8 /10 1 Votes
Country Scotland Publication date 1995 ISBN 1-85797-634-7 Followed by Black & Blue Publisher Orion Publishing Group | 4/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 278 pp Originally published 1995 Preceded by Mortal Causes Genre Detective fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Similar Ian Rankin books, Inspector Rebus books, Crime Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Let it Bleed is a 1995 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the seventh of the Inspector Rebus novels. The US edition has a final chapter which the UK edition does not have, as the author's 'Introduction' explains.
Plot summary
Detective Inspector John Rebus and Frank Lauderdale start the book with a car chase across Edinburgh to apprehend kidnappers, culminating with the two youths they are chasing throwing themselves off the Forth Road Bridge and in Rebus being injured in a car crash. Rebus's upset over this allows Rankin to show the character in a new light, revealing his isolation and potentially suicidal despair.
After the unconnected suicide of a terminally ill con, Rebus pursues an investigation that implicates respected people at the highest levels of government, and due to the politically sensitive nature of what he is doing, faces losing his job, or worse. He is supported by his daughter Sammy, allowing their distant relationship to be built upon.
The title refers to the Rolling Stones album Let it Bleed.