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A Song for the Dark Times

On sale

1st October 2020

Price: £20

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Selected: Hardcover / ISBN-13: 9781409176978
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From the iconic Number One bestseller Ian Rankin, comes one of the must-read books of the year: A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES



‘Genius … Only great novels capture the spirit of the age. This is one of them.’
THE TIMES

* * * * *

‘He’s gone…’

When his daughter Samantha calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it’s not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days.

Rebus fears the worst – and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect.

He wasn’t the best father – the job always came first – but now his daughter needs him more than ever. But is he going as a father or a detective?

As he leaves at dawn to drive to the windswept coast – and a small town with big secrets – he wonders whether this might be the first time in his life where the truth is the one thing he doesn’t want to find…

PRAISE FOR A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES:

Magnificent … utterly unputdownable and an immersive pleasure.’
MARIAN KEYES

‘This is Rankin at his best, Rebus at his best, storytelling that meets the moment and transcends all genres and expectations.’
MICHAEL CONNELLY

‘An outstanding addition to one of the finest bodies of work in crime fiction.’
MICK HERRON

* * * * *

PRAISE FOR THE ICONIC NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER:

‘Ian Rankin is a genius’
LEE CHILD

‘A master storyteller’
GUARDIAN

‘Rebus is one of British crime writing’s greatest characters: alongside Holmes, Poirot and Morse’
DAILY MAIL

‘Great fiction, full stop’
THE TIMES

‘One of Britain’s leading novelists in any genre’
NEW STATESMAN

‘Rankin is a phenomenon’
SPECTATOR

‘Worthy of Agatha Christie at her best’
SCOTSMAN

‘The king of crime fiction’
SUNDAY EXPRESS

What's Inside

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Reviews

MICHAEL CONNELLY
For more than three decades Ian Rankin has been out in front of the pack, delivering the best books out there, raising the bar each and every time. A Song For The Dark Times proves it. This is Rankin at his best, Rebus at his best, storytelling that meets the moment and transcends all genres and expectations.
MARIAN KEYES
Magnificent ... utterly unputdownable and an immersive pleasure. I loved it.
MICK HERRON
An outstanding addition to one of the finest bodies of work in crime fiction.
THE TIMES
Only great novels capture the spirit of the age. This is one of them.
LITERARY REVIEW
There is a sense of warmth and freedom in this novel, as though Rebus's retirement has liberated his creator as much as himself.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
Rankin's affection for his character remains undimmed, even as he writes with candour about [Rebus's] failure as a father.
SUNDAY EXPRESS
...masterly storytelling
SUNDAY MIRROR
Another class act from a storyteller who makes it seem effortless.
MAIL ON SUNDAY
...a gripping, complex mystery
FINANCIAL TIMES
[A Song for the Dark Times] is vintage Rankin - which is to say, the best that the crime genre can currently offer.
Matt Nixson, DAILY EXPRESS
No matter how dark the times, the arrival of a Rankin novel remains one of life's pleasures.