The Hanging Garden (Rankin novel)
| Industry | Publishing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1998 |
| Founder | Ian Rankin |
| Products | Crime novel |
The Hanging Garden is a 1998 crime novel authored by Ian Rankin, marking the ninth installment in the Inspector Rebus series. This work was adapted into the second episode of the Rebus television adaptation, featuring John Hannah in 2001.
Plot summary
Detective Inspector John Rebus, stationed at St. Leonard's police station in Edinburgh, juggles four interrelated investigations. Initially removed from probing the homicide of "Mr Taystee," an ice cream seller, he is redirected to examine Lintz, a suspected Nazi war criminal living in Edinburgh with ties to the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre during World War II. Conversations with Lintz lead Rebus to reminisce about his experiences in Belfast amid the Troubles.
Simultaneously, Rebus coordinates with Crime Squad surveillance operations targeting the emerging criminal figure Tommy Telford. He assumes responsibility for a Bosnian prostitute traumatized by her associations with both Telford and Chechen gangster Tarawicz, nicknamed "Mr Pink Eyes," from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This connection uncovers involvement by Japanese "businessmen," including a member of the Yakuza, linked to Telford's activities. Meanwhile, incarcerated crime lord 'Big Ger' Cafferty, held at HM Prison Barlinnie, is believed to be orchestrating assaults on Telford to maintain dominance over Edinburgh’s underworld. Rebus and his team observe the intensifying gang conflict, which culminates in a thwarted Crime Squad operation resulting in the death of Rebus's friend and Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Jack Morton.
Rebus's daughter, Sammy (Samantha), becomes the victim of a hit-and-run incident that appears intentional, leaving her unconscious for most of the narrative. Her mother Rhona and Rebus’s former partner Patience Aitken remain at her bedside as Rebus balances hospital visits with his investigative duties. Although he rejects Telford’s assertion that he is employed by 'Big Ger' Cafferty, Rebus requests Cafferty’s assistance in identifying the perpetrator behind the hit-and-run, suspecting it was a deliberate warning; however, this suspicion proves incorrect.
TV adaptation
The television version diverges notably from the book, especially by excluding the narrative involving the suspected Nazi war criminal.
Structure
The novel's title draws inspiration from The Cure's track "The Hanging Garden" and references the World War II massacre central to Rebus's case. Each book within this trilogy is named after this song.
The story begins with Book 1, depicting Rebus saying farewell to Sammy on Guy Fawkes night before discovering her unconscious following a hit-and-run incident. Book 2 (chapters 3-11) provides flashbacks to earlier cases leading up to that evening, including convincing Sammy to offer refuge to a Bosnian prostitute. Book 3 picks up on November 6, tracking Rebus as he resolves outstanding issues and works toward dismantling the criminal operations led by Telford and Tarawicz.
Interspersed italicized vignettes between books reveal moments from Rebus's marriage: disputes with his wife, neglecting to watch Sammy at the beach, Sammy's birth, and learning about his wife's pregnancy.
Place in the Rebus novels
The pivotal moment in Rankin’s career arrived with the 1997 release of Black & Blue, which broadened his narrative scope by intertwining an unresolved historical serial killer investigation with a detailed exploration of Scotland’s oil sector. Similarly, The Hanging Garden embraces this expansive approach, its wide-ranging themes playing a crucial role in its effectiveness as a sequel.
Critics have observed that The Hanging Garden cemented Rankin's standing and blurred the boundaries between crime storytelling and literary fiction. The novel delves deeper into Rebus’s internal struggles, highlighting his sense of failure as a soldier, spouse, and parent—particularly through the lens of Sammy’s accident—while deliberately avoiding neat resolutions, leaving the characters’ guilt lingering. This emotional complexity stands in stark contrast to the darker atmosphere found in the following installment, Dead Souls.
Professor Lintz’s character—a distinguished individual potentially connected to a Nazi atrocity—reflects Rankin’s recurring Jekyll and Hyde motif established in earlier Rebus novels. The narrative threads linking Jack Morton and Rebus’s remorse over Sammy’s abduction tie The Hanging Garden back to Rankin’s debut Rebus novel, Knots and Crosses.
Reception
Critical response to the novel was largely favorable. Kirkus Reviews commended its "unrelenting" pace and intricate plotting, while praising Rebus as "one of contemporary crime fiction’s most magnetic protagonists." Conversely, Publishers Weekly described the work as "ambitious" but somewhat "overburdened."