My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a surprise return for Rebus, this time back in action not as a serving police officer but as part of a team reviewing cold cases. Into the bargain, Malcolm Fox from 'The Complaints' is dealt into the plot, as well as old villain 'Big Ger' Cafferty. Cafferty's contribution seems reasonable enough, but including Fox seems unnecessary, and indeed he's really only a fringe figure in this book. The reader is really only engaged with Fox because he's been the central character in other books. I'm not convinced that the inclusion of these other characters isn't mainly a device to boost sales.
For all that, Standing In Another Man's Grave is an excellent read, well-written as ever and with some really atmospheric writing about, in particular, the north-east of Scotland. There's life in Rebus yet, it seems.
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