BOOK BITES | Midnight and Blue, The Widow, Into the Storm

Midnight and Blue

Ian Rankin, Orion

***** (5 stars)

For decades, we’ve followed Ian Rankin’s feisty Edinburgh detective John Rebus and his crew of psychologically complicated cops, each a masterclass in how to create an interesting and convincing character. Rebus’ success in catching criminals is linked to breaking rules, so it is not altogether surprising — but definitely disconcerting — to now find Rebus behind bars for his role in the death of a gangster boss. Inside HMP Edinburgh, Rebus is protected by organised crime boss Darryl Christie, a rival of the late gangster boss. This is a doubled-edged sword because while Christie helps to keep Rebus alive, he is also batshit crazy and not to be trusted. When Rebus sets about solving a prison murder — in which both criminals and prison guards are suspects and there are links to a city murder — his life is precariously on the line. True unputdownable Rankin. — William Saunderson-Meyer

The Widow

Helene Flood, Quercus

**** (4 stars)

What an incredible read — a darkish Nordic-noir style, slow-burn psychological thriller. Helen Flood is a psychologist who obtained her doctorate in violence, revictimisation and trauma-related shame and guilt. Evie lives in a big dark house on top of a hill. It’s a family homestead that she’s never loved, and after her husband Erling dies while out riding his bike one day, she is left rattling around in the house all alone. The story unfolds through Evie’s eyes as she takes you deeper and deeper into her story. And you start to realise that there are reasons and explanations for puzzling things that keep happening, and for lapses in her memory. This is a surprisingly candid account of a woman who has failings and yet somehow manages to see and understand them. It’s a cracking read, brilliantly translated. — Gill Gifford

Into the Storm

Cecelia Ahern, HarperCollins

***** (5 stars)

Cecelia Ahern is a master at examining grief and steering the reader through difficult moments. She does it again in this her 20th novel. When doctor Enya Pickering approaches her birthday — she is turning 47, the same age her mother was when she died — something inside her breaks. During a storm on a mountain pass she comes across an accident scene. The boy who is nearly killed resembles her son. After the accident, she decides to leave her unhappy marriage, and sadly her son, and moves to the small, quiet town of Abbeydoole, where she, of course, discovers more about her motivations and exactly what she has done to her life. — Jennifer Platt