Knots and Crosses

Inspector Rebus, Book 1

By: Ian Rankin

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

Detective John Rebus' city is being terrorized by a baffling series of murders…and he's tied to a maniac by an invisible knot of blood. As the ghoulish killings mount and the tabloid headlines scream, Rebus cannot stop the feverish shrieks from within his own mind. Because he isn't just one cop trying to catch a killer - he's the man who's got all the pieces to the puzzle…

©2013 Ian Rankin (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc

I've Read Mixed Reviews and Can Marry Them

If you could sum up Knots and Crosses in three words, what would they be?

Rebus's Start

Would you ever listen to anything by Ian Rankin again?

Definitely--this is where he gets started but all of following books are better.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Michael Page?

Yes, not as good as McPhearson, but good enough.

Any additional comments?

Okay, here's the scoop. This isn't a great book--but I would recommend it to Rebus fans because this is where it all got started. It's written by a grad student. It's got plenty of flaws--kind of shallow, trite, all that. But, if you are ua Rebus fans this is w ell worth the listen as you see him at his beginning and you can appreciate Rankin's growth as a writer.

I'm so glad I finally read this.

How have I failed to read this series before?? This was great. Interesting characters and a story that draws one in. Rebus is, like most people, flawed but good.

Michael Page is a great narrator until he has to do women's voices. That can use some work.

I'm thrilled this is just the first of the Rebus books. So much more to delve into.

I love Ian Rankin's' stories.

Loved it; I plan to read more of Ian Rankin's novels. Funny, very entertaining, dramatic, brilliant use of descriptive language, the incorporation of historical facts and sophisticated grammatical word play.

Meeting Rebus, Properly

The first John Rebus book I enjoyed was Saints of the Shadow Bible (#19). I liked it so well I decided to try the series. It was interesting to see Rebus transform from being almost mechanical and disengaged to become a no-nonsense force of authority not to be toyed with. The book seemed a little slow at first, but kept gaining momentum. Now, I'm officially hooked!

Classic Rebus, Terrible Narrator

What made the experience of listening to Knots and Crosses the most enjoyable?

This is the first Rebus novel, his orgin story, telling about his time in the SAS and it sets him up for all the other novels and pre Siobhan Clark

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Michael Page?

Peter Forbes

Any additional comments?

The narrator is English, which should have disqualified him. it is painful to listen to his attempts at a Scottish accent and his female voices are particularly unsettling.

Exhausting detail on bars and drinking

I kept hoping for something about police procedure or some plot movement, but the only movement was from bar to bar. I was disappointed.

worst scottish accent

the terrible accent and female voices made this completely unlistenable. what was narration by main character not in an accent? not that I'm complaining, his accent/dialect is childish

terrible narrator

I read one of the later Inspector Rebus series and enjoyed it so I wanted to go back and start at the beginning of the series. I'll head back to the library, because the same narrator does several of the audiobooks and I thought he sounded like an overdramatic thespian wanna-be in a comedy skit. It really ruined the book for me.

Hard to appreciate a book with a poor narrator

The narration is so frustrating, I can't really follow the story. The narrators voices and accents are unpleasant. The story skips between different characters, but it took at least an hour to realise that was what was happening, as the narrator kept on reading in the same voice and tone. The story might be okay. I'll have to read it instead.

Trite and formulaic

Written like the lines were pieced together from other pot boilers. Bad story; bad characters; bad writing. Rankin has such a good reputation. This was very disappointing.