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The Hanging Garden

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The Hanging Garden

By: Ian Rankin
Narrated by: James Macpherson
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About this listen

DI Rebus is buried under a pile of paperwork but an escalating dispute between the upstart Tommy Telford and Big Ger Cafferty's gang gives Rebus an escape clause. Telford is known to have close links with a Chechen gangster bringing refugees into Britain as prostitutes.

When Rebus takes under his wing a distraught Bosnian call girl, it gives him a personal reason to make sure Telford goes back to Paisley and pronto. Then Rebus's daughter is the victim of an all too professional hit-and-run and Rebus knows that there is now nothing he won't do to bring down prime suspect Tommy Telford - even if it means cutting a deal with the devil.

©1998 John Rebus Ltd (P)2015 Orion Publishing Group Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Traditional Detectives Suspense

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All stars
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Brilliant plot, characters and style. We dive into Rebus' personal life a little deeper, as well as an intertwined series of investigations outside.

Best 8n the series so far

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The ninth Rebus adventure, published in 1998, is high-octane fare from the start - and the pace never lets up. Rebus is always at his best when he’s under siege and battling on multiple fronts. In The Hanging Garden, Rebus is probing a possible war criminal living in Edinburgh. The probable inspiration was the real-life story of Anton Gecas, a pensioner who lived in the city and was an alleged war criminal, accused of helping to kill thousands of Jews. He died in 2001 and at the time of The Hanging Garden his story was well-known. In this novel, the war criminal is Joseph Lintz, a retired academic. Then Rebus’s 19-year-old daughter Samantha is run over - and spends almost all of the rest of the novel unconscious. Was it a deliberate attack - attempted murder by car? This is just one of many mysteries. Meanwhile, gang warfare is raging. Rankin can get bogged down in such matters - the internecine machinations of warring crime clans. Thankfully, Big Ger Cafferty isn’t much in evidence here (I find him annoying), as he’s in jail. That said, he does have a key part to play in the plot. Even the Yakuza (Japanese gangsters) make an appearance. Human trafficking is also an important factor in proceedings. Rebus becomes close to Candice, a trafficked prostitute. She’s almost his proxy daughter in The Hanging Garden, given that Samantha is laid up in a hospital bed. Tommy Telford is the up-and-coming ganglord with ambitions to seize Cafferty’s crown. He’s a bit of a cardboard cut-out of a character. So why is it such a good Rebus? It is a bit overloaded in terms of plotting, true - though for Rankin that is par for the course. But as a listening experience, it works really well. The Rebus novels lend themselves to audio adaptation as they’re dialogue-heavy. The narration is good, bar a couple of slightly dodgy regional accents. The resolution is reasonably neat and tidy. There is (I think) a loose end - Rebus puts off having an HIV test (after a close encounter with the blood of a thug who had the disease). Why he delays having the crucial test isn’t clear - he bolts from the clinic. A fear of needles? Maybe, or more likely the need to keep the plot going, and to create suspense. But I don’t recall Rebus ever bothering to go back for the test. A minor cavil… and we know he survived as he appeared in many subsequent novels. The Hanging Garden works well because Rebus faces many different threats, some of them existential, and tough challenges. It’s also personal - he needs to find out who ran over his daughter, and whether it’s linked to gang warfare (or the suspected Nazi war criminal he’s investigating). The story held my attention and felt more polished than some previous Rebus novels - the series, by this time, was very much finding its feet. I’m listening in order (starting during lockdown in 2020). I’d recommend audio Rebus. The narrator is fantastic. I can’t wait to try the next book - Dead Souls.

Sins and needles

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Brilliant story, listened to the whole thing in two days. Look forward to the next one

Great listen, every new book just gets better

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this book was awesome! a great continuation from the last book! very inventive and engaging

Awesome!

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an extremely good listen, complex and intriguing and well performed. Another Rankin and Rebus beckons but which one?

Great value

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Great book the Rebus character is a lovable rouge but everyone knows one like him. The book has a great story line with deals with criminals, attempted murder, little old ladies as drug mules

You got to love Rebus

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Rebus and the Narrator on top form! Might even be worth a second listen! Really loved the narration

Great story

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Hard to switch off - very well read (apart from some dodgy non Scottish accents)

Rankin is so clever, he makes you think about life and your morale code as well as another gripping who and why dunnit.

Another exciting clever gritty listen

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his books get better and better. soo soo good. loved it. amazing amazing. can't wait to hear his next

fantastic

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