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The Complaints (2009)

by Ian Rankin(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0752889516 (ISBN13: 9780752889511)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Orion Books

series

Malcolm Fox

review 1: A typical Ian Rankin pageturner. This time without boozy, rough at the edges, Rebus. Replaced by Malcolm Fox, more refined, but with the potential, one felt, to unleash fury if provoked. And although teetotal, to hit the spirits heavy again –there are references to his hard drinking past. This is the first detective novel I’ve read where the action centers mainly on cops checking out themselves; on the Complaints and Public Affairs Department, - Internal Affairs elsewhere. The two main cop protagonists, Fox and Jamie Brock are themselves the focus of police surveillance, but for the wrong reasons. Fox is targeted because he has successfully targeted a big gun cop. Brock is set up to suggest he is involved in child pornography, in a police trade off with baddies whos... moree corruption he has uncovered. Fox becomes almost paranoid as the novel progresses, preoccupied not only with a complicated criminal case involving murder, but with the question of who has tried to set him up within his own force. Its set around the time of the financial crisis 0f 2008 - RBS gets an honorable mention. The plot involves one large housing development which implodes. The shit hits the fan because dirty money is involved and the crims want their money back. Overall its an exciting intricate plot with numerous strands, albeit a bit convoluted in places.Good racy dialogue with numerous memorable quotes. Yes, I like “he could bore for Scotland”. And (he was a person's last hope) “He was the last lifebelt on the Titanic”.
review 2: More cerebral than the other Ian Rankins I've read, featuring Malcolm Fox come into his own. For a well-thought-out plot, it would be hard to beat, but it was a little dry: bribes and corruption among Edinburgh's developers, and the impact of that crime on the police department's Complaints unit--what would be "Internal Affairs" in the states. More police procedural than detective story, the ins and outs of the fairly obscure hierarchy among Scotland's police jurisdictions were a tad opaque. And it's a little jarring when Malcolm, a mild-mannered bachelor keeping an eye on his dad and his sister, occasionally explodes into brief macho cop mode.Rankin's a very readable writer, which is mostly why I finished it. But I was also hoping for a plot twist that would undo what troubled me most about the book: the belief that a nice guy could not possibly be a pedophile, that charisma is proof of virtue, that being likable proves a person doesn't do evil things. less

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