Resurrection Men
by Ian Rankin

List Price: $14.99
Pages: 436
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780316099219
Publisher: Back Bay Books

A gritty, gripping police mystery from No. 1 international bestseller Ian Rankin has the indomitable Detective Inspector John Rebus straddling a dangerously thin line between good guys and bad cops, when two murder inquiries cross paths.

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1. “Resurrection men” is a term that was once used to refer to grave robbers. Consider other implications the title may have.

2. “John just prefers things done the old-fashioned way. Isn’t that right, John?” says one of the Resurrection Men. Is this a fair statement about Rebus?

3. One of Rebus’s fellow recidivists makes the point that the police bosses need the Resurrection Men more than the Resurrection Men need them. Is this a forlorn hope?

4. How ethical is the police’s treatment of the Weasel?

5. Siobhan and Rebus have to work independently in this case. How does Ian Rankin rise to the challenge of narrating parallel investigations? Could the structure of Resurrection Men fairly be described as complicated?

6. What is the act that Sir David Strathern says Rebus has spent years perfecting?

7. If you’ve read other Rebus novels: In which ways is this a different kind of investigation from the ones Rebus is usually involved in?

8. Why does Siobhan’s remedy for sleeplessness make Rebus smile?

9. “Make sure you know whose side you’re on.” Whose side is Rebus on? Whom does he trust more than Claverhouse?

10. Discuss how Ian Rankin explores in Resurrection Men the idea of “crossing the line” and who might have a tendency to do so.

11. How much of an accident is it likely to be that Rebus utters, innocently, a phrase that’s also the title of a crime novel by another Scottish crime writer, Christopher Brookmyre?

12. In what ways does Ian Rankin indicate a move in the relationship of Rebus and Siobhan from colleagues to friends?

13. “He thought of Siobhan. More and more she reminded him of himself. He wasn’t sure it was necessarily a good thing, but was glad of it all the same.” Why does Rebus feel glad?

14. Does Rebus experience a resurrection of sorts in this novel?

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