The Complaints Audiobook

Quotes

• “The author disappointed many of his fans when he retired the beloved John Rebus. But I predict the grumbling will be short lived once Rankin’s readers meet Inspector Malcolm Fox in The Complaints.”

  — John M. Wills, New York Journal of Books

• “Intoxicating…The voice is so dynamic that Rankin’s characters leap off the page.”

  — Philadelphia Inquirer

• “Rankin has picked a most unlikely new hero. Edinburgh cop Malcolm Fox…The strange-bedfellows angle drives the interpersonal dynamics here—and augurs well for future installments—as Fox, working off the books, investigates the murder of someone very close to home and attempts to turn the frame-up on its end. Some crime writers keep writing the same series with different characters, but Rankin deserves credit for going another way altogether. Fox is a good and quiet citizen compared to Rebus (he doesn’t drink and listens to birdsong on the radio, not classic rock), but Rankin doesn’t hold any of that against his new hero, proving that you can build complex, highly textured, series-worthy characters from the most unlikely of raw materials.”

  — Booklist (starred review)

• “[A] work that again brings to life the mean streets of Edinburgh…Fox is a complex character with a strong moral sense. This sense sometimes is flawed; his trust is betrayed, and sorting out the villains is a bittersweet victory. Verdict: Rankin, an Edgar and Diamond Dagger winner, is back in top form here. Few authors equal his character-driven crime fiction that pulls the reader into such vividly drawn place and plot. Highly recommended.”

  — Library Journal (starred review)

• “The Complaints is superb on every level and begging for a follow-up.”

  — BookPage

• “Rankin adds another Edinburgh cop to his repertoire. Malcolm Fox, five years sober and still missing the vodka…Hidden agendas abound, not only among career criminals but among various coppers, including the chief unspector and the chief constable. Will readers miss Rankin’s long-running protagonist, John Rebus? Don’t see why they should. Bonus: Rankin’s plotting and prose are as compelling as ever.”

  — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

• “With its Edinburgh setting, suave crime lords, and renegade officers, The Complaints will be familiar territory to Rebus fans—even if its hero isn’t. Getting to know this man, an intriguing mix of apathy and action, is almost like a courtship—each new situation reveals something that makes the reader want to know yet more.”

  — Independent (London)

• “An excellent cop novel full of action, good dialogue, well-crafted characters, and an authentic backdrop.”

  — Times (London)

• “If the point of crime fiction is to make you think while entertaining you—and I believe it is—then Ian Rankin definitely does it better than most.”

  — Globe and Mail (Canada)

• “Rankin is a master at what, for me, is one of the important aspects of a crime novel: the integration of setting, plot, characters, and a theme which, for Rankin, is the moral dimension never far from his writing…Fox is so fully realized and interesting a character, his job in ‘the complaints’ so fraught with fascinating possibilities, that we can surely hope to meet him again.”

  — Guardian (London)

• “As performed by Scottish actor Peter Forbes, cosmopolitan Edinburgh comes alive as a city with a gritty underside. While some Rankin fans may miss Inspector Rebus, most will want to become better acquainted with the equally complex Fox. Of particular interest to fans of Denise Mina and Michael Robotham; a great choice for all mystery lovers.”

  — Library Journal (audio review)

• “It’s often said that the main character in Ian Rankin’s crime thrillers is the city of Edinburgh itself. Peter Forbes delivers the first in Rankin’s new series with all the charm, cunning, and grit that the great city possesses…Forbes flawlessly narrates the story with a complexity that matches the plot and the character of Rankin’s newest inspector.”

  — AudioFile