The Impossible Dead (Malcolm Fox, #2)

by Ian Rankin

Malcolm Fox and his team from Internal Affairs are back. They've been sent to Fife to investigate whether fellow cops covered up for a corrupt colleague, Detective Paul Carter. Carter has been found guilty of misconduct with his own uncle, also in the force, having proved to be his nephew's nemesis. But what should be a simple job is soon complicated by intimations of conspiracy and cover-up - and a brutal murder, a murder committed with a weapon that should not even exist. The spiralling investigation takes Fox back in time to 1985, a year of turmoil in British political life. Terrorists intent on a split between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom were becoming more brazen and ruthless, sending letter-bombs and poisonous spores to government offices, plotting kidnaps and murder, and trying to stay one step ahead of the spies sent to flush them out. Fox has a duty to get at the truth, while the body count rises, the clock starts ticking, and he fights for his professional and personal life.

• ISBN10: 0316039772
• ISBN13: 9780316039772
• Publish Date: 21 November 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Reagan Arthur Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[mackhazelwood]

Another great mystery novel by the great Scottish author Ian Rankin.

[Lianne]

This was my first Ian Rankin novel and I absolutely enjoyed it from start to finish. The case itself was a bit of a slow burn as Malcolm and his team were initially in the town due to investigate Detective Paul Carter, only to stumble onto a larger case with wider implications. Nationalist politics, radical movements, espionage and cover-ups, it really held my interest as you follow Malcolm trying to piece everything together and figure out what was really going on.

What I especially enjoyed about this novel was how as the story unfolds and the mystery deepens, I found myself learning more about Malcolm himself, like his character was also unfolding before my eyes. At first I thought he was a pretty straightforward cop–humourless, organised, to the book, the usual. But the more I read, the more I learn that there’s a lot to Malcolm Fox, his dedication and perseverance in a department that’s despised amongst police circles, his rather dry humour and his family life. His personal storyline regarding his father and his sister was just as interesting and a very telling inclusion about who Malcolm is as a character.

While the writing feels clinical at times, it sets the tone of the story perfectly. Fans of crime and mystery novels will enjoy this title.

You can read this review in its entirety over at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2013/12/06/review-the-impossible-dead/