The other police in this novel interest me -- I won't go down the list, but those who can't see why he cares about something, those who can't understand why he'd do something with so little regard to consequences are on one end -- the other end is filled by people (like Clarke) who know exactly what kind of man he is, and without approving or participating in the less-than-savory aspects his methods, can use him and them for good.

Confused? Yeah, sure, I am -- and I wrote that summary. Somehow, Rankin is able to take all that mess and assemble it into a novel that actually makes sense -- with all of these stories being tied together, not just with over-lapping themes, but in reality in some sort of 6 degrees of separation fashion -- even excluding DI Rebus. It's really very impressive watching how Rankin weaves every strand of story and character in this novel -- it always is, but this web seems more intricate than usual. And feels his heart burst open with the knowledge that he'll never see his daughter again, in this world or any other. Barney & Janice Mee need a favor from Rebus-a huge favor indeed. Their son has gone missing...a mispers. They were classmates of Rebus and feel the police have stopped trying to locate their son. Darren Rough, a convicted pedophile,has been let out of prison and now resides in an apartment with a clear view of a playground. Rebus, while following Rough, observes him taking pictures of the animals or is the children at a zoo. Rebus has strong suspicions that won't let him rest.

Basically, this is one of the subplots of Dead Souls -- Rebus' looking for the missing son of a people he knew in school -- in its original form. It'd be modified, expanded, and given a different ending in the novel. There's a subplot, mildly related, involving organized crime and gambling -- in much the same way that other crimes were associated with the missing person's case in Dead Souls. In this there were significant plot differences from the novel. These concern the fate of the missing person, the nature of the relationship between Rebus and his ex-girlfriend, and the character of her husband. Rebus finds himself drawn towards a cold case after a prostitute is buried alive beneath a famous Scottish landmark, but finds himself stonewalled when his prime suspect turns out to be a member of parliament – forcing his superiors to draft in a fellow DI to rein him in.

The compelling new story follows 40-year-old police detective John Rebus ( Richard Rankin), who finds himself at a psychological crossroads following an altercation with an infamous Edinburgh gangster. Steve Holly is a scurrilous Glasgow-based reporter who appears in The Falls (2001), A Question of Blood (2003), and Fleshmarket Close (2004). His goal is to find the most sensational aspect of a story. Arthur's Seat crouches behind him, humped and silent as though offended by his presence, coiled to pounce. He tells himself it is papier-mâché. He smooths his hands over strips of newsprint, not reading the stories, then realises he is stroking the air and withdraws his hands, laughing guiltily. Somewhere behind him, he hears a voice.I was surprised and touched to read in the intro that the title is a reference to a Joy Division song - I had assumed that it referred in some way to Gogol.

News – The Scotsman". News.scotsman.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013 . Retrieved 21 July 2017.

Detective Sergeant Tess Leighton is part of the Major Incident Team headed by Detective Chief Inspector Graham Sutherland in In a House of Lies and A Song for the Dark Times. She is tall, slim, pale, intelligent, and interested in men. She and Malcolm Fox have a few dates. Her colleagues on this team in the two books include DS George Gamble and DC Phil Yeats. Salisbury Crag" has become rhyming slang in the city. It means skag, heroin. "Morningside Speed" is cocaine. A snort of coke just now would do him the world of good, but wouldn't be enough. Arthur's Seat could be made of the stuff: in the scheme of things, it wouldn't matter a damn. Like Rebus, she is "married to the job." Most of the men romantically interested in her (or she in them) are policemen. At one point, in Resurrection Men, she has three suitors but prefers the one who is willing to settle for a platonic relationship; later, she and Malcolm Fox have a similarly platonic relationship. In the later books she has an affair with divorced colleague DCI Graham Sutherland. In later novels, Cafferty is a near-permanent figure, claiming to have gone straight while retaining criminal control of Edinburgh from behind the scenes. He is often linked to cases that Rebus and Clarke are investigating, but there is never enough evidence to bring charges against him. Detective Inspector Abernethy is a representative of the Special Branch (Metropolitan Police). He involves himself in two of Rebus's cases. In Mortal Causes (1994) he is interested in the relationships between Irish and Scottish paramilitary groups, and gun-running. In The Hanging Garden (1998) he tells Rebus that it is not in the national interest for Rebus to succeed in his efforts to persuade Mr. Lintz to talk about his activities as a Nazi.