Midnight and Blue: An Inspector Rebus Novel
“While HMP Edinburgh is ‘no country for old men,’ the venerable retired detective John Rebus, imprisoned for murder, must find a way to survive the ordeal.”
John Rebus has been convicted of the murder of Big Ger Cafferty, notorious Edinburgh gang lord. Sentenced to life imprisonment, the retired detective inspector is incarcerated in Saughton, also known as His Majesty’s Prison Edinburgh.
When he emerges from solitary confinement into general population, Rebus unwillingly falls under the protection of drug kingpin Dwight Christie, a volatile psychopath who continues to run his outside operations with the same vicious determination as he controls business inside. A former cop, Rebus has a large target on his back, but Christie has spread the word that he’s not to be bothered.
When an inmate across from Rebus is brutally murdered in his cell, however, the balance of power is thrown out. Rival gangs take advantage of the chaos to make their moves against Christie. Rebus, nearly 70 and not as strong as he once was, finds himself in the crosshairs. His mouth is now writing checks that his body can’t cash, and his life hangs in the balance as his enemies close in.
Will the killer be found before Rebus becomes another victim?
Midnight and Blue is Sir Ian Rankin’s 25th installment in his acclaimed Inspector Rebus series, a milestone to be celebrated by fans and critics alike. Along the way, he’s collected an Edgar Award, four prestigious Dagger Awards, and the Chandler-Fulbright Award, not to mention election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an Order of the British Empire for his services to literature.
Midnight follows up on the action in his previous novel, A Heart Full of Headstones (2022), in which Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke and Detective Chief Inspector Malcolm Fox each investigated complaints of police corruption that inevitably cast light on the previous doings of John Rebus, known to have cut corners to get what he wanted. The end result being that Rebus is convicted of Cafferty’s murder and sent to “Prison, nick, jail, chokey, inside—many names but only one game: incarceration.”
Now, while Detective Constable Christine Esson and her partner probe the murder in HMP Edinburgh, Clarke works another case that may be connected, as the ubiquitous Fox sticks his nose in everywhere. Rankin works his various plot lines with his usual skill, ensuring that readers don’t lose their place in the story at any point along the way.
Rebus remains one of the strongest protagonists in crime fiction. It’s interesting this time around to watch him function within the claustrophobic confines of his cell and the hall he shares with any number of dangerous sociopaths. We often see him lying down, staring at the ceiling, trying to think through the various details of the murder. At one point, Rebus “lay on his narrow bed, hands clasped behind his head . . . Fox wasn’t ruling out the lone wolf theory . . . Along the hall, someone was singing behind their cell door. It sounded like ‘Hurt.’ Rebus knew Johnny Cash didn’t write it, but it was Cash’s version he liked. He recited the words silently until a mix of pleading and angry voices stilled the singer.
“Folsom Prison to San Quentin to Saughton.
“Quite the journey.”
While Rankin has reached a landmark with his 25th Rebus story, readers will not rest content until the epic adventure of their favorite Scottish detective continues with yet another installment. Will he be around to entertain us with number 26? No pressure, mind you.
While HMP Edinburgh is “no country for old men,” the venerable retired detective John Rebus must find a way to survive the ordeal. In the end, this particular old man remains Scotland’s gift to the world of crime fiction, and readers won’t ever let Ian Rankin forget it.