A Song for the Dark Times
| Company type | Novel |
|---|---|
| Industry | Literature |
| Founded | 2020 |
| Founder | Ian Rankin |
| Products | Crime fiction |
A Song for the Dark Times represents the 23rd entry in Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus collection. The title alludes to the period marked by Brexit and rising authoritarianism around 2019, although its publication occurred in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 lockdowns. It takes inspiration from a Bertolt Brecht quotation regarding “singing during dark times.” Additionally, the phrase names a CD compilation that Siobhan Clarke assembles for John Rebus, which he listens to while driving northwards.
Plot
Siobhan Clarke assists Rebus with relocating to a ground-level apartment in Edinburgh. Soon after, Rebus’s daughter Samantha reports her partner Keith as missing. Rebus travels to the fictional village of Naver near Tongue in northern Scotland, where he discovers Keith’s corpse. During the inquiry, Rebus uncovers Keith’s obsession with a nearby World War II prison camp whose former inmates settled in the area. While local authorities suspect Samantha, Rebus pursues other investigative angles.
Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox probe the homicide of a Saudi student, revealing ties to affluent international social circles and financial enterprises. The deceased’s close companion is a Scottish noble whose family trust holds significant control over much of the Tongue region, thereby connecting Rebus’s and Siobhan’s investigations.
The gangster known as ‘Big Ger’ Cafferty now runs an exclusive club where he gathers compromising information on patrons. He attempts to draw Fox into a blackmail plot, but Fox resists both Cafferty’s influence and pressure from his Police Scotland superior. The story concludes with a young armed criminal heading toward a confrontation with Cafferty.
Reception
Critical response was largely positive though occasionally nuanced. Stuart Kelly, writing for The Scotsman, remarked that solving the mysteries "requires balancing reader patience with narrative momentum," emphasizing a pervasive mood that "everything is deteriorating rapidly" except for Rebus’s enduring spirit. The Guardian featured it in a thriller review roundup, commending its effective preservation of Rebus’s character. In contrast, Mark Sanderson of The Times asserted, “Only exceptional novels capture the zeitgeist. This is one such work.”