BOOK REVIEW: Sticking His Nose Where It Doesn't Belong

(Originally Published 2011, Paperback Edition 391 pages)



One of my many quirks is, once I start a fiction or nonfiction book, I always finish it even if I don't care for the thing. And, trust me, I've read some horrible, horrible works. Mr. Rankin's "The Impossible Dead" is on the other end of the scale. Whenever I had to stop reading it, I kept aching to return to his second Malcolm Fox book. If you are not familiar with the author's protagonist, Malcolm Fox is a cash-strapped, divorced, out-of-shape, alcoholic on the wagon, who has a dad with the early stages of dementia living in a health care facility and a sister that sure in the heck isn't going to be winning the "Sibling of the Year" award. He works in "The Complaints;" our American version of Internal Investigations of police officers. Needless to say, Fox and his two partners, the rookie Joe Naysmith and the sarcastic jaded Tony Kaye, are not the most popular people in any police station.

 

The three of them are sent to investigate a high-profile case out of their jurisdiction. Practically everybody is giving them a hard time and stonewalling. During this very difficult assignment, Fox stumbles upon a unsolved 1985 case involving the leader of a radical political group. The deeper Fox digs into the old case, based simply on the original findings not sitting well with him, the more complex and intriguing the story becomes.

 

Mr. Rankin moves the story along at a nice pace and all the major characters seem like very unique believable individuals. I especially enjoyed Tony Kaye's flippant wisecracks peppered throughout the novel. The author also adds many nice, little descriptive touches that make the scenes all too real. Mr. Rankin must be a keen observer of the world around him. I have not read the author's famous Inspector Rebus series, but a writer this good can sure bet on me reading them in the future.

 

(Meyers - A few years ago, I started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #359)