Bachelor's Diploma Thesis

Home , A Question of Blood, Exit Music, Fleshmarket Close, Ian Rankin, John Rebus, Knots and Crosses

Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta

Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky

Bakalářská diplomová práce

Kateřina Adamcová

2013 Kateřina Adamcová

2013 2013

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Kateřina Adamcová

The Strange Case of Mr Ian Rankin and Detective Inspector John Rebus Bachelor‟s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph. D.

2013

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author‟s signature

Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Stephen Hardy, Ph.D., for his valuable advice and encouragement. I would also like to thank to my family for their loving support throughout my studies. And most of all I would like to thank Mr Ian Rankin for his company as well as for creation of John Rebus. I have enjoyed all his books with great pleasure and enthusiasm.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ...... 5

Introduction ...... 6

1 „Rankin`s Development of the Literary Genre and the “Birth” of DI John

Rebus‟ ...... 10

1.1 Scottish Fiction ...... 10

1.2 The Detective Novel ...... 11

1.3 The Gothic Novel ...... 12

1.4 Rankin`s Biography, the Inspiration and the Creation of Rebus ...... 14

2 Chapter Two: Rebus`s Character and a Style Analysis of ‘Knots and Crosses’ ...... 20

3 Chapter Three: The Breakpoints in ‘The Hanging Garden’ ...... 32

4 Chapter Four: The Closed Circle and Rebus`s Destiny in „Exit Music’ ...... 40

Conclusion ...... 47

Works Cited ...... 50

Summary ...... 52

Resumé ...... 54

Introduction

“You must suffer me, to go my own dark way.”

R. L. Stevenson

“Fiction after all, can sometimes tell the truth the real world can´t.”

I. Rankin

This bachelor thesis is entitled “The strange Case of Mr Ian Rankin and

Detective Inspector John Rebus” and it is based on works written by Ian Rankin, a modern Scottish writer and a creator of a new literary genre called “Scottish Mystery

Crime Fiction.” Most of all, it focuses on the series of books about his iconic character

Detective Inspector John Rebus, although it only concentrates on three of the series of novels; Knots and Crosses, The Hanging Garden and Exit Music. The books are chosen due to the pattern of Rebus`s “life” stages, his creation, life struggles and retirement.

Rankin`s books are compiled according to a specific writing strategy, which forms a modern version of the Jekyll and Hyde story. Although Stevenson`s original novel is situated in London and based on the real historical figure of Deacon Brodie from

Edinburgh, Rankin wanted to restore his fictional protagonist to Edinburgh, a city to which he is well suited. (Bruce-Gardyne, “Ian Rankin`s Edinburgh” The Daily

Telegraph) Moreover, the thesis attempts to prove the hypothesis that the structure is based on the style of gothic novels and dark fiction, influenced by the works by Robert

Louis Stevenson and his The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, John Hoggs and his The Confession of a Justified Sinner, the mystery fiction of Muriel Spark with her

The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie, The Driver`s Seat and The Ballad of the Peckham Rye, and the detective fiction novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes series. The influence is recorded and provided by articles in The Norton Anthology of

British Literature, Oxford Guide to British and American Culture, Crime Fiction 6

written by John Scaggs, and Thorne`s An Outline of English Literature. Stevenson`s work pervades all the Rebus novels, starting with Knots and Crosses published in 1987 and finishing 20 years later with Exit Music, published in 2007. The whole series is summarized and explained in the book Rebus`s Scotland, published in 2008, which is a useful source for this thesis because it includes the writer`s attitude. The thesis provides the reader with a classification of Rankin`s writing genre and his biography, and it also explains the inspiration for the creation of John Rebus. Most of all, the thesis not only looks closely at Rankin`s approach to the character of Detective Inspector John Rebus in the context of modern urban Edinburgh in a selection of his novels but it also analyses Rebus`s character based on a comparison with the writer. The evidence is generally dependent on references in selected newspaper articles from, for example, The

Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail and others, due to the fact that relatively little has been produced in the way of monographs.

The first aim of the thesis is to classify Rankin`s literary genre according to the aspects of detective, gothic and mystery fiction novels. It defines the techniques and describes their basic elements. Besides, it explains the connection with the literary and cultural group Tartan Noir and includes its description. The purpose is to analyse

Rankin`s style of writing and to support it with examples taken from the specification of the literary genres.

The second objective is to introduce Rankin`s biography to the reader, with personal events, interests and experiences that influenced his work. This section also provides details connected with the creation of DI Rebus and considers all the aspects of the combined genres, such as settings, pre-requisities and tone. Rankin intended to create a fictional world with a character located in contemporary Edinburgh, on whom he would project real problematic issues of Scotland. Therefore, Detective Inspector 7

John Rebus is not only an iconic character of a literary genre, but also a provider of reality. Moreover Rankin also projects himself into Rebus in several moments.

The third aim is to concentrate on the comparison of the writer with his character, which is emphasized not merely in the chapters, but also in the conclusion. In this part Rankin`s real and Rebus`s fictional lives are linked together.

The thesis is divided into four chapters after the introduction, and into several subchapters. The first chapter introduces Ian Rankin, in the context of the Scottish literary world, as a developer of a new style of writing which gave Scottish fiction a new direction. Rankin`s genre has been combined from aspects of detective crime fiction novels and elements of mysterious and gothic novels, emphasizing the most important aspect of “dualism”. All the structural claims are provided against a background of the modern urban character of Edinburgh and could generally be described as “Scottish Mystery Crime Fiction Novels”. These novels became the main element of the cultural group “Tartan Noir”. The second aim of this chapter is to highlight the most important examples of the influence and inspiration from Rankin`s life which led to the “birth” of DI Rebus, and to explain why Rankin chose Edinburgh for his literary plot setting.

The second chapter intends to introduce Detective Inspector John Rebus in his first performance in the book Knots and Crosses, and it attempts to prove the derived aspects of the literary genre in use, applied on a story from the real Edinburgh.

Moreover, it provides the reader with a real insight into who John Rebus is. It contains not only a brief review of the whole book, but also stresses the most important moments of the story which are necessary for the later analysis.

Chapter three focuses on one of the most important books for character analysis, to highlight the connection between Rebus`s fictional and Rankin`s real life. There is a 8

breakpoint which closely links Rankin to Rebus. The point of this chapter is to prove, that in several moments, Rankin did not distinguish his life from Rebus`s and therefore he reflects his life in his novels.

The aim of chapter four is to show how Rankin ended Rebus`s series and it is intended to prove how much Rebus meant to Rankin. Moreover, Rankin attempted to show why he could not let Rebus die, even though he was enclosing the circle and according to the tradition of the genre he should have followed the structural pattern, which means that he should have let him die.

Last but not least, Rankin`s ability to visualize reality on the basis of fiction has to be emphasized. He offers a vision not only of recent Scottish issues, but most of all he shows the reader the real Edinburgh, as opposed to his dark vision of the city of the

“Jekyll and Hyde.” Furthermore, aspects of the Scottish character and “Scottishness” are served to the reader via the character of John Rebus and therefore they are comprehensible for the reader.

All the chapters are summarized in the conclusion, which emphasizes the most important aspects of the whole thesis and evaluates whether the introductory hypotheses are proved and the expected aims are achieved.

1 „Rankin`s Development of the Literary Genre and the

“Birth” of DI John Rebus‟

The first chapter focuses on the classification of Ian Rankin`s novels from the point of a literary genre, beginning with a detailed analysis of Scottish Fiction and

Rankin`s style through the highlighting of the aspects of his influence by the detective and the gothic novel and its main element of dualism. Another purpose is to introduce

Ian Rankin as a writer and the creator of his iconic fictional character DI John Rebus, whose “birth” is also explained in this chapter.

1.1 Scottish Fiction

Ian Rankin is considered the most successful Scottish crime writer of the 20th century, who became the “King” of “Tartan Noir”, which is an important literary and cultural group of contemporary Scottish crime fiction writers influenced by the works of

Stevenson and Hoggs. Tartan noir also provides sightseeing tours in Edinburgh, such as

“Rebus`s Edinburgh,” which leads tourists through places mentioned in Rankin`s novels about DI Rebus. The term of “Tartan Noir” was first used by the American writer James

Ellroy to describe the very specific dark and mystical crime novels of Ian Rankin, which are not previously geometrically planned and are open ended. The group collocates something unique to Scotland and Scots, which expresses the term of “Scottishness” that was derived from the Scottish fiction literary tradition. It reflects contemporary

Scotland and signifies the linking of their identities and interests in their own country and its culture. The term means a state of mind that most Scots take for granted. DI

Rebus provides an ideal combination of all the aspects demanded from modern Scottish crime mystery fiction. Rankin invented a new modern vision of urban areas of Scotland 10

derived from his inspiration and combination of literary genres; the detective novel and the gothic novel, which he mostly applied to Edinburgh.

1.2 The Detective Novel

Detective or more precisely crime mystery fiction is explained by John Scaggs as: A type of fiction centred on the figure of the methodical detective, who applies a particular method on a complicated investigation. It focuses attention on the mystery that appears insoluable through normal investigative method and the location is very specific. (Scaggs, Crime Fiction 144). He furthermore added several aspects that are crucial in the novel specification such as a „fair play‟, a process of investigation, an unimportant punishment of a criminal, the setting of the story, and a representative character in a main role. Scaggs also mentioned Sherlock Holmes as a prototype of detective in the Scottish background because Arthur Conan Doyle started the tradition of detective fiction in Scotland (Scaggs, Crime Fiction 146).

But there is more behind Scottish detective fiction. Scotland offers, due to tradition, not only tales about the “awful and dark” side of life told with great enthusiasm and pleasure, but also, about the “dark times” in Scottish history which are expressed with a kind of irony and exaggeration. These aspects are built on the foundations of the gothic novel. And after all, Scotland is a place with a gothic sensibility and “dark sense of humour”, with a bitter-sweet and melancholy feeling about the country, its cities and people.

If you ask Scottish crime writers; “What are your influences?” Instead of “Raymond

Chandler or Agatha Christie”, they will tend to say “Hogg`s “Confession of a Justified

Sinner” or Stevenson`s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. “We had grown up on different

books and a different culture”. Ian Rankin (Wade, “Scottish? English? Library thinks

twice” The Washington Post.)

1.3 The Gothic Novel

The “Gothic novel” is a literary genre which was established by the Scottish writer Horace Walpole in his novel The Castle of Otranto written in 1765. Gothic literary style has to include several main points according to the literary prototype along with the definition in Oxford Guide of British and American Culture: As any class of

English Novel dealing with mystery, written in the 18th and 19th century. Yet the style most influenced writers of dark and horror stories. As a manual, the “Gothic” novel should include a combination of main elements, such as a dark character, a mysterious or a dark place and a complicated and mystic plot. In addition, the settings are usually ancient castles, old houses and dark places such as corridors, stairs, dungeons, underground tunnels, crypts, cemeteries, catacombs, or the attics and cellars of modern buildings, not only ruined, but also intact, where psychic or paranormal activities occur.

Moreover, the places are usually full of shadows and a ghostly atmosphere, gently illuminated by the moonlight or the shallow light of candles. Therefore, the plot should have a melancholy and almost sepulchar tone, intensified by extremely bad weather conditions: winter, mist, heavy rain, strong wind, a storm or other such natural occurrences. Also the ancient prophecy or flashbacks to the past, mostly dark and troubleful, are important. Other significant aspects are supernatural and terrifying elements and events, hidden or twisted identities and personalities, inner voices, diabolism and most of all dualism.

Dualism is one of the most important aspects of either the crime fiction novel or the gothic novel, and the usage of this element had an effect on Ian Rankin`s works. 12

Although there are various definitions of dualism in the world of philosophy, none is ideal. The most general and appropriate definition is perhaps provided by the Oxford

Dictionary, which describes dualism either as a principle that denotes a state of the two parts in a binary opposition, mostly moral opposites, such as Good and Evil, or a relationship between the two main substances such as the “mind” and the “body”, which form two separate categories working on their own, causing moral dilemmas, although neither of the substances can exist and work independently or separately.

The elements of gothic novels including dualism influenced many literary genres, but the most important for this thesis is the impact on crime fiction, which became the main philosophy of “Tartan Noir,” or more precisely Ian Rankin. Rankin adopted the combination of the detective story and gothic novel and in particular the principle of dualism, which he emphasized on an example of “Jekyll and Hyde” symbolism in his Rebus novels. Moreover, Rankin`s vision of the world is very different from the vision of the world that is provided by his character, John Rebus, which also refers to dualism. The connection of the world of the living in Rebus`s life and the world of death comprised of his ghosts is also considered a type of binary opposition as well as his contrasting of Edinburgh during the day and at night, or

Edinburgh as a city of tourists as opposed to Edinburgh as a city of crime.

Edinburgh is a city of contrasts, and therefore it became a central theme of all

Rankin`s books. There is a huge variety of aspects found in dualism and gothic novels.

“It makes a fascinating city to write about, because of all these highs and lows and strange geographical features. It is a precipitous city, but still in many ways hidden city with its catacombs and tunnels, and citizens who don`t really want to be noticed, who want to be invisible. It is a city full of shadows and hidden dualism.” (Bruce-Gardyne,

“Ian Rankin`s Edinburgh” The Daily Telegraph) 13

Thanks to Rankin`s novels Edinburgh was given a new stream of energy which opened a spectrum of interests that attracted attention to the city. “Rankin has not just produced the most sustained body of fiction devoted to modern Edinburgh, but has made it once again a city of mind. He has changed the way Edinburgh people imagine their city.” (Robinson,”Ian Rankin on how to write a Rebus Novel” The Scotsman)

1.4 Rankin`s Biography, the Inspiration and the Creation of Rebus

Rankin was born into a grocer`s family on 28th April 1960 in Fife (the date and place where Rebus first appears in Knots and Crosses), in the Cardenden mining quarter. His father James was a widower who had a teenage daughter. James met

Rankin`s mother Isobel, also widow with her own daughter, when she went shopping in his store. Ian was their only child, having two half-sisters. Rankin`s father was a great story teller, who used his life memories in his stories. He taught Rankin how to practice his own imagination.

During his school years at primary and secondary school, young Rankin was encouraged to write because his teacher saw huge potential in him. Rankin started writing short lyrics and then poems as a teenager. After graduation from secondary school, he decided to study English Literature at the University of Edinburgh.

After starting his university studies, his mother died, and very soon afterwards

Rankin started to write books to recover from the nervous breakdown which he suffered after his mother`s death. Furthermore, Rankin became highly interested in Scottish detective fiction and gothic novels, especially in the Edinburgh born mystery writers

Muriel Spark and her predecessor gothic writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Therefore,

Rankin decided to write his Phd thesis based on her novels: The Ballad of Peckham Rye

in which Spark`s most devilish character Dougal Douglass appeared, The Prime of Miss

Jean Brodie (Brodie from Deacon Brodie, Stevenson`s inspiration for the Jekyll and

Hyde), and the most chilling The Driver`s Seat. In his thesis Rankin also highlighted

Spark´s influence by Robert Louis Stevenson`s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr

Hyde, Shelley`s Frankenstein, Brönte`s Jane Eyre, Anne Ratcliffe`s The Mystery of

Udolfo, because he inclined to the similar topics. Among his other favourite literary works belonged Dostoyevsky`s Crime and Punishment, Eco`s The Name of the Rose, and Doyle`s Sherlock Holmes, all dark, mysterious or detective novels containing gothic aspects.

After finishing his Phd and editing his first novel Knots and Crosses, he married

Miranda Harvey in 1986. Soon after they left for London and France and had two sons

Jack and Kit. Rankin was becoming famous and started to give interviews, which was impossible from France and when five years after Rankin`s father died the whole family returned to Edinburgh.

Rankin says that “Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities in the north of

Europe, on the other hand the most haunted” (Rebus`s Scotland) and he also explains why he chose Edinburgh in particular to locate his novels. “I could have chosen

Glasgow due to the reputation as a more violent city, but it doesn´t feature more in crime fiction, because, it was a different kind of crime and there was no mystery about it. He highlighted his vision of Edinburgh as a quiet and clean city on the first side, hidding its feverish impulses beneath the surface, things that are happening behind the net curtains and thick stone walls.” (Bruce-Gardyne, “Ian Rankin`s Edinburgh” The

Daily Telegraph) Rankin`s feeling for Edinburgh is also visible in the passages from his books: “The sun was out, bathing the tired buildings in dazzling light, Edinburgh

Architecture was best suited in winter, to sharp, cold light. You got the feeling of being 15

a long way north of anywhere, some places reserved for only the hardies and most foolhardy.” (Let it Bleed 96) The vision of the beauties is addressing the reader, though telling him to find the beauty hidden in the “mist”.

Moreover, Edinburgh is the city of Muriel Spark, Conan Doyle, J. K. Rowling,

R. L. Stevenson, as well as the city of Deacon Brodie, Burke and Hare`s crimes and

John Knox. It is the city of Edinburgh University, Edinburgh Castle and above all a

UNESCO city of cultural heritage and the city of “Literature”. But there are more than those historical, literary and cultural aspects. There are problematic issues of recent times and Rankin wanted them to be considered as well so he implemented them into his books.

I said earlier in this book that I started writing about Edinburgh – and by extension

Scotland – to make sense of my surroundings, but I also wanted to show tourists and

outsiders that there was more to these places than shortbread tartan, golf, and whisky

and castles. Scotland faces the same challenges as any other nation. We worry about

crime, the environment, education and health, employment and migration. (Rebus`s

Scotland 120)

Furthermore, Rankin wanted to indicate the bad aspects of Edinburgh, or more precisely the whole Scotland, so that people could realize its true face, either positive or negative, so every reader could form their own, realistic vision, from the smallest pieces of evidence to the whole unit. “Scotland was a machine, a big machine if you looked at it from outside. But from the inside, it assumed a new form, small - intimate, not that many moving parts, and all of them interconnected quite intricately. (Rebus`s Scotland

121)

While walking through the city Rankin first saw all the beauties and architecture of the city, which on the other hand also indicate to the “dark times” as well as other

people. He explored a huge number of the pubs and bars, and his favourite became the

Oxford Bar, due to its Scottish atmosphere. What is more, he discovered the hidden city of Edinburgh, the city under the city, situated under the Old Town, Mary King Close and the Royal Mile built in the 16th century, which raised his interest. The tangle of tunnels, catacombs and dark places are something that remained haunted, shallow and silent. Rankin also discovered the dark side of Edinburgh, after twilight describing it as

“Edinburgh is a bit of a claustrophobic and complicated city and that it is a city which is invisible, hiding its true feelings and intentions, its citizens outwardly respectable, it`s streets appearing frozen in time. It was also a city called by one`s an invisible city, hiding its true feelings and intentions” (Rebus`s Scotland 84)

Furthermore, Rankin managed to see the transformation of such a beautiful city into the city of darkness and the city of sin and crime. While writing his books, he really wanted the readers to realize the truth, to see either the beautiful or horrible side to identify the reality. He started to think about the reality of the city during his studies and while discovering the city he saw all the tourists and perceived that those people were only seeing the things that Edinburgh wanted to reveal.

Those tourists saw nothing like the social problems, drugs, prostitution, corruption, gangs of Edinburgh, the troubles of government, unemployment, nor the environmental problems. Therefore, Rankin considered it important to indicate those pieces of reference as well, so he implemented the factors into his books and created a kind of irony, which illuminated Edinburgh from a different perspective. To go deeper into those issues Rankin needed a spy. And this is the most important reason why he created John Rebus. While matching the pieces together he built a Puzzle – Rebus, and he named his character after that. He built him from the mist, darkness and reality and there he appeared in Rankin`s first novel Knots and Crosses. 17

John Rebus attracted more attention than Rankin had expected and his readers became the tourists, who started to search for the places from his novels. This encouraged the Tartan Noir to create a tour through the city, called Rebus`s Edinburgh, which did great business. (Bruce-Gardyne, “Ian Rankin`s Edinburgh” The Daily

Telegraph)

Rankin created another view of the world he lived in for himself, he had not changed into Rebus, but he started to visualize the world through his eyes and feelings

“The only way to make sense of my fictional universe is to say something of myself, showing how my autobiography merges with his, and how my sense of Scotland and

Scottishness becomes his. This then is a story of the relationship between Rebus, his creator, and the country called Scotland.” (Rebus`s Scotland 7) Through Rebus, Rankin inserted another vision of Edinburgh, a dark one reminiscent of Hyde`s vision of

Edinburgh, although his own was the Jekyll`s one as Rankin admitted “I was devoured by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and the dark Scottish history; therefore I started writing about the darker side of Edinburgh”. (Rebus`s Scotland 7)

Rankin also indicated the most common stereotypes which are formed about the

Scottish and he supported those which are true in Rebus`s character. Rebus is the keeper of the facts and he is supposed to represent the character of a typical Scot. Rebus drinks whiskey, is a heavy smoker and a stubborn, self-centered individualist, hiding his feelings and introverted, a person haunted by his past, but honour and pure hearted and a strong personality. A lot of his behaviour aspects characterize the writer himself.

During his life Rankin was stricken not only by the early death of both parents, but also the fact that his younger son at 18 months was diagnosed with Angelman

Syndrome, which is a genetic defect with a severe effect on learning abilities. Since then Rankin has started to express more of his own feelings in Rebus`s novels and as he 18

said he started to use Rebus as his safety valve. Moreover, he started to be angry and radical in Let it Bleed and Black and Blue, and he began to punish Rebus for his troubles, which terminated in The Hanging Garden. Due to the fact Rankin learned that

Kit would not walk, he put either Rebus`s daughter into the wheelchair.

Since this moment it was clear that Rankin`s and Rebus`s lives were inseparable and that Rankin could not help himself partly living Rebus`s life. Due to the fact that

Rankin avenged him for his life struggles and mistakes, Rebus became a strong personality. As Rankin says; “In using my own life as a template for some of Rebus´s background, errors sometimes does creep in, but they make him even stronger”

(Rebus`s Scotland 6)

As a conclusion, the first chapter of this thesis composes all pieces of information on Rankin`s literary background, beginning with the creation of his personal style, which was influenced by the main aspects of various literary genres. The chapter gives the reader a description and explanation of the genres highlighting their main aspects.

Furthermore, it leads the reader through Rankin`s biography and events and experiences, that influenced and inspire him while creating John Rebus.

2 Chapter Two: Rebus`s Character and a Style Analysis of

‘Knots and Crosses’

The aim of chapter two is to introduce Detective Inspector John Rebus to the reader and insert several pieces of Rankin`s life events into the puzzle. It is not only written in order to analyse Rankin`s first book, that opens the cycle of Rebus novels, but also to emphasize the main aspects of Rankin`s writing style and strategy supported by examples to provide a real vision of Edinburgh on the basis of his fiction.

“...the girl screamed once, only the once” (Knots and Crosses 3); It is an important quote that opens the plot, because the book which encloses the cycle called Exit Music starts with the same quote. The Knots and Crosses is an introduction of DI Rebus and his first performance. Rebus`s “life” adventure begins on 28th April (which is Rankin`s birthday) when Rebus aged 40 is found standing over the grave of his father, who had died five years before. At this very moment the reader finds out that Rebus has a kind of sad, melancholic feeling of being back in Fife, most all, due to the fact that he connects the old days with his traumatic past, he seems to hate Fife due to the events he matches with the town. He sees Fife as a haunted place, full of ghosts who remain “rustling in the shells of empty houses” (Knots and Crosses 4).

Upon entering the scene, Rebus thinks about events from his past, not only his crooked relationship with his pampered brother in their childhood, but also the last fifteen years of self-pity and his broken marriage. Rebus also thinks about their daughter Sammy, who remains hanging between the parents, loving them both. He also thinks with a kind of jealousy about his happily married brother Michael, who is always the chosen and lucky one. “They were brothers without any sense of brotherhood.

Brotherhood belonged to the past.” (Knots and Crosses 11) Although John cannot

afford what Michael can, he is not disappointed because of that. He only perceives himself as a loser, a failure, compared to his brother`s success. Rebus at the point of creation is very fragile, a substance mixed from Rankin`s life events, thoughts and imagination.

Rebus`s fragility might have been created with regard to Rankin`s own personal state of mind. Rankin started writing Rebus`s books after he himself had suffered his nervous breakdown. His hypnotherapist advised him to create a character in his head and to start writing about him as a kind of therapy. Rankin was a very fragile person, a bit suicidal, who easily slid into depression and because of Rebus he became much stronger. Rankin assembled Rebus from pieces of evidence in his head as a durable puzzle. Rebus is a strong character, a hard man, rather complicated as Rankin pictures him. Since then Rankin seems to have started to live two separate lives within his own head. On one hand his own real life and on the other Rebus`s fictional one. It seemed to be hard to distinguish their “lives” because they became linked together, reminiscent of

Jekyll and Hyde, except for one thing, in Rankin`s case he had them both under control, in full consciousness. (Wroe, “Bobby Dazzler” The Guardian) Rebus would not do a thing unless Rankin allowed him. He was always under his guidance, so this was much safer a case. Rankin had to learn to see the world through Rebus`s eyes during the process of writing and it was not possible for him in this very first book. (Rebus`s

Scotland) The connection between Rankin and Rebus was thin at the beginning and therefore the Knots and Crosses is mostly based on Rebus`s “real” feelings and series of events within his “life”, because they remain on the surface and therefore the reader can easily understand. To go deeper, Rankin had to stay with Rebus for much longer, to

“suffer” him for longer to compile the whole puzzle of DI John Rebus. In the end it lasted for twenty years, and maybe Rankin will not ever be able to let him go. Recently 21

he says that he even imagines his voice and feelings. (Mackichan, “Ian Rankin on why he didn`t kill off Rebus, The Daily Mail) From the back perspective Rankin said: “I wrote the book as a postgraduate student and it reads like it was written when I was a postgraduate student.” I wasn`t inside Rebus`s head; he was just a cipher to get me through the story. (Bowden, “Rebus revisited - Ian Rankin picks his favourite moments”

The Guardian) Ultimately, it seems like Rankin had to mature to understand Rebus fully and correctly, “Rankin had to suffer Rebus, to go his own dark way”. Because he might have misunderstood him previously according to the fact, that at the moment of creation Rankin was about 24-25 and Rebus had already turned 40.

But even if the Knots and Crosses is the first book and as he said Rankin did not feel for Rebus that much, it met with great success. Rankin`s first book informed the reader where the troubles of Rebus`s mind and soul started and why. The book offers a huge spectrum of examples to be understood.

The writer leads the reader back into Rebus`s secondary school, which he leaves after graduation at the age of fifteen for the army, first the Parachute force, later the

SAS (The Special Air Service), which is a special military branch.

Leaving school for the army was a trend at that time and a lot of young men did so. As Rankin said in one of his interviews with Kingston J. Pierce in „January

Interview‟ for The January Magazine, Rebus goes the way that Rankin`s friends did in reality. The part of Fife where Rankin was from suffered from unemployment, due to the fact that it had been a mining village in the past and all the mines had already closed. In that moment there were three options for the youth; one was to join the army, the second was for those “clever” enough to go to the university and the third was to join the police. Most of Rankin`s friends joined the army or went to the police. If

Rankin had not decided to go to the university, he might have been more like Rebus. 22

Rebus is finally sent by Rankin to choose two of the options above. First Rebus joins the army, but after suffering a terrible experience in the special SAS army service, he becomes a policeman, but unfortunately remains strongly afflicted by the SAS.

According to the Guide of British and American Culture, the SAS is explained as; “A branch of the British Army consisting of a small group of specially trained soldiers who are used for difficult or secret operations. The soldiers are trained in skills such as parachuting, climbing and shooting accurately. They are well known for their ability to surprise groups of terrorists by attacking them very quickly.” The training is supposed to be very difficult and stressful.

In the SAS Rebus suffers very difficult and strange training, he is abused and tortured, left in terrible conditions, kept inhumanely, like an animal. He is forced to starve and poisoned and to fight for his own life. At the end of the training, which

Rebus passes, he leaves the army with a feeling of disgust and destruction, with the feeling that he cannot stand it any longer, and soon after he sufferes a nervous breakdown. Although Rankin had not been in the army, he had suffered his breakdown at the same age as Rebus, although for another reason. Rebus moreover, feels a kind of guilt for betrayal of his fellow Army “prisoner”. Even years after Rebus, is still afflicted by the horrible conditions, which caused nightmares and waking during the night with a cry. He is not able to keep either a normal life or relationship. Rankin quotes in his book:

Rebus had not enjoyed bullshit during his Army days either, and there had been

plenty of it then. But he had been a good soldier, a very good soldier, when finally they

had got down to soldiering. But then, in a fit of madness, he had applied to join the

Special Air Squadroon, and there had been very little bullshit there, and an incredible

amount of savagery. They had made him run from the railway station to the camp

behind a sergeant in his jeep. They had tortured him with twenty-hour marches, with

attacks of brutal instructors. And when Gordon Reeve and he had made the grade, the

SAS had tested them just that little bit further, just that inch too far, confining them,

interrogating them, starving them, poisoning them, and all for a little piece of worthless

information, a few words that would show they had cracked. Two naked, shivering

animals with sacks tied over their heads, lying together to keep warm.” (Knots and

Crosses 94-95)

Additionally, according to Collins`s article in The Mail Online, the training must have been really terrible for everyone and hard to imagine that anyone could pass, even if he survived. Collins described the life experience of an ex-SAS army officer, who revealed the terrifying selection process in the army forces, as inhumane, testing life endurance under terrible (not only) weather conditions. The soldiers under training underwent tests of their own survival, such as starvation and dehydration, time pressure and military tests. There were also chemicals and drugs used on the soldiers. (Colins,

“Tested to destruction: An Ex-SAS officer reveals the terrifying selection process for

Special Forces and says that, despite this weekend´s tragedy, standards must not slip…”

The Daily Mail)

From this first book the reader also learns more from the Rebus`s deeper past, events that happened 15 years ago. The reader is led back to the moment after John suffers a nervous breakdown while leaving the SAS, which he later tries to recover from by living in a fishing-village on the Fife coast, where he joins the police. He lives alone, never letting anyone from his family know about his presence. On his first holiday from police-work, Rebus spends his time there and there he meets Rhona, a divorced schoolteacher, who sees in Rebus a strong perfect husband who she can cherish. On one hand he is a strong man, on the other he has a fragile soul. Rhona in this passage might

symbolize Rankin`s wife, who saved him from self-destruction. However, in the fiction

Rhona does not succeed in saving Rebus from his ghosts and his terrifying past.

Though they live happily for some time, while Rhona is teaching English in

Edinburgh until Samantha is born they start to argue. Maybe it is all caused by the fact that Rhona is at home with more free time which she rarely spends with John, or maybe they simply appear to be too different. They start being suspicious of one another, about taking drugs, having love affairs and their life becomes paranoid. The final straw is when they start to argue about sympathising with the opposite political parties. It is like in a bad soap opera. Maybe another reason is that Rebus is always haunted by his years in the Army. He wakes up during the nights crying, screaming, and weeping. Moreover, he cries while love-making. But still he does not want to talk about it, “there is something rotten inside him...something damaged” (Knots and Crosses). Since the beginning it is not an easy relationship between them, Rhona feels that he has to be treated like a child and though he seems to be perfect, he is not perfect at all. John

Rebus is able to live neither his own life nor a family life, which means their marriage very soon ends up in a divorce, after which they become strangers to each other.

Moreover, Rhona takes their daughter Sammy. Fortunately, they finally agree that there is a child between them and they divorce calmly, so Rebus does not lose the connection with his daughter, he has the chance to see her.

The main trouble with Rebus is that as a kind of shelter he rather lives other people`s lives inside his head instead of living his own “life”, in which he is very fragile and vulnerable. “His eyes beheld beauty, not reality but in the printed word. Standing there in the waiting room, he realized that in his life he had accepted secondary experience – the reading of someone else´s mind and thoughts – over real life” (Knots and Crosses) He does so, by working harder than anybody else. Furthermore, he 25

becomes a workaholic and starts to lose the connection with the real world and his own family. (In several aspects, Rebus is reminiscent of Rankin and his lifestyle). The describtion of Rebus ressembles the passage from Jekyll and Hyde;

He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something

displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I

scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of

deformity, although I couldn‟t specify the point. He‟s an extraordinary-looking man,

and yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I

can‟t describe him. And it‟s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this

moment. (R. L. Stevenson Jekyll and Hyde)

Soon after the divorce Rhona leaves Rebus with Sammy… and there the reader is led back to the beginning of the book. Sammy is now a young lady at the age of twelve, and Rebus starts to feel guilty for her discovering that he has nothing in common with her except for the same blood and while spending time together he has almost nothing to say. Moreover, Rebus changes a bit through the years and feels sorry for the missed years. What is more, he also grows paranoid while working on the crime cases during the years. He begins to see crime events at the places where no crime has happened yet. He grows abnormally suspicious and sensitive about Sammy; “Sammy was nearly twelve, she had survived many years of danger, being a toddler and a child, and now, for her, other dangers were imminent. The pervert in the watch, the ogling old men, the teenage cockfighters, would be supplement by the new urges of boys her age, and boys she already knew as friends would become sudden and forceful hunters.”

(Knots and Crosses 70)

Rebus stays alone for all his fears. There is no one to help him find release from his nightmarish dreams. He starts to feel lonely and realizes how strongly he needs

anyone, a woman to share his troubles with her, to spend his lonely nights with her. He starts to lose his taste for life and energy. He tries to sleep, to overcome his ghosts and fears, which is not possible when he is alone and sober. Although, Rebus is a silent person with a strong need of privacy and his own freedom, he feels lost in his thoughts.

When alone his memories from the training camp come back and there is nowhere to hide from them. Moreover, even when he tries to find a church, he is not successful, so neither is there any belief for him, “He had tried seven churches of varying denominations in Edinburgh, and had found none to be his liking. He had tried sitting for two hours at home of a Sunday, reading the Bible and saying a prayer, but somehow that did not work either. He was caught; a believer out with his belief.” (Knots and

Crosses 71). He has to fight his worries and troubles alone and he has to keep them with him. Although, he tries at least to read the Book of Job, mostly his favorite passage, which almost copies his inner feelings: “When an innocent man suddenly dies, God laughs. God gave the world to the wicked. He made all the judges blind, and if God didn`t do it, who did? If I smile and try to forget my pain, all my suffering comes back to haunt me; I know that God does hold me guilty, why should I bother? No soap can wash away my sins.” (Knots and Crosses 127) he doesn`t feel any relief.

Instead of the Bible he would rather read from Dostoyevsky`s Crime and

Punishment, or he reads passages from Stevenson`s Jekyll and Hyde, which is his dark style of relaxation. Another option is to think about Edinburgh, even though his vision is not always good and pleasant. He thinks of Edinburgh as a place of crime, a city of ghosts which are around in the dark alleys, and abandoned streets. He visualizes the crime scenes and all the murders and their victims. He pictures mass murderers from the history, wonders about Deacon Brodie, Burke and Hare in the mists and smog of

Edinburgh and is either fascinated or threatened by this all. 27

In a typical day or night, John Rebus wanders through the jungle of the city, the one not visible to the tourists, but by those who are careful and perceptive. The tourists are always busy taking pictures and are not so sensitive as to be aware of the ancient shadows that lurk from the dark corners. “These tourists spent so much time by photographing things that they never actually saw anything, unlike the young people million around who were too busy by enjoying life to be bothered capturing false impressions of it. (Knots and Crosses 80). Rebus considers the city as a “schizophrenic” offering two sides, a touristic one and a real one. John often thinks about the Edinburgh he sees, the Edinburgh he feels, the kind of Edinburgh which is real and cruel. Instead of visualising the beauties of the city and enjoying the views of the castle and architecture, he thinks about the dark history and the city after the twilight that he knows and can imagine. He wishes and tends to tell those tourists who are just sensing

Edinburgh as a city of beauties that they are wrong and only through the dark vision is a real feeling for the city created. According to Rankin, one cannot feel for anything without suffering it first, without thinking about it and considering the dark sides, in these moments Rankin projects himself into Rebus, providing his own thoughs towards the tourists and refering about them to the world.

In the Knots and Crosses, Rebus is trying to solve a case of girls who have gone missing and later are found dead. Everything indicates that those almost 12-year-old girls are the victims of a psychopathic serial killer who chooses them according to an unclear pattern. The cases seem to have nothing in common. Rebus is getting blackmail letters containing small pieces of indicia, with crosses joined with knots of a string enclosed. But none of the blackmail letters seem to be connected with the killings.

Eventually, it comes to light that the girls are chosen because the sequence of the first initial of their names spells S-A-M-A-N-T-H-A, but read backwards. Just the last 28

remains... Rebus feels like a failure again, because he is too late to decode that the remaining one is his daughter. The murderer is after Sammy. Moreover, the target is

John Rebus himself, because he is the one to be finally stricken with grief. Everything starts to make sense.

It was Rankin`s aim to push Sammy so severely into the plot by being kidnapped by the serial killer. The murderer is after Rebus, to take revenge on him, which draws the reader`s attention to Rebus, the reader feels worried, sorry and excited. The reader is forced to understand. Rebus`s brother, a hypnotherapist, uses hypnosis on him, fortunately and eventually revealing that the killer is his fellow prisoner from their army training, Gordon Reeve, who goes insane during their SAS training and especially after

Rebus leaves him there.

The book is full of Rebus`s nightmarish dreams, full of ghosts and shadows of his past, that show the strength of Rebus`s character. Everyone must sympathize with the detective from the moment when Rebus discovers the psychopathic murderer is going to kill his daughter. This feeling remains until the end.

Rebus finally realizes how important Sammy is to him and how much he loves her. Sammy is fortunately saved at the end, but there is no happy ending. Even if it seems that Rebus finds a new beginning in his relationship with Sammy, he loses her for the second time, because her mother takes her to London to recover from the terrible experience. Rebus is left alone again with his ghosts and he has to take it for granted.

What is more, Rhona shouts at him that he has stolen Sammy`s childhood, due to the fact that Sammy was kidnapped as revenge against him, and he starts to blame himself even more than before. He is chased by the panic of the possible loss of her life.

Furthermore, Rebus is not given a chance to improve his relationship with his brother Michael, who appears to be a drug dealer. Michael has to be punished and 29

imprisoned instead. So Rebus is really left alone with no clear perspective for a better future.

Due to all these pieces of evidence, it is quite a natural process to understand why John Rebus is such a strange character: an introvert always drowning in the melancholy of his life, working alone, forming plots in his head, never trusting anyone, visualizing crime scenes everywhere and keeping the ghost from his past in his life. As a matter of fact, almost everybody important in Rebus`s life betrays or abandones him; either his brother Michael or his wife Rhona...

Finally, it is necessary to summarize the main points, to reveal the true nature of the story and place it into a model of “Mystery Crime Story Fiction”. In Knots and

Crosses, Rebus himself is led into a series of intrigues. And maybe it is why the story is so impressive. Everybody must feel for Rebus, a detective of strong personality who is hiding a kind of childish weakness inside. That is why Rebus in this novel is considered an iconic character of “Scottish Crime Fiction” influenced by the gothic novels. Rebus is a great example; a pattern of a fictional man who is not succesful in his life, who is trying to escape his past, a man who was moulded by a horrible experience, preceded by his unhappy feelings from his childhood, a person living in his despair. Furthermore, even the settings of the book fit into the model, since Edinburgh is considered a dual city, and especially after dark, the city of evil and crime. There are also aspects of supernatural effects, expressed by the ghosts, who are haunting Rebus. Another typical element is that the hero is forced to suffer and the plot is based on a complicated investigation. What is more, the character should be chased by the past and Rebus definitely is. Another inseparable aspect of a typical Rankin book is the open ending, which is rather different from the classical style, but it keeps the reader in a state of expectation in the moments when Rebus is left to his destiny. Rankin does not use any 30

prepared geometrical structure or pattern everything becomes a part of the plot naturally, during the process of writing, which is very typical of his writing. From time to time it really seems that even the writer is not sure about the ending and the reader is left to create their own conclusion. Last but not least is that the plots of each of his books are very complicated, so reading seems like doing a jigsaw, piece by piece it fits together, completing the story, creating the plot. Therefore this may be a reason why,

Rankin is able to hold the readers` attention until the end of every book, at which point everything becomes clear and logical.

3 Chapter Three: The Breakpoints in ‘The Hanging Garden’

Chapter three attempts to focus on the breakpoints in both Rankin`s and Rebus`s lives, which join them together in The Hanging Garden. Rankin became an angry man because of his personal tragedy, which was most visible in the books: Let it Bleed and

Black and Blue in which his style was very aggressive and still it lingered in The

Hanging Garden, where Rankin`s despair reached the peak and he let Rebus suffer with him. However, at the end of this book, Rankin reconciled himself with his destiny and he was slowly getting better. This book contains huge despair and it is hard to distinguish whose story the reader is empathising and experiencing. In this book Rankin and Rebus seemed inseparable.

The Hanging Garden is full of “memories” from Rebus`s early life connected with Sammy`s childhood and the broken relationship with Rhona. It also emphasizes the loss of Rebus`s best friend. Moreover, this is a book in which Rebus makes a pact with the “devil”, his “shadow” Big Ger Cafferty. The Hanging Garden is a very significant book in the Rebus series because it reflects a part of Rankin`s life tragedy and includes the way he finally dealt with.

The book starts really impressively with a dialogue between a father and a daughter, which draws attention to Rebus and the fact that his daughter lives with her mother and visits her father very rarely. This evokes empathy in the reader`s eyes.

Furthermore, there is a visible impact on a small child who is drawn into a divorce and the world of adults, which a child can hardly understand, and thus is hurt by the fact of standing between the two parents, especially when the child loves them both. Rankin aimed to touch the issue of divorce as well.

Next there are more fights and arguments, mostly because of sympathising with opposing political parties as it is shown in Knots and Crosses, Set in Darkness or Let it

Bleed. Rebus always tries to remember Sammy and his loss of her. In this book Rebus often turns his memories to Sammy aged twelve when she almost died in his hands after being kidnapped by a psychopath. He always imagines how scared she must have been.

Proceeding further, The Hanging Garden takes the reader to the time when

Sammy is 18, living back in Edinburgh, due to her studies, which is reminiscent of

Rankin`s life experience. She is seeing her father occassionally. Rebus feels guilty, because of the things from the past for which he feels to be responsible. And he wonders how to show Sammy that he loves her, when he always prefers work to spending time with her, but he is unable to help himself. Even though he takes long holidays to spend as much time with her as possible, she still feels that there is something inside her father that leads him to prefer his job above all.

What is more, people fascinate John Rebus, as he is the type who is always wondering about people around him, their life stories and destiny. He prefers his job to his family, friends, lovers... Therefore he loses everyone, not because he does not love them, but because of being simply a workaholic, terribly self-centred, stubborn individualist, living his own life inside his head, even though surrounded by the world of other people. One would call him indifferent, however, he is not. He simply cares more his work than about people, and he is too busy in his world to even realize it. In fact, for Rebus this is a kind of safety mechanism. He simply forgets his own life troubles by being interested in the lives of the others. Here Rankin mirrored his own attitude, to use someone else`s life as a shelter for his own troubles or more precisely for his therapy.

Due to the fact of his “indifference” he misses Sammy`s childhood and he feels guilty for not being there for her. He wonders whether she can forgive him one day, turn back time and start living for the future without looking back.

The book is full of the moments of guilt like crying into darkness, which seems to try to persuade the reader to sympathize with Rebus. It is full of despair mixed with anger. There is a point that makes the melancholy of the book and all the guilt understandable. Within a context of an investigation of a case of prostitution connected to a war criminal and gangs war in Edinburgh, Rebus is trying to solve his own case, the case of Sammy, who is severely hurt in the hit and run attack. As Sammy lies unconscious in hospital Rebus tries to convince himself that it must be his fault, because he let Sammy get involved in his case.

The book begins with an image of a prostitute who tries to commit suicide on the police station toilets, after being detained for running her “business” in an illegal place which started the riots of the gangs of Edinburgh. Rebus tries to help to save her life and thus he gets involved in her examination. Besides, the girl appears to be a principle witness and more precisely a key to arresting one of the leaders of the Russian mafia group. Therefore, he provides her asylum before there is enough evidence. As the girl is from Bosnia the police need an interpreter a university professor who is an expert of

Bosnia Culture and language, Lintz. Rebus, takes the girl with him wondering if it is a good idea. Unfortunately, Sammy gets involved, providing Candice - Katherina, the

Bosnian girl a shelter. In her apartment Sammy becomes her company, because without a company Katherina is suicidal, having been illegally and forcibly taken to Scotland to become a prostitute, which means being torn from her son and family.

In a rather complicated plot Lintz appears to be a war criminal, involved with one of the gangs in Edinburgh. Moreover, maybe Sammy is their victim, which Rebus deduces from the fact that Sammy looks similar to Candice.

Rebus starts his own investigation, going against the rules of the police department, which he regards as too slow. On one side there is Big Ger Cafferty´s gang and on the other side the gang of Telford, the Russian mafia boss. Somewhere in the middle Rebus is struck by the accident of his daughter. He feels a moral duty to take justice into his hands. At this very moment he stands on the edge, alone against the others, against Rhona, who blames him for Sammy´s state, against the two mafia leaders, and even against his police department and his colleagues. Rebus would never give up, unless he is murdered and due to this he discovers that it is not Cafferty´s interest to hurt him. Therefore, Rebus starts to “sympathize” with Cafferty in the war of gangs and he starts to go hard after Telford´s gang. What is more, he even asks Cafferty for help, while trying to search for the person who hurt Sammy, which is the moment since when Rebus felt he had made a pact with the “devil”, to find the truth.

Cafferty sat back for a moment to consider. When he leaned forward again, his eyes

bored into Rebus´s. “There´s something you´ve forgotten. I lost a son, remember. Think

I could do that to another father? “All right,” he said. “You want me to find who did it?”

Rebus nodded slowly. “What is your price?” “I want them delivered to me. I want you

to do that, whatever it takes.” Cafferty placed his hands on his knees, seemed to take his

time positioning them just so. “You know it´s probably Telford?” “Yes. If it´s not you.”

“You´ll be going after him then?” “Any way I can.” Cafferty smiled. “...But your ways

aren´t my ways.” “You might get to him first. I want him alive.”“...And meantime, you

are my man?” Rebus stared at him. I´m your man,”he said. (The Hanging Garden 177)

From then on Rebus feels instead of relief that he is losing his soul to “Hell” though it is on purpose. And in this very moment Rebus starts drinking again, and it is whisky that relieves him and even allows him to sleep. Drunk, his sleep is dreamless and when he wakes up in the morning there is nothing in his head except for hangover.

His ghosts are away for a while and he is allowed to have some rest. He wonders a lot about his life while sitting next to Sammy, trying to find some direction in the chaos around him and he needs to feel relaxed so as he can stand it and give Sammy any possible energy. There is a lot in his mind. He finds out that his job is the only thing that sustains him, because it is the easiest option, and he can as easily enter somebody`s life as he can leaves it, and he becomes obsessed by this. Due to Sammy`s state, Rebus realizes that he had failed as a father, husband and even a human being. While signing the pact with Cafferty, he feels that he has betrayed even his police department. But still, it is his work that gives him any order and sense in his life.

But even while under pressure, Rebus feels he has to work even harder. During the investigation of Telford`s gang the new issue of drug dealing appears and Rebus asks his colleague and only truthful friend for help in a night raid on a drug delivery track. Jack Morton understands John, his nightmares and shadows haunting him.

Moreover, Jack helps to chase them away.

Everything seems to be well planned but then....in a split second Jack Morton is dead, killed by a single bullet due to failure of the leader of the operation, while Rebus is not able to do a thing, just watching Jack Morton to fall the ground, and he is gone...“Jack Morton, a copper with a quiet patch in Falkirk...murdered in Edinburgh because a friend asked a favour. Jack Morton, who´d brought himself back to life by swearing off cigarettes and booze, getting into shape, eating right, taking care of himself...lying in the mortuary, deep-body temperature dropping. And I put him there.” 36

(The Hanging Garden 381) The reality touches Rebus deeply and he really feels he needs a drink; there remains nothing to keep him away from his ghost, his failures, and feelings of guilt. Jack is going to join his ghostly army one day.

Rebus remembers a line by Big Cafferty; “This is deeper water than either of us wants to be in. So do “yourself” a favour, swim for shore.” (The Hanging Garden 369), but Rebus never gives up. He knows, he needs to fight, for his soul, for Jack Morton, for

Sammy, otherwise he can never forgive himself or he can commit suicide. So eventually with the help of Siobhan he solves the case, which partly solves itself because there is the mafia and the mafia always punishes own traitors.

There still remains a question which needs to be answered in connection with

Sammy. Fortunately, Rankin could not hurt Rebus so much and he let Sammy survive.

Besides, she is getting better at the end of the book and a new light shines into Rebus´s life, giving him a chance, a hope for a better future. At least for this he feels relief.

However much Cafferty is a gangster, a “devil” and a part of the “Underworld”, he keeps his promise and gives Rebus the attacker of the hit and run. Thanks to

Cafferty`s men the attacker is in terrible state, but alive. The trouble is that the attacker is neither criminal, nor a man of any of the gangs. He is just a young boy... who hits

Sammy by accident while trying to drive a car being not able to reach the pedals. It is just a cruel coincidence just like with Rankin`s son.

When Rebus meets the boy responsible for Sammy`s state, he pleads to heaven to forgive him, due to the poor state of the boy, caused by the cruel punishment from

Cafferty`s men. He is taught a cruel lesson, which will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Rebus can not imagine punishing the boy any more and in this part Rebus shows how pure a character he is. He forgives the boy and lets him go.

Clean and sober, he went to the hospital. “When he reached the ward`s far end, two women

rose from their chairs so he could kiss them: Rhona and Patience. He had a carrier-bag with

him, magazines and grapes. Sammy was sitting up, supported by three pillows, Pa Broon

propped beside her. Her hair had been washed and brushed, and she was smiling at him. `I

need a few fantasies to sustain me in here,' Sammy said. Rebus beamed at her, said hello,

then bent down and kissed his daughter. (The Hanging Garden 408)

Yet there is another hope for Rebus. He can start building the relationship with his daughter which is like the very beginning when he discovered he was going to have a baby. He feels a ray of Sunlight in his mourning and hurt soul. In the last page of The

Hanging Garden the reader is even taken back to the situation long before Rebus`s first appearance in the Knots and Crosses, to the time when Rebus is happy with Rhona, who is telling him they are going to have a baby, which indicates the symbolism of the light in the life and a new hope. This ray of sunlight represents either Rankin`s attitude to his life tragedy and it could be said that in here Rankin projected the fact, that they would overcome the tragedy, maybe also due to the fact that Kit was not in pain and seemed to be enjoying the fragments of the life in his own and specifical way.

Although Rankin hurt Rebus a lot he had a reason for that: Rankin himself suffered a personal tragedy since his younger son Kit was diagnosed as severely ill without a chance for normal life. Rankin suffered such despair which he needed to put on paper. He had to cry out his pain and due to the fact Rebus became a part of him he had to let him suffer as well. In Rebus`s case, Rankin was merciful as, Sammy was given a chance for a normal life. Rebus since then became Rankin`s inseparable part, his “punching bag” (Mckichan, “Ian Rankin on why he didn`t kill Rebus” The Daily

Mail). Rankin could hide inside Rebus`s life, from own troubles, to forget reality for a while.

Additionally, even this book contains aspects of Scottish crime mystery fiction pattern, because it visualizes the dark side of Edinburgh, showing an entire problematic issue from inside its society. Furthermore, Rankin hurt the main character, which is another typical aspect. The plot is complicated, and crooked and offers no punishment for the criminals. Moreover, Rebus did not punish the one responsible for his daughter`s state, which shows the purity of his character. Last but not least, there is a typical

Rankin open ending.

4 Chapter Four: The Closed Circle and Rebus`s Destiny in

„Exit Music’

The chapter four intends to show the importance of Rebus in the life of Ian

Rankin. It is supposed to make a hypothesis about their relationship based upon the used symbolism, and to support it with examples. A further aim is to depict in which ways

Rankin`s approach to Rebus has changed from the very beginning. The chapter also compares the literary genre of the detective and the gothic novel model endings with the one Rankin offered to his readers.

...the girl screamed once, only once, but it was enough... (Exit Music 3) The first part of this quote had appeared in the first Rankin`s book about Rebus in the Knots and

Crosses, published in 1987, and a second part “but it was enough” was added in Exit

Music which reveals a kind of circular symbolism. It highlights that the cycle is going to be over, closed, and it is reminiscent of a note of farewell. For the reader, it might be the most exciting or the most thrilling book, because the hypothetical end of Rebus is very unclear. Due to the genres that influenced Rankin, the reader could expect a horrible end for DI Rebus.

According to the aspects of Scottish crime mystery fiction, the reader could expect that Ian Rankin would let Rebus die but he did not do so, moreover, he could not do so. Then from the first moment it was clear that Rankin indicates the influence of

Conan Doyle: not only by creating Cafferty for Rebus as a symbol of Morriarty for

Holmes, but also by using names from Doyle´s books, for example Rebus´s supervisor´s name is Watson, one of Rebus´s colleagues is named Holmes. So it could be expected that he would “throw his iconic character from the rock as Doyle did to his Sherlock

Holmes. But reality was different and since then more than to Doyle, Rankin started to

be compared to J. K. Rowling and her Harry Potter, because in his interview with

Jenniffer Byrne on ABC TV from the 21st May 2013, Rankin admitted that he started to feel for his Rebus, and had a close relationship with him just like Rowling felt for Harry

Potter. Nevertheless, in Rankin`s case the readers were still uncertain until the last minute whether Rankin would let Rebus live or he would let him die, uphold the literary pattern.

Due to Tartan Noir and their rules of writing style, Rankin should have killed off

Rebus, because that is the prototype and the model scheme. But there is more that should have been considered. As time passed, Rankin started to behave a little bit like his own character as his wife admitted in the interview for The Daily Telegraph. She also admitted that due to the fact he was writing a book a year, for twenty years, there were days when he really lived Rebus´s life instead of his own and might not be able to live without Rebus. Rankin seemed to grow into Rebus, as he created him. It would have been for Rankin like committing suicide on half of his soul, mind and character.

(Hensher, “Writers who leave their wives lost for words” The Daily Telegraph).

Exit Music is written in a kind of melancholy described by Rankin in Rebus´s

Scotland, which pervades the pages to be felt by the reader. There are moments which are emotional and touching, passages in which Siobhan Clarke Rebus´s colleague and almost a “friend” for years, expresses that even when he is not a pleasant person to be with, he is reliable, calming and trustful. She likes him so much that she would miss him greatly, which seems like Rankin`s words projected into Siobhan with his own feelings for Rebus. Even Rebus is almost touched but instead of revealing the truth, he expresses a kind of ironic vision of life without him.

Next, Rebus does not feel comfortable, but because he is a Scot he is supposed to hide his feelings. Clarke is English and therefore she says what she feels. Maybe this 41

is the reason why they do not really suit each other completely; there is always a kind of distance between them a kind of barrier, even though there are moments of passion, in which they evade each other to avoid spoiling their working partnership.

In Exit Music they work on an investigation of the difficult case of a murder in a dark part of Edinburgh. In the deserted King´s Stable Road a Russian poet is stabbed and another Russian is burned in his own house. Rebus and Clarke are trying to find the connection between the two cases, which is again wrapped in a huge number of intrigues.

While investigating the story, a demon from the ancient times appears, the “King of Edinburgh´s Netherland”, and Rebus´s “shadow” Big Ger Cafferty being involved in this plot. Rebus would be glad to take his ghost with him to retirement by putting him in jail. This man really follows him as a kind of shadow, and there cannot be Rebus without Cafferty and Cafferty without Rebus, as Rankin says:

I am never sure with Rebus and Cafferty whether they are going to become friends, or

end up in a fight to death. They´re two sides of the same coin, because every coin has to

have two sides: they are similar age background, both feeling like dinosaurs as the

world around them changes and turns. They are like Jekyll and Hyde, one shadow to the

second. Rebus may even feel that he´s made pact with the devil, when once he became

his man. To which I say; better the devil you know. (Rebus`s Scotland 56).

The factor of dualism appears with Rebus on one side and Cafferty on the other.

They only had made “pact” due to their children. Once in a book with the title Mortal

Causes Rebus solves the case of the murder of Cafferty`s son. Cafferty eventually kills the man who is responsible for his son`s death. Though Rebus does not give Cafferty the killer, he is not allowed to save him. On the other hand, when Sammy, Rebus`s daughter is attacked in The Hanging Garden, Rebus wants Cafferty to give him the one

responsible. Therefore, Rebus promises Cafferty to be his man who symbolizes in his eyes “making a pact with the devil”, since then Rebus feels that he would not be taken by God when he dies. “I`ve made pacts with the devil, he thought as his hands gripped the edge of the breakfast table. Resurrection would only come to those who deserve it;

Rebus knew he was not among them. He could find a church and pray all he liked, or offer up his confession to Strathern. Neither would make a jot of difference.” (Rebus´s

Scotland 55) But in this part Rebus is visualized as a symbol of “God” because he is not able to take revenge on the boy responsible for Sammy`s state.

Cafferty seems to be involved in the cases of the murder of the two Russians and

Rebus with his natural stubbornness wants to solve this case individually and on his own. Therefore, he suggests meeting Cafferty near to the King`s Stables, just to make him reveal the truth or at least falsify it. Eventually, Rebus finds out, that the murders and attacks are not Cafferty`s fault. Moreover, Cafferty himself is stabbed, at the place where he had previously met Rebus and a piece of evidence pointing right at Rebus is found there. Rebus is trapped, by his own individuality and stubbornness and the trap snaps shut. At this point it becomes very unclear if Cafferty is really Rebus`s last case.

Readers are made to wonder whether this case pulls Rebus down or not. Nothing seems positive for Rebus since then and probably even Rankin himself did not know at this very moment how he would get Rebus out of trouble, which he personally admitted.

Previously he meant to let him die while trying to prove his own innocence, but he could not do so.

Rebus slightly became a part of Rankin and he could hardly imagine his life without Rebus. He started to hear his voice in his head, raising the question whether they still have some unfinished business between them. He could not let him die, without killing a part of his own soul. (Wroe, “Bobby Dazzler”. The Guardian) Rebus 43

would remain as a ghost inside his head, as Rankin previously himself created as a destiny for Rebus. Even though Rankin assured everyone that he was not Rebus himself, unfortunately this did not seem to be that much true. Rankin could not kill

Rebus at the very moment when he really started to feel for him and the last piece of the puzzle fitted into its space, as Rankin explains in the article for The Daily Mail

(Mackichan, “Ian Rankin on why he didn´t kill off Rebus”. The Daily Mail)

Rankin´s wife also admitted in one of the interviews for The Daily Telegraph that he suffered a similar workaholic aspect which Rankin created for Rebus. She did not say he was somehow neglecting the family, but when he was working, he enclosed himself into his inner world, where he played his favourite rock music, mostly The

Rolling Stones, which he reflected into Rebus as well, and distances himself from his family. He took himself too much into the plot and he felt too much for John Rebus that he became dual. He had a dual vision of the world of life in his head and from time to time he saw them both (Hensher, “Writers who leave their wives lost for words”. The

Daily Telegraph) which reminded of the Jekyll and Hyde, with the huge difference that even though there was a dark and light vision, Rankin could control Rebus and both of them were trying to do good. Although they separately had a very different vision of life, Rankin would not probably be able to exist without Rebus any more. Therefore,

Rankin would have to let Rebus live. Moreover, Rankin used Rebus as a kind of

“Punching Bag” since he inserted all his worries, troubles and despair into the character of John Rebus, and so he became a sort of psychoanalyst for Rankin as he mentiones in the article for The Daily Mail (Mackichan, “Ian Rankin on why he didn´t kill off Rebus”

The Daily Mail). Furthermore, Rankin felt that his business with Rebus was not over yet, and he simply needed a break to find another use for him at his age, due to the fact he was too old to stay working for the police, according to the age of retirement. 44

In an interview for Yorkshire Post Rankin said: “Rebus made excuses and said goodbye, but he never said he wouldn´t return.” He added: “ I didn´t miss him at all, he was gone from my head for a while, and yet, when I sat down to write a novel, he was just there – the voice, thy cynicism, the looking at the world through weary eyes, the predilection for trouble, so I couldn´t let him go.” (Freeman, “The big interview with

Ian Rankin” Yorkshire Post)

There opens another question: whether the end of the circle was really meant to be symbolic even from the title of the book. According to the Guardian even here is a symbolism. Music is important not only for Rankin but also for Rebus and the title Exit

Music is taken from a song by Steve Lindsay a man, who discovered all the beauties and possibilities of his guitar and who was able to confuse its listeners. “Rankin`s instrument is the police procedural, and, in this book, he plays teasingly with crime fiction`s need to disguise the solution and confuse the reader.” (Lawson, “Retiremen

Present”. The Guardian)

But although the readers are thrilled and confused till the last page, it became clear that Rebus is going to be retired, instead of going in jail and he is not going to die.

Rankin only lets him leave the police, leaving Cafferty in the coma on the clinical aid, in a state where it is unclear whether he will survive or die. Something remains open and needs to be closed and solved as well. Rebus is left while pleading for his “shadow” to live, not to die. Rebus is afraid that if Cafferty dies like that, he will surely become one of his ghosts due to the unsolved case. So the situation is really unpredictable and the reader is left confused in this state.

For a while Rebus is left to have a pause, a short break, maybe because of a date as he got used to saying: "I'm just going for a tutorial with Professor Nicotine", because

Rebus would probably, without being useful drink himself to death, smoke heavily, or die forgotten somewhere.

Additionally, it is necessary to say, that Rankin left either Rebus or the reader in a state of confusion in which nothing is clear and solved which reminds of one of

Rankin´s “Cul-de-sacs” because as he himself mentioned in the interview for ABC with

Jenniffer Byrne, first he made a plan to kill Rebus at the end, but developing the plot he decided not to do so. However, it is almost the same as Rankin took from him his only sense and reason for living, when he took from him the only remaining reason to get up in the morning, because Rebus´s job was the only thing he lived for. It is again left to the reader´s imagination whether it is possible to save Rebus from this terrible situation which would probably lead to his death anyway.

Nevertheless, it is almost sure that Rankin was just trying to get out of the situation by trying to make another plan for Rebus. During the years Rankin thought that it was his own mistake to create Rebus that old in his first novel, and he did not realize at the time of the creation, how dependent he would become on Rebus throughout the years he would spend with him. Later on Rankin just wished to slow down time, which was not possible, even though, Rebus is a fictional character. So he simply needed to give himself time to think precisely what to do. At the end he got a tip from a detective who was spending his retirement by working on cold cases, and this would probably become Rebus´s next step. Rankin also joked on rising the age of retirement for policemen in Edinbugh to keep Rebus working and therefore alive, which he has also mentioned in the article for The Daily Mail. (Mackichan, “Ian Rankin on why he didn´t kill off Rebus”. The Daily Mail)

Conclusion

The thesis is based on the works of Ian Rankin and is focused on his Rebus series of novels. The main aims of the thesis are: to classify Rankin into a literary genre and to prove his influence by the detective and the gothic novel, to analyse his biography and explain the creation of his iconic character Detective Inspector John

Rebus. Last but not least, another objective is to analyse the character of DI Rebus on the three selected novels from the Rebus series: Knots and Crosses, The Hanging

Garden and Exit Music, on the background of the recent Edinburgh.

This thesis is divided into four chapters, which deal with different aspects of the style, structure, plot background, and specification of the writer and his fictional character. The purpose of the first chapter is to focus on Ian Rankin, who became the

“king” of the Scottish literary and cultural group called “Tartan noir”, due to the creation of his fictional iconic character DI John Rebus, who is a bearer of aspects of the literary genre called the Scottish crime mystery fiction novel. The chapter offers the explanation of Rankin`s literary influence by the detective and gothic novels and their most important aspect of dualism and also provides Rankin`s biography highlighting the most important aspects and events of his life, which had an effect on the creation of

Rebus.

The second chapter provides the analysis of Rankin`s style and influence applied on the book Knots and Crosses. Moreover, it also analyses DI John Rebus and offers a kind of fictional biography of his character, explaining the main aspects on the bases of a literary model. Moreover, John Rebus as a fictional character is situated into the real

Edinburgh and tries to solve the recent problematic issues of Scotland.

The third chapter is aimed on the book The Hanging Garden and the breakpoints which linked the main character with the writer. In this book the writer projects himself into his fictional character, in the close connection to his personal life tragedy. The aspects of linking are emphasized in several aspects of this book, which is proved within the chapter.

Chapter four of this thesis leads the reader to the very end of Rebus`s series and shows the links among the writer and his character. The chapter, moreover, intents to analyze the reasons why Rankin could not let his character die and explains the reasons for their close relationship. In this chapter it is proved that Rebus meant a lot for his creator and that he became an inseparable part of Rankin himself.

The thesis attempted to prove that Ian Rankin was influenced mostly by the works of Robert Louis Stevenson and the literary evidence is supported by examples and applied on the issues of modern urban areas of Edinburg, provided by John Rebus.

What is more, Rankin attempted to provide reality on the bases of fiction.

Furthermore, the analysis of John Rebus revealed that Rankin was projecting events from his life into the life of John Rebus. Moreover, he created Rebus as a therapy, to portray his own life troubles through him as a kind of relief. As Rankin later admitted, Rebus became a part of his own head and life, and this fact implemented an element of dualism into his novels. Through John Rebus, Rankin created a modern story of the Jekyll and Hyde. There will not be Jekyll without Hyde, Cafferty without Rebus and most of all, Rebus without Rankin and neither Rankin nor Rebus without

Edinburgh.

Ediburgh is described as a dual city full of gothic or mystery aspects, as opposed to the architectural and historical beauties of the city, which makes it a city of contrasts ideal for Rebus`s settings and the crime plot. While applying all the problematic issues 48

on Edinburgh, it really became a “schizophrenic” “precipitous” city; the city of gangs, corruption, prostitution, murders, political crimes and other nightmarish activities, still

Edinburgh remained a beautiful city full of historical monuments attracting the tourists.

Through Rankin`s biography the reader penetrates to the character of Rebus and via Rankin`s life events it is possible to analyse him. Rebus became a prototype of the style of Scottish crime mystery fiction except for one thing; Rankin could not kill his character as Doyle or Stevenson did, at the end of the circle due to the fact that he used him as a shelter to live problematic parts of his own life hiding himself in Rebus`s life.

As Rankin grew older he became partly Rebus himself, so it is possible that he only created a mirrored character that lived a part of his life. As Rankin mentioned in one of the interviews for the ABC programme with Jennifer Byrne; “Rebus drinks and smokes for me, and he also keeps the troubles of my life on his shoulders as a kind of burden,

Rebus is a kind of my “punch bag”, since I started using him in Black and Blue.” Rebus became Rankin`s unseparable part and he left him alive in an incomplete story, till he would find later fullfilment for him.

Applied on the collected information the Stevenson`s quote “You must suffer me, to go my own dark way” seems to be applicable because unless trying to suffer

Rebus`s life neither Rankin nor the reader would sympathize and empathize with him.

Moreover, thanks to Rankin, who offered the dual vision, Edinburgh was given another perspective of the reality projected through the dark vision of the city. The tourists started not only search for the architecture and history, but also for the dark places in connection with DI John Rebus, which means Rankin was able to show and present reality through his fiction and was succesful in the increase of the attention to focus on finding the true face of Edinburgh, which proves Rankin`s quote that “Fiction after all, can sometimes tell the truth the real world can`t”. 49

Works Cited

Bowden, Jen. “Rebus Revisited – Ian Rankin Picks His Favourite Moments“. The Guardian: Co. UK. 2012. Web, 23 Aug 2012.

Bowden, Jen. “Ian Rankin`s Edinburgh” The Guardian: Co. UK 2009. Web, 25 Oct, 2009.

Brown, Keith. Oxford Guide to the British and American Culture. Oxford University Press: 2005. Print.

Bruce-Gardyne, Tom. “Ian Rankin`s Edinburgh”. The Telegraph: Co. UK. 2012. Web, 14 Aug 2012

Byrne, Jennifer. “Jennifer Byrne presents: Ian Rankin”. The Book Club - ABC TV: Au. 2013. Web. 21 May 2013.

Colins, Tim. “Tested to destruction: An Ex-SAS officer reveals the terrifying selection process for Special Forces and says that, despite this weekend´s tragedy, standards must not slip…” Mail Online: Co. UK. 2013. Web, 15 Jul 2013.

Colins, Tim. “Ten of the greatest literary crime novels, by Ian Rankin”. Mail Online: Co. UK. 2010. Web, 27 March 2010.

Freeman, Sarah. “The big interview with Ian Rankin”. Yorkshire Post: Co. UK. 2013. Web, 17 Nov 2013.

Greenblatt, Stephen. The Northon Anthology of British Literature. W.W. Norton & Company Ltd. 2005. Print

Hensher, Philip. “Writers who leave their wives lost for words”. The Telegraph: Co. UK 2013, Web, 1 Nov, 2013.

Johnstone, Doug. “How William mcilvanney invented tartan noire”. The Guardian: Co UK, 2013. Web, 11 Aug, 2013.

Kinston, J. Pierce. “Ian Rankin: The accidental crime writer”. „January Interview‟: January Magazine. 1999. Web. 1999.

Lawson, Mark. “Retiremen Present”. The Guardian: Co. UK. 2007, Web, 8 Sept 2007.

Mackichan, Jane. “Ian Rankin on why he didn´t kill off Rebus”. Mail Online: Co. UK. 2007. Web, 30 Nov 2007

Rankin, Ian. Knots and Crosses. London: Orion Books Ltd., 1998. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Hide and Seek. London: Orion Books Ltd, 1998. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Tooth and Nail. London: Orion Books Ltd, 1998. Print.

Rankin, Ian. A Good Hanging. London: Orion Books Ltd, 1998. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Strip Jack. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2001. Print.

Rankin, Ian. The Black Book. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2001. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Mortal Causes. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2001. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Let it Bleed. London: Orion Books Ltd, 1996. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Black and Blue. London: Orion Books Ltd, 1997. Print.

Rankin, Ian. The Hanging Garden. London: Orion Books Ltd, 1999. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Dead Souls. London: Orion Books Ltd, 1999. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Set in Darkness. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2005. Print.

Rankin, Ian. The Falls. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2001. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Resurrection Men. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2001. Print.

Rankin, Ian. A Question of Blood. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2002. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Fleshmarket Close. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2005. Print.

Rankin, Ian. The Naming of the Dead. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2007. Print.

Rankin, Ian. Exit Music. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2008. Print.

Rankin, Ian Rebus´s Scotland. London: Orion Books Ltd, 2006. Print

Robinson, David. “Ian Rankin on how to write a Rebus Novel”. The Scotsman: Co. UK 2013, Web, 16 Nov 2013.

Scaggs, John. Crime Fiction: Routledge. NY. 2005. Print.

Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Anthony‟s Home Page: Pdf edition. 1998. Web

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Wade, Mike. “Scottish? English? Library thinks twice.” The Washington Post: 2008. Web, Jan 15 2008.

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Summary

This bachelor thesis entitled “The Strange Case of Mr Ian Rankin and Detective

Inspector John Rebus” is focused on the books written by Ian Rankin and it concentrates on the series of novels about his fictional iconic character Detective

Inspector John Rebus. Moreover, it looks at Rankin´s approach to Rebus`s character in the context of modern urban Edinburgh in the selection of his novels; Knots and

Crosses, The Hanging Garden and Exit Music.

The whole thesis attempts not only to analyse his novels, but also Rankin`s biography compared to Rebus`s one. What is more, it analyses the literary style of Ian

Rankin and provides his literary genre classification. Furthermore, the analysis is supposed to prove that it is possible to sense reality through fiction, which is provided by the aspects of dualism and the “Jekyll and Hyde” gothic symbolism, which are applied on the real Edinburgh.

The first chapter intends to prove the detailed classification of Rankin`s literary genre and fits him into the Scottish literary style of crime mystery fiction. The second part of this chapter leads the reader through Rankin`s inspiration, influence and interests, taken from his detailed biography, to the creation of Rebus.

The second, third and fourth chapter provide detailed analysis of Rankin`s books

Knots and Crosses, The Hanging Garden and Exit Music through which the aspects of

Rankin`s life are linked to his fictional charater John Rebus. The chapters, moreover, explain the reasons for the creation of Rebus and provide the examples of their relationship.

Resumé

Tato bakalářská diplomová práce s názvem “Podivný případ pana Iana Rankina a detektiva inspektora Johna Rebuse” se zaměřuje na knihy od spisovatele Iana Rankina a soustřeďuje se na sérii románů, v nichž se vyskytuje jeho kultovní postava detektiva isnpektora Johna Rebuse. Mimo jiné, je cílem této práce zameřit se na přístup Iana

Rankina k postavě Johna Rebuse v kontextu moderního městského Edinburghu ve výběru z jeho románů; Uzly a kříže, Na šikmé ploše a Poslední rébus.

Celá práce se snaží nejen rozebrat Rankinovy novely, ale také porovnat jeho

životopis s Rebusovým a zároveň analyzovat jeho literární styl a zařadit jej do literárního žánru. Další rozbor prokazuje, že je možné vnímat realitu skrze beletrii, což je podloženo příkladem použití dualismu a gotického symbolismu Jekylla a Hyda, aspekty, jež jsou aplikovány na současný Edinburgh.

První kapitola je zaměřena na zařazení Rankina z hlediska jeho literárního žánru, podle nějž spadá do skotského literárního stylu detektivní tajemné beletrie. Druhá část vede čtenáře skrze Rankinův životopis, jeho inspiraci, ovlivnění a zájmy, až k vytvoření postavy Johna Rebuse.

Druhá, třetí a čtvrtá kapitola potom poskytuje detailní rozbor Rankinových knih

Uzly a kříže, Na šikmé ploše a Poslední rébus, jejichž prostřednictvím jsou propojeny

životy autora s jeho románovou postavou. Jednotlivé kapitoly se zároveň zaměřují na vysvětlení podstaty stvoření postavy Johna Rebuse a vše je podloženo příklady jejich vzájemného vztahu.