The Falls

The Falls (2000) Ian Rankin

The daughter of a wealthy banker disappears, and all the police are placed on high alert to help in the search. Her boyfriend–with whom she had a fight the afternoon before disappearing–expects he’s the prime suspect, but a search of her email turns up a mysterious webmaster with whom she was playing an online game.

Days later, Rebus is called to go out to a remote site by the girl’s family home, where a coffin and doll are discovered. Soon, a history of such dolls and coffins id discovered–a history going back to the 1800s.

Add to that, Farmer Watson is finally retiring, and his replacement as DCS is someone else with whom Rebus has a past.

It’s almost hard to watch Rebus in this story. He’s drinking a lot–too much as always–and every drink feels like it’s leading him further on a downward spiral to his eventual destruction. (Needless to say, he is getting himself into more and more trouble while drinking.) It’s even harder to watch when he meets a woman with whom he might have a chance at a relationship, except that her late husband was an alcoholic, so it’s hard to see how that relationship is going to work out.

There is also a lot of tension in the station as the new DCS settles in–and the replacement for their previous position is filled.

Siobhan is actually a fairly major player in this book, which I quite enjoyed. She’s hoping for a promotion soon, and has to figure out how to be a good cop while retaining who she is. Unfortunately for her superiors, what she seems to be turning into is another John Rebus, working on her own and not necessarily playing well with others.
Rating: 8/10

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