Long Shadows marks the stage debut of
Rebus, a play written exclusively for the stage by Rankin with awardwinning playwright Rona Munro.
Doncashie has played the title role in all six BBC Radio dramatisations of
Rebus since 2008 and has also played Deputy Chief Inspector Gunner in the TV series.
Ron Donachie as an older, baggier
Rebus nestled into the role convincingly.
His latest isn't his best (Set In Darkness gets my vote), but the familiar elements line up: Sidekicks Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox, arch nemesis Cafferty, a sort of grizzled, villainous half-brother to
Rebus, and Brillo the dog.
Rebus has to take on up his arch-nemesis, Big Ger Cafferty (who looks like Buster Bloodvessel and acts like Donald Trump), played to terrifically sleazy effect by John Stahl.
Rankin was quoted as saying: "After 30 years and 21 novels, John
Rebus seems to have more fans than ever - and luckily for me there's still plenty of life (and fight) in the old dog."
Let's hope the next book will resume the level expected of a
Rebus mystery, although the groundwork has been laid in this chapter for his permanent retirement, with hints of lung cancer or tuberculosis.
In this edition of Ian Rankin's "Even Dogs in the Wild"
Rebus is dragged out of retirement to act as a consultant detective to help out Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox in the investigation of a shooting at the house of another retired officer and murder of David Minton, Scotland's senior prosecutor.
Rankin introduces a couple of surprises in this novel, the first being having Malcolm Fox,
Rebus's standing nemesis, as a co-investigator working together.
(2000, 71)
Rebus is caught, as Rankin observes, but not only in the nature of his belief.