Hide and Seek (Ian Rankin) “Thursday" and "Friday”

This story is not told in first person narrative, but it is so oriented to the mind of Inspector Rebus that it almost feels like first person.  Some authors write from a perspective that shows very little of what the characters are thinking, and others include quite a bit of what’s going on in the characters minds.  Frank Herbert, the sci-fi writer, sometimes incorporated entire paragraphs of internal dialog in italics, which made for some very interesting psychological play.  Here, Rankin is allowing us inside Rebus’ mind in subtle but effective ways, and the character of Rebus becomes very lifelike, with a personality that we begin to feel that we know very well.

His relationship with Tracy - a standard cop/witness relationship on the surface – continues to get more complex, until her animosity for him explodes into a rather lowdown double-fisted assault on his privates.  She doesn’t seem to understand the danger she’s in, and we half expect to encounter her later in the book in corpse form.  Conversely, his latest encounter with Charles is unexpectedly fruitful and civilized, occurring in his occultist blind uncle’s stately sitting room.  We also can sense the later reappearance of Uncle Vanderhyde, probably in a way which is very important to the solution of the case.  Or will he??  It’s often a surprise in mysteries how unimportant a sinister-seeming character turns out to be…

The peripheral issues in the story, (and every mystery seems to have them!) such as the raid on the dog fight, the recent love interest of Rebus and her current DJ boyfriend getting arrested, the assignment to the drug awareness program that Rebus is resisting, the suicide of one of the big-money players in said program … but wait, there’s more! … are deftly woven into the texture of the main plot; better than most mystery writers seem able to do.  Rankin writes with such calm self-assurance that it seems he can do no wrong.  (Other books of his that I have read slip a little in this regard, but not much.)

The name Hyde keeps blindsiding Rebus, but he can’t put his finger on it.  Is it connected to Vanderhyde, the occultist uncle?  The name seems to be connected with whoever is behind the apparent overdose-murder – someone who also knows Rebus is getting to close to solving the case.  The clearest example of this is the young, apparent-male-prostitute that Rebus had an encounter with earlier.  He winds up in the interrogation room at police headquarters with a story accusing Rebus of police brutality.  It’s clear he wouldn’t have involved himself with the police in this way unless he was being handsomely paid or blackmailed into it.  This is one of the loose ends that will surely play a major role at the climax of the story.

A very memorable scene occurs which has such a high disgust factor that it might win an award for Most Revolting Passage in some literary contest.  At the abandoned flat where the corpse was found, the bathroom, not having had water service in recent history, had been used anyway and had filled up slowly over time by every transient who ever frequented the “dump.”  (Sorry!)  When our Inspector realizes that the bathtub full of waste would be the perfect hiding place for the photos he’s looking for, he grabs a shovel and some gloves and starts “mining.”  The descriptions of the sight, sounds and SMELLS of this project have the reader gagging along with Rebus’ assistant, Holmes!




Next week: “Conclusion”



And join us next month for March’s book of the month: “Hammerfall,” by C. J. Cherryh.

One of the most renowned figures in science fiction, C.J. Cherryh has been enthralling audiences for nearly thirty years with rich and complex novels. Now at the peak of her career, this three-time Hugo Award winner launches her most ambitious work in decades, Hammerfall, part of a far-ranging series, The Gene Wars, set in an entirely new universe scarred by the most vicious of future weaponry, nanotechnology. In this brilliant novel -- possibly Cherryh's masterwork -- the fate of billions has come down to a confrontation between two profoundly alien cultures on a single desert planet.