I still find Inspector Fox not as compelling or complex as Rebus, Rankin's main hero detective in that bestseller series of 18 novels. (But I don't miss the frequent references to unknown Scottish pop bands, in which Rebus frequently used to indulge.)There's no denying that DI Malcolm Fox is a tenacious sleuth and this story gathers a momentum so that it is hard to put down - rather more gripping than The Complaints, first in the new series.
Fox is in Fife, with a small team, to determine if some police in Kirkcaldy covered up for a corrupt colleague, Detective Paul Carter, apparently asking for sexual favours for overlooking transgressions and shopped by his own uncle, a former policeman.
The complaint investigators are met with unveiled contempt by the local police, but are used to such hostility.
The plot thickens when Carter's uncle dies in a shooting, clumsily disguised as a suicide - and the weapon officially should have earlier been destroyed by police.
Fox uncovers the case has strong links to 1985, a year of political turmoil and terrorism in Scotland.
While superiors warn him off, he keeps digging into the historic violent events and soon suspects some of those involved may have succeeded in hiding their past - they might even be prominent in positions of political and social influence.
The DI has problems of his own to contend with: a father with dementia in an assisted living facility, and a bitter sister.
Fox is also a recovering alcoholic (in contrast to Rebus' love of malt whisky, and Fox's colleagues enjoying their pints of beer.) Sadly though Fox remains a rather bland sort of stranger, not a solid human character like the Rebus we came to know so well.
The Impossible Dead is a quite entertaining tale, but only gets really exciting in the last 23 pages. I remain in the "bring back Rebus" band.
- Geoff Adams is a former ODT editor.
