The Complaints

Enjoyed this offering from Ian Rankin. Found the dialogue , characters, plot, believable and entertaining. It is an interesting diversion from Rankins previous material and who would have thought to base a character on "The Complaints" section of the police. Bit like the cleaner (Battles). Look forward to more complaints offereings.

As a big fan of Ian Rankin and his inspector Rebus novels, I was very excited to read The Complaints only to find myself slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the book is certainly not bad, but it could be that my love for Rebus is too big to accept a new character. I thought the main character to be too superficial, too 2D when compared to Rebus' 3D personality in Rankin's earlier books. Another thing I really could not get used to is the fact that it felt like Rankin was forcing contemporary subjects into his story, such as the financial crisis and the consequences for Scottish society.

I remind myself though, that Rankin's first Rebus novels were also 'flatter' than the latter books. Characters are obviously something both the writer and the reader have to get used to. Therefore, dear Mr. Rankin, I will of course keep reading and enjoying your books, with and without flaws!

It's not Rebus, but it's still good listening, with a winding mystery plot rather than the police beat daily grind, action and atmosphere. Fox has an extended family with their stories, even if he is almost as emotionally repressed as Rebus. Most of all, it's got promise as a series. I loved the narrator; he fits better than most choices for Rankin novels.

Two complaints: Since Rebus was a bit of a Luddite, outdated technology does not really date any of his escapades; however, technology figures in this one so that even now -- three years after publication -- you wonder whether a young bad guy could be so tech unsavvy that he fell for something, etc. So future listeners will need to remind themselves that "it was only 2009". My biggest complaint is the disappearance of Rankin's 2011 follow-up in the series from Audible (at least in my "geographical area") along with the works of many other British authors. More Rankin for Canada, please!

Started well enough - seemed interesting and exciting. Unfortunately, for me, it became monotonous, drawn out, uninteresting and I honestly couldn't tell you what happened as it just droned away in the background. Was delighted to move on to another audible book