Paul Humphreys rambles on....

Paul Humphreys rambles on....
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Wednesday September 20, 2006

A new (old) book from Ian Rankin

The Flood Ian Rankin's first book has been republished so we can get an insight into the writer in his early times as an author. It does not feature Rebus but you can start to see where Rankin's current style comes from in this book. There is no detective story it is just a about people who live in a small old coal mining town in Scotland. It is in three parts the first where we meet Mary Miller who after an accident ends up with silver coloured hair. Soon after the lad who pushed her into the pit where she had her hair colour changing experience meets his death in a coal pit accident. To make matters even worse she ends up pregnant and has a baby boy. Her brother - assumed to be the father of the child also leaves for Cananda. The second part catches up with mother and son as he takes his final year exams at school. He meets up with a gypsy girl who he falls in love with much to his mothers annoyance. Things comes to a head in the last part of the book titled the same as the book where Mary Miller is faced with reliving the events that led to her becoming pregnant with a dramatic end. It is a good book but I think Rankin's other pre Rebus book Watchman is a better read - although I had trouble putting this one down.

( Sep 20 2006, 12:00:03 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [2]