The Complaints by Ian Rankin
Nov. 21st, 2010 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
’The Complaints’ – they’re the cops who investigate other cops. Malcolm Fox works in the Complaints and Conduct department, so he’s not a popular man. He’s just had a result, and should be feeling good about himself. But he’s got problems of his own.
Now Fox is given a new task. There’s a cop called Jamie Breck, and he’s ‘dirty’. The problem is, no one can prove it. Fox takes on the job, and learns that there’s more to the Breck case than anyone thinks. This knowledge will prove dangerous, especially when a vicious murder intervenes far too close to home for Fox’s liking ...
It’s February 2009 and Malcolm Fox works in the Complaints and Conduct department in the Lothian police force and has just secured the pursuit of a case against Glen Heaton by the Procurator Fiscal’s office. A divorced, recovering alcoholic, he leads a solitary life in an unflashy bungalow. His father’s developing dementia and lives in a nursing home while he’s becoming increasingly estranged from his sister who lives with an abusive partner.
When Annie Inglis asks Fox to help her investigate a child pornography case that’s flagged the credit card of a cop called Jamie Breck, Fox finds himself locked into a case that takes in criminal gangs, the impact of the property cash and worse – a murder that hits far too close to home. The deeper Fox gets, the more he finds himself on the wrong side of his own colleagues and soon the only person he’s able to turn to is Jamie Breck ...
Ian Rankin tackles the cops who investigate cops in a novel that, despite having a strong contemporary resonance, never really seems to lift off the page. Much of the problem lies in the fact that we’ve seen these type of characters before – particularly Fox who ticks every cliché in the police fiction manual. Even the family relationships feel tired – with the increasing dementia of Fox’s father and his fraught relationship with his younger sister who he knows is being violently abused but is too cowardly to do anything about it.
As you’d expect from a Rankin novel the plot is complex with a number of strands that he pulls together with masterly skill. He skilfully gets across the hatred that police have for the Complaints and the problems that this causes for members of the department. Equally smooth is the way he portrays the way in which gangland crime is increasingly find ways of delving into legitimate business, although as with Fox, there is little new with the characterisation.
All in all, it’s an okay read that holds the attention until the end even if the format and story is too familiar. However I doubt that I’d be in a hurry to return to this character in the event that Rankin decides to turn it into a series.
The Verdict:
It’s a well plotted novel with Rankin using his typical skill to pull together numerous strands and giving it a strong contemporary feel with its look at the economic crunch and property crash. However the subject matter and characterisation are tired and have been done to death before, which means that there’s little new here. It’s an okay read but there’s little enough here that’s new to make me want to read a series based on this character if Rankin goes down that direction.
’The Complaints’ – they’re the cops who investigate other cops. Malcolm Fox works in the Complaints and Conduct department, so he’s not a popular man. He’s just had a result, and should be feeling good about himself. But he’s got problems of his own.
Now Fox is given a new task. There’s a cop called Jamie Breck, and he’s ‘dirty’. The problem is, no one can prove it. Fox takes on the job, and learns that there’s more to the Breck case than anyone thinks. This knowledge will prove dangerous, especially when a vicious murder intervenes far too close to home for Fox’s liking ...
It’s February 2009 and Malcolm Fox works in the Complaints and Conduct department in the Lothian police force and has just secured the pursuit of a case against Glen Heaton by the Procurator Fiscal’s office. A divorced, recovering alcoholic, he leads a solitary life in an unflashy bungalow. His father’s developing dementia and lives in a nursing home while he’s becoming increasingly estranged from his sister who lives with an abusive partner.
When Annie Inglis asks Fox to help her investigate a child pornography case that’s flagged the credit card of a cop called Jamie Breck, Fox finds himself locked into a case that takes in criminal gangs, the impact of the property cash and worse – a murder that hits far too close to home. The deeper Fox gets, the more he finds himself on the wrong side of his own colleagues and soon the only person he’s able to turn to is Jamie Breck ...
Ian Rankin tackles the cops who investigate cops in a novel that, despite having a strong contemporary resonance, never really seems to lift off the page. Much of the problem lies in the fact that we’ve seen these type of characters before – particularly Fox who ticks every cliché in the police fiction manual. Even the family relationships feel tired – with the increasing dementia of Fox’s father and his fraught relationship with his younger sister who he knows is being violently abused but is too cowardly to do anything about it.
As you’d expect from a Rankin novel the plot is complex with a number of strands that he pulls together with masterly skill. He skilfully gets across the hatred that police have for the Complaints and the problems that this causes for members of the department. Equally smooth is the way he portrays the way in which gangland crime is increasingly find ways of delving into legitimate business, although as with Fox, there is little new with the characterisation.
All in all, it’s an okay read that holds the attention until the end even if the format and story is too familiar. However I doubt that I’d be in a hurry to return to this character in the event that Rankin decides to turn it into a series.
The Verdict:
It’s a well plotted novel with Rankin using his typical skill to pull together numerous strands and giving it a strong contemporary feel with its look at the economic crunch and property crash. However the subject matter and characterisation are tired and have been done to death before, which means that there’s little new here. It’s an okay read but there’s little enough here that’s new to make me want to read a series based on this character if Rankin goes down that direction.
