This is the second outing for DI Malcolm Fox in Rankin’s post-Rebus world. I haven’t read the first, but I was disappointed with this book. It has a large – possibly too large – cast of characters but none of them has any depth; sadly that includes DI Fox and his two sidekicks. I felt the book was run-of-the-mill; Rankin is going through the motions but it lacks the sense of place of his earlier novels and ultimately fails to engage the reader.

It should have been the perfect art heist carried out by art lovers turned amateur criminals. But the real underworld of Edinburgh came in on the act and things turned unpleasant. No Rebus in this novel, but Rankin hasn’t lost his talent for a well-crafted story with some surprise twists.