[books 2016] the new Rebus

8. Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin

I got this from the library because the last few instalments in the series have been a bit average (ie everything since Exit Music).

Rebus has been made to retire (again) but he's back as a consultant. Malcolm Fox (the anti-Rebus) is still on the force, a bit surplus to requirements. A retired judge is murdered, and a very similar attempt is made on Big Ger Cafferty's (formerly Edinburgh's premier gangster) life. The big players from Glasgow's organised crime world are in Edinburgh and under surveillance. Is it all connected?

I don't know what happened, but Rankin is back on form here. There's an awful lot going on and he's really playing with making the reader wonder what's relevant and what's a red herring. There is less of Rebus doing Drunken Stupid Shit. Malcolm Fox gets beat up. A lot.

Couldn't put it down.

[books 2016] One Hundred Years of Solitude

9. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I picked this up in a charity shop when I was out of work, so it's taken me a really long time to get round to this, because it actually requires attention and brain power and I've never been convinced about the whole magic realism phenomenon.

It took a while to get into it but once I got to grips with how it works it's not actually that difficult - you just have to accept that Weird Shit Happens. I'm sure I missed loads of subtext but I still got a tremendous amount out of it.

It's the story of a family who are amongst the founders of a town in an unnamed South American country and how their fortunes mirror those of the town. The prose is absolutely gorgeous and whimsical and funny. The story is also brutal and violent and depressing (ie very, very Latin American).

I will definitely be reading more of his books in the future.