalment of the Rebus series. Rebus had mellowedin the last books & now he really is back as a complex character & not an entirely likeable one. His old problems with authority are back with a vengeance. Exit Music tells the story of Rebus' last case & his last ten days before retirement.Rankin saidin interviews that he was still undecided as to whether Rebus will return or not. The ending of Exit Music is very good as it shows as a very dark side of Rebus' psyche & the true nature of his relationship with Cafferty. From my point of view this is one of Rankin's best.
