In a House of Lies


In a House of Lies is the 22nd instalment in the Inspector Rebus series written by Ian Rankin. In a House of Lies entered the hardback chart at No. 1 on the first week of its release.

Plot

Some boys discover a car in a deep gully in some woodland. Inside is a handcuffed corpse; the ex-lover of the dead man was the son of a serving detective inspector in what was the old Lothian & Borders Police Force of Rebus' day before it became Police Scotland. As ever, Rebus and also 'Big Ger' Cafferty, are connected to the case and end up featuring prominently in the investigation, in which Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke is also a major player.
Rebus is suffering from COPD and has given up cigarettes and almost stopped drinking alcohol.

Background

Ian Rankin has stated that inspiration for the novel in part came from the murder of Daniel Morgan, who was a private detective in South London in the late 1980s. He died of axe wounds to his head in a pub car park in Sydenham, South London in 1987. He was investigating alleged police corruption at the time.

Critical reception

Reception to the book was largely positive; Barry Forshaw, writing in The Guardian said "How has Rankin kept the series fresh for 22 novels? Deft characterisation. Readers must keep up with a lengthy dramatis personae, but there’s nothing wrong with making us work a little." Likewise, Mark Sanderson, writing in the Evening Standard called the book "A brilliantly twisted case for Rebus" and that "..no one in Britain writes better crime novels today." Paul Connolly gave the novel four stars out of five and said that the novel had:
Julian Cole, writing in the Northern Echo, gave the book four stars out of five, but said that "... good rattling read, let down only by too many unnecessary dialogue modifiers."