“Even Dogs in the Wild” by Ian Rankin – Scottish Standoff

The face of organized crime has changed rather drastically in Scotland since the old days. Whereas gangsters used to be universally feared and even revered by many, today the old sharks see many of their revenue streams either legalized or made non-viable through other social developments.

Nevertheless, they still very much exist and are dangerous in their domains of operation, still playing parts that make the news and attract the public's eye, or at least it is the case in Ian Rankin's latest detective Rebus novel, Even Dogs in the Wild.

As has become somewhat customary with Rankin, there are multiple plot strands that are carefully weaved at the same time, eventually coming together in a moment where it all makes sense.

To begin with, a former Lord Advocate by the name of David Minton is found murdered with a note promising revenge found on his body. In the city, a shooting took place with the target being the legendary gangster Big Ger Cafferty, and though he escaped he refuses to cooperate with the police, at which point detective Siobhan decide the only way to do so is bring Rebus back into the fold.

While that's taking place, Malcolm Fox, another investigator, has been sent to Edinburgh in order to conduct surveillance on a Glasgow gangster and his son who are looking for a traitor in their ranks who made off with a ton of drugs.

Though it would sound like Rankin is biting off more than he can chew with so many different story elements coming together, he manages to pull it off rather nicely thanks to the lack of slow moments. Important events keep on unfolding virtually one after the other and unravels the threads at a calculated pace, making sure not to kill the reader's interest nor reveal too much of the mystery.

Also, the jumps from one story to the next serve as a nice refresher, preventing the book from becoming too saturated with one type of story or another. As you can imagine, there are a few powerful twists, especially as you get closer and closer to the ending, with the story staying strong throughout the whole thing.

The only thing that may turn some readers away is the fact that this book is full of characters from previous Rebus Holmes novels, and thus aren't exactly given a full introduction.

That goes double for the strange relation between Rebus and Big Ger which has been developed over the course of several books. In other words, not being acquainted with the Rebus series will make this book less enjoyable than it could be... but it certainly doesn't come close to ruining it.

Perhaps one of this novel's greatest strengths is the fact that Rankin takes care to portray Scottish society and the crime within it in as realistic a way as possible. He shows that in the modern day, gangsters aren't nearly as respected or revered as they used to be, how societal evolution has killed the lucrativeness of their businesses, and that gun crimes are actually extremely rare.

In addition, he sheds some of the spotlight on an issue that often passes under the radar, the of the abuse suffered by children in care homes. He does all of those things without any sensationalism or attempts to shock you with graphic materials; rather, he takes a more descriptive and down-to-Earth approach to it.

All in all, Even Dogs in the Wild is a fantastic novel that showcases why Ian Rankin is such a highly-regarded author. The story is rock-solid and entertaining, the characters are developed and have interesting dynamics between each other, and there's a good amount of food for thought and comments to be read about modern Scottish society.

A novel I recommend to all who enjoy realistic police thrillers.

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Ian Rankin Personal site Ian Rankin is a crime writer of Scottish origin who is best-known in literary circles for his series of novels following Inspector Rebus from one case to the next. He has received a multitude of awards since the late 80s, including honorary doctorates and many prizes for individual books given by different European organizations.