I like Ian Rankin. The difference between him and Robert Harris, below, is that the central characters are so well drawn.Malcolm Fox (Rankin's new hero, since the demise of Rebus) is part of the police Complaints department, and therefore hated by almost all other policeman - which makes for a good opening premise. He's a believable, well-drawn person.
The difficulty, and the thing that stops me giving it four stars outright, is that Fox and his colleagues have to be welded to a thriller-style plot, because this is a crime thriller.
They're sent to Fife to find out whether fellow cops covered up for a corrupt colleague, but as they dig deeper they discover connections with Scottish nationalism and 1980s terrorism, and there are murders, explosions, shootings and car chases - all pretty unbelievable.
The trick is to suspend disbelief and enjoy seeing how a three-dimensional character like Fox would react if these fantastical things were happening.
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