posted on 07 Jan 2017

Hide & Seek by Ian Rankin

Go into any bookshop and you’ll almost certainly find that they have a section of the shelving dedicated to ‘crime’ or ‘crime and thrillers’ and this is a testament to the way this particular genre has gone from strength to strength in recent years. The number of books that are published each year within that broad genre categorisation is now so large that distinct sub-sets have emerged that become very fashionable for a period and attract their own dedicated followers  - a good recent example of this would be Nordic-noir which since the success of Stig Larsson has seen publishers rushing out an exponential number of  translated Scandinavian crime thrillers.

One of the first of these genre bubbles I became aware of was something that has become branded as ‘Tartan Noir’ – a term used to describe a distinctly Scottish version of the hard-boiled crime thriller. I’m not sure who decides on whether you’re a member of the Tartan Noir writer’s club but the names regularly mentioned include Val McDermid, Stuart McBride, Denise Mina, Louise Welsh and, of course, Ian Rankin who can arguably be thought of as the most high profile of all.

Rankin also has some claim on the first use of the term ‘Tartan Noir’ although this is disputed and there are others who think it was appellation given to the genre by the US crime writer, James Ellroy. It hardly matters, of course, because the characteristics are not in doubt : gritty urban realism; detectives with personal angst and identifiable character flaws; fast, smart dialogue; and, a pervasive sense of moral and political commitment to social justice.

Some of the very early Ian Rankin novels that defined this territory are now hard to find in their original hard back state and so when I came across a clutch of them in an Oxfam shop recently I grabbed hold of them and scuttled off feeling pretty pleased with myself. Hide & Seek , published in 1991 is Rankin’s second novel featuring his detective inspector John Rebus and has all the required features of a classic ‘Tartan Noir’.

The action takes place in the deprived underbelly of Edinburgh’s housing estates and features drugs, corruption, illicit gambling and a host of other crimes and misdemeanours that circle around the central murder. He throws in a dollop of black magic and witchcraft to season the pot and sets the whole story off and running.

As with all crime thrillers it’s almost impossible to say anything about the plot without spoiling the read for those who haven’t picked the book up yet – and I have no intention of doing that. The plots of these books, in any case, clever though they are, matter less to me than the characterisation and the dialogue. John Rebus is a superb creation and, as the flawed but essentially decent detective, he is a template for so many that came later. But when it comes to characterisation, Rankin isn’t a one trick pony and there are plenty of others in the cast who come to life with a real three-dimensional reality. I especially liked the character of Tracey – girlfriend of the murder victim, a tough street cookie, manipulative, attractive in an unconventional way and very handy with her fists. Rebus’ side-kick in this book, Brian Holmes (presumably the name isn’t coincidental) also develops nicely over the course of the action – disgruntled and resentful about the way Rebus treats him but also rather loyal, determined to please and with a need to be liked. Holmes’ girlfriend, the stately university librarian , Nell is also a character with plenty of mileage.

King of the Noir genre, Raymond Chandler was famously dismissive of plot inconsistencies in his books – he didn’t care whether what he said at the beginning was contradicted at the end – what he cared about was atmosphere, dialogue and character. You get all three of these qualities in Hide & Seek and that makes it a thoroughly enjoyable read even if the actual denouement of the mystery is really rather blah..

Terry Potter

January 2017