This book was gorier than I was expected and I was about to drop it. There wasn't a lot of gore. It was the thought of the gore and the evil that got to me. However, I couldn't drop the book. The writing kept me going. Rankin is a good writer - no doubt about that, and I wanted to read about Rebus and how he coped with life. There really was a lot more of that than of the murders themselves. I guess reading this just after reading some Shetland mysteries from Ann Cleeves was a contrast that felt uncomfortable at first. Maybe it deserves a 4-star ranking, but I gave it 3, which is not really bad at all.

Spoiler

The ending was a bit of a surprise. I almost didn't believe it and thought Rebus would be in real trouble now. Definitely a wild and crazy ending worthy of some action movie. Suddenly, I couldn't put the book down and read it through to the end. As I said, Rankin knows how to write. :) Still, a tiny part of me thought the ending was a bit over the top and that decided the 3-stars for me.