The Falls (63 page)

Could it be said that Rebus is trying to make sense in a general way of the world around him, or is he seeking answers to the ‘big questions’? And is it relevant therefore that he is a believer in God and comes from a Scottish Presbyterian background? Would Rebus see confession in both the religious and the criminal sense as similar in any way?

How does Ian Rankin explore notions of Edinburgh as a character in its own right? In what way does he contrast the glossy public and seedy private faces of the city with the public and private faces of those Rebus meets?

How does Ian Rankin use musical sources – the Elvis references in
The Black Book
, for instance, or the Rolling Stones allusions in
Let It Bleed
– as a means of character development through the series? What does Rebus’s own taste in music and books say about him as a person?

What do you think about Rebus as a character? If you have read several or more novels from the series, discuss how his character is developed.

If Rebus has a problem with notions of ‘pecking order’ and the idea of authority generally, what does it say about him that he chose careers in hierarchical institutions such as the Army and then the police?

How does Rebus relate to women: as lovers, flirtations, family members and colleagues?

Do the flashes of gallows humour as often shown by the pathologists but sometimes also in Rebus’s own comments increase or dissipate narrative tension? Does Rebus use black comedy for the same reasons the pathologists do?

Do Rebus’s personal vulnerabilities make him understanding of the frailties of others?

How does the characterisation of Rebus compare to other long-standing popular detectives from British authors such as Holmes, Poirot, Morse or Dalgleish? And are there more similarities or differences between them?

Flip, a 20-year-old art history student, is missing after joining a compulsive interactive internet game. A tiny doll in a coffin is discovered at a place called Falls, a companion perhaps to the mysterious eight surviving real-life Arthur’s Seat coffins from 1836 (and maybe also to several others found in recent years).

And soon the police realise that a while back the body of Jürgen, another student also keen on interactive games, was found on a remote Scottish hillside; while the other recently discovered dolls in coffins can be linked to a series of apparent suicides that may now have to be regarded as cases of murder.

Rebus doesn’t know what to make of the computer angle that seems to be commanding so much of the investigation, and so it is left to DC Siobhan Clarke to step into the breach, although she soon finds herself facing a series of ever more demanding challenges as she embarks on a life-or-death role-playing treasure hunt orchestrated by an enigmatic Quizmaster.

As Siobhan turns down a promotion and Rebus ignores instructions to see a doctor, the pair find themselves in bad odour with their new boss, DCS Gill Templer (who has history with Rebus), as they become gripped by a complex set of clues that may turn out instead to be mere distractions.

Ian Rankin shows Siobhan coming of age as a detective in
The Falls
, played out against the poignancy of Rebus’s understanding that technology is now taking over in many investigations and that a technophobe such as himself may be the last of a dying breed unless, of course, the drink gets to him first.

There’s a new love interest for Rebus. Does he treat her better than previous partners?