The Impossible Dead
by Ian Rankin
Orion (e-book)
The Impossible Dead is the second book of Ian Rankin's second series - the first featured a chap called Rebus and was moderately successful in the way international best-sellers are moderately successful. Malcolm Fox works in Internal Affairs - exactly the sort of man who would normally have investigated Rebus for gung-ho detective work. Having made a solid start in The Complaints, Fox returns to hunt down Paul Carter who, among other transgressions, is suspected of sleeping with a prostitute rather than arresting her. Arriving in Fife, he detects a conspiracy protecting Carter from a deeper plot - honour among policemen, perhaps. The only exception is Carter's uncle, a former detective, who reported him in the first place. When he is found dead, shortly after his nephew's release, Fox smells a rat. The origins of the case lie over a quarter of a century before in 1985. Are some of Scotland's most decorated law enforcers responsible for some infamous terrorist outrages? Fox is an appealing hero, although he hasn't taken off. Still, early days for the man who would be Rebus.
