Inspector Malcolm Fox of the Complaints (aka Internal Affairs) of the Edinburgh police department is sent to nearby Kirkcaldy to conduct what appears to be a straightforward investigation: three members of the Kirkcaldy force may have conspired to hide evidence, to protect a fellow officer. Fox and two colleagues are to provide a report of their findings to the Kirkcaldy police department, whose own Complaints crew has not been given the assignment due to various conflicts of interest. The existence of such conflicts is the first red flag to the team from Edinburgh.
The next red flag flaps in Fox's face when nobody in Kirkcaldy wants to meet with him, much less answer questions. In the hands of Ian Rankin (author of the hugely popular Detective Inspector Rebus series), this follow-up to The Complaints starts off with simple obstructions to a routine assignment and grows increasingly complex as the task of pinning down today's cover-ups leads to previously unquestioned (but disconcertingly relevant) cover-ups over the past 30 years.
Rankin is as supremely adept at unfolding the mystery as he is at juggling multiple plot threads. Touching on the trade in weaponry to paramilitary groups, assassinations in the name of national security and the use of fear in keeping the downtrodden in their traditional place, his vivid characters josh, connive and inform each other. One source answers the Inspector's question about the motivation of terrorist cells with, "They have seen the systems around them fail, yet the status quo remains. Frustration turns to anger and anger to a sense of injustice." The Inspector is disturbed by that answer, but then he knows that disturbing facts can often hold the key to solving your case. --John McFarland, author