Ian Rankin: The Falls (USA 2010)

From the Publisher:
Ian Rankin's John Rebus, arguably the most realistic detective in crime fiction, is a brilliant but troubled man. When a young woman goes missing near his native Edinburgh, Scotland, Rebus finds himself just one small cog in the huge wheel of an inquiry set in motion by her powerfully rich father. Struggling to deal with both his own often-terrifying inner demons as well as the monstrous bureaucracy of the investigative team, Rebus finds himself drawn again and again into the case, desperately searching for the girl's salvation, as well as his own.

In time Rebus uncovers two leads: one, a carved wooden doll stuffed tightly into a tiny casket, and the other the missing girl's possible involvement in a dark, disturbing Internet-based role-playing game. He enlists the help of the tech-savvy DC Siobhan Clarke, who is young enough to know her way around the net, but who may not be old and wise enough to avoid potentially deadly pitfalls and traps. Meanwhile, Rebus tracks down stories of similar caskets and dolls turning up in the area deep into Edinburgh's past, some stretching back to a time when body-snatchers turned into brutal killers.

As Rebus and Clarke delve deeper and deeper into these perilous and obscure worlds, ancient and modern evils begin to converge and soon Rebus finds he's besieged by an impenetrable mass of secrets, lies, and deadly deceit that only he can make sense of. In The Falls, a brilliant addition to an award-winning series, both John Rebus and his creator, Ian Rankin, are at the top of their intense and satisfying form.

Ian Rankin: The Falls. An Inspector Rebus Novel. St. Martin's Press, ISBN: 9780312629847 (August, 2010), 467 p., $19.99 (?).

Ian Rankin: The Falls (UK 2008)

From the Publisher:
A student has gone missing in Edinburgh and there's very little for Detective Inspector John Rebus to go on apart from his gut feeling that there's more to this case than a runaway high on unaccustomed freedom.

Two leads emerge: a carved wooden doll in a tiny coffin and an Internet role-playing game. Rebus concentrates on the coffin, eerily reminiscent of sixteen similar relics found on a hillside in 1836, leaving DC Siobhan Clarke to deal with the cyberspace Quizmaster. She's young enough to navigate the net, but she may not have the experience to spot the pitfalls in a game where lives depend on split-second timing. With Rebus buried two hundred pars in the past, DC Clarke is going to need more than just luck to save both their skins - professional and personal...

Ian Rankin: The Falls. Some Secrets can never be washed away... An Inspector Rebus Novel. Orion Books, ISBN: 9780752883649 (August, 2008), 479 p., £7.99.

Ian Rankin: The Falls (UK 2005)

From the Publisher:
A student has gone missing in Edinburgh and there's very little for Detective Inspector John Rebus to go on apart from his gut feeling that there's more to this case than a runaway high on unaccustomed freedom.

Two leads emerge: a carved wooden doll in a tiny coffin and an Internet role-playing game. Rebus concentrates on the coffin, eerily reminiscent of sixteen similar relics found on a hillside in 1836, leaving DC Siobhan Clarke to deal with the cyberspace Quizmaster. She's young enough to navigate the net, but she may not have the experience to spot the pitfalls in a game where lives depend on split-second timing. With Rebus buried two hundred pars in the past, DC Clarke is going to need more than just luck to save both their skins - professional and personal...

Ian Rankin: The Falls. An Inspector Rebus Novel. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752879375 (December, 2005), 479 p., £6.99.

Ian Rankin: The Falls (UK 2005)

From the Publisher:
A student has gone missing in Edinburgh and there's very little for Detective Inspector John Rebus to go on apart from his gut feeling that there's more to this case than a runaway high on unaccustomed freedom.

Two leads emerge: a carved wooden doll in a tiny coffin and an Internet role-playing game. Rebus concentrates on the coffin, eerily reminiscent of sixteen similar relics found on a hillside in 1836, leaving DC Siobhan Clarke to deal with the cyberspace Quizmaster. She's young enough to navigate the net, but she may not have the experience to spot the pitfalls in a game where lives depend on split-second timing. With Rebus buried two hundred pars in the past, DC Clarke is going to need more than just luck to save both their skins - professional and personal...

Ian Rankin: The Falls. An Inspector Rebus Novel. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752877259 (September, 2005), 479 p., £6.99.

Ian Rankin: The Falls (USA 2003)

From the Publisher:
When the privileged daughter of a merchant banker disappears, a search through her e-mails uncovers her secret life-and a bizarre correspondence with an on-line game player who delights in macabre puzzles. The first game was for the girl. The next one is for Inspector John Rebus, a man haunted by the impenetrable riddles of his own troubled past. But the lead is soon complicated by an unexpected twist.

A hand-carved wooden doll in an eight-inch coffin is found on the grounds of the victim's home-a clue that links her vanishing to the deaths of four other women, and to a centuries-old offense that still scars the grisly history of Edinburgh.

From the shadowy world of an Internet stalker to the quicksand of lies in the missing girl's dissolute family, Rebus is led into the soul of evil. And to a shattering crime that only he, a man who treads the fine line between investigative brilliance and personal oblivion, could ever hope to understand.

Ian Rankin: The Falls. An Inspector Rebus Novel. St. Martin's Minotaur, ISBN: 0312982402 (February, 2003), 498 p., $7.99.

Ian Rankin: The Falls (USA 2001)

From the Publisher:
Ian Rankin's John Rebus, arguably the most realistic detective in crime fiction, is a brilliant but troubled man. When a young woman goes missing near his native Edinburgh, Scotland, Rebus finds himself just one small cog in the huge wheel of an inquiry set in motion by her powerfully rich father. Struggling to deal with both his own often-terrifying inner demons as well as the monstrous bureaucracy of the investigative team, Rebus finds himself drawn again and again into the case, desperately searching for the girl's salvation, as well as his own.

In time Rebus uncovers two leads: one, a carved wooden doll stuffed tightly into a tiny casket, and the other the missing girl's possible involvement in a dark, disturbing Internet-based role-playing game. He enlists the help of the tech-savvy DC Siobhan Clarke, who is young enough to know her way around the net, but who may not be old and wise enough to avoid potentially deadly pitfalls and traps. Meanwhile, Rebus tracks down stories of similar caskets and dolls turning up in the area deep into Edinburgh's past, some stretching back to a time when body-snatchers turned into brutal killers.

As Rebus and Clarke delve deeper and deeper into these perilous and obscure worlds, ancient and modern evils begin to converge and soon Rebus finds he's besieged by an impenetrable mass of secrets, lies, and deadly deceit that only he can make sense of. In The Falls, a brilliant addition to an award-winning series, both John Rebus and his creator, Ian Rankin, are at the top of their intense and satisfying form.

Ian Rankin: The Falls. An Inspector Rebus Novel. Minotaur Books, ISBN: 0312206100 (November, 2001), 467 p., $24.95.

Ian Rankin: The Falls (UK 2001)

From the Publisher:
A student has gone missing in Edinburgh and there's very little for Detective Inspector John Rebus to go on apart from his gut feeling that there's more to this case than a runaway high on unaccustomed freedom.

Two leads emerge: a carved wooden doll in a tiny coffin and an Internet role-playing game. Rebus concentrates on the coffin, eerily reminiscent of sixteen similar relics found on a hillside in 1836, leaving DC Siobhan Clarke to deal with the cyberspace Quizmaster. She's young enough to navigate the net, but she may not have the experience to spot the pitfalls in a game where lives depend on split-second timing. With Rebus buried two hundred pars in the past, DC Clarke is going to need more than just luck to save both their skins - professional and personal...

Ian Rankin: The Falls. An Inspector Rebus Novel. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752844059 (October, 2001), 479 p., £6.99.

Ian Rankin: The Falls (UK 2001)

From the Publisher:
A student has gone missing in Edinburgh...
She's not just any student, but the daughter of extremel well-to-do and influential bankers. There's almost nothing to go on until Detective Inspector John Rebus gets an unmistakable gut feeling that there's more to this than just another rebel, high on daddy's money and more. Tivo leads emerge: a carved wooden doll in a six inch collin abandoned at a rural beauty spot and an Internet role playing game run by a mysterious cyber guru. The ancient and the modern, brought together by uncomfortable circumstances and a curmudgeonly detective happier with long playing vinyl than MP3s.

Putting together a misfit team from the Lochian & Borders finest, Rebus takes the unpromising historical material and runs with it, leaving DC Siobhan Clarke to take her chances with the virtual Quizmaster. She's young enough to know how to navigate the net, but is she old enough and wise enough to pick up the clues in such a complex case?

Rebus takes his eyes off the ball, intrigued as to how his clue relates to sixteen similar coffins found on an Edinburgh hillside in 1836. Will he react in time? Or see more coffins filled in a game where lives, real and virtual, depend on split second timing?

Ian Rankin: The Falls. An Inspector Rebus Novel. Orion Books, ISBN: 075282130X (March, 2001), 399 p., £16.99.