Knots & Crosses. Finished 3-29-18, rating 4.25/5, mystery, 256 pages, pub. 1987

Detective John Rebus: His city is being terrorized by a baffling series of murders…and he’s tied to a maniac by an invisible knot of blood. Once John Rebus served in Britain’s elite SAS. Now he’s an Edinburgh cop who hides from his memories, misses promotions and ignores a series of crank letters. But as the ghoulish killings mount and the tabloid headlines scream, Rebus cannot stop the feverish shrieks from within his own mind. Because he isn’t just one cop trying to catch a killer, he’s the man who’s got all the pieces to the puzzle…    from Goodreads

Inspector Rebus series #1

John Rebus is a bit of a closed off mess.  He’s divorced, has an almost non-existent relationship with his brother and no friends outside of those he works with at the police station.  Young girls are getting kidnapped and killed all across Edinburgh and Rebus is assigned to the team to investigate.  This mystery was more character driven than in your face drama on every page and I liked that.

I loved the Scotland setting and the variety of well drawn characters.  Rebus came out of the shell of his past in a way that kept me reading.  I loved the supporting cast and how they revolved around Rebus.  I was worried about how much they all seemed to drink, but maybe they can handle more liquor in Scotland?

I thought this was a great start to a well-loved detective series.  I do plan on continuing as time allows and since this only took me two days to read I think I could read quite a few this year alone!