Set in Darkness (57 page)
Authors: Ian Rankin
Siobhan comes under an obvious physical threat – but is this in fact the biggest threat to her?
‘
Everything in its place – the body in the fireplace; Roddy Grieve in the summer house – for a reason. There had to be an explanation; it was just that they couldn’t see it yet
.’ Would Rebus think this true of all investigations?
In
Set in Darkness
there are a lot of sexual undercurrents in the workplace. What conclusions might the reader draw?
One man’s retirement was another man’s redundancy
’ Which side of the equation does Rebus favour?
Siobhan’s relationship with Rebus is evolving. Would she think now that she understands him?
And what kind of job was it that could make you feel so bad about yourself
. . .?’ Siobhan thinks this; is the reader meant to infer that she is becoming like Rebus?
She was saying that the past was a different place, that it could not be revisited. The town had tricked him by seeming unchanged. But
he
had changed: that was what mattered
.’ Considering the emphasis in
Set in Darkness
on different types of history and ‘past’, what exactly is Ian Rankin trying to get the reader to think about?
‘
A city which seemed defined by its past as much as by its present, and only now, with the parliament coming, looking towards the future
.’ Is this a new dimension to the way Edinburgh has been characterised in the past by Ian Rankin?
What is the reader supposed to make of Rebus’s behaviour years earlier when a girlfriend had chucked him?
What audacious stunt does Big Ger pull to get himself out of prison? What is Rebus’s response? And how has their relationship developed?
First published in Great Britain in 2000 by Orion Books.
First published in ebook form in 2009 by Orion Books.
This updated ebook published in 2011 by Orion Books.
Copyright © John Rebus Limited 2000
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005
The right of Ian Rankin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the copyright, designs and patents act 1988.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 4091 0761 3
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