The narrative in the opening chapter of this novel is based upon getting the reader familiar with the traits of the protagonist. John Rebus stars in his tenth novel and for someone like me who has not read any of the series, after a paragraph of description I get the idea of the 'everyday man who happens to be an inspector' and I'm ready to discover who and what he's all about.
But even if you already know who this guy is, Rankin draws in all readers with his opening line "..he saw the man, and knew he wasn't the one." Who is he on the hunt for? Are we going to run into him soon? Narrative drive should be established as soon as possible, and that is done here right off the bat.
We do not meet the animal poisoner, yet Rebus informs us on his motives, which are odd.
I enjoy the setting that the story opens in; a zoo filled with all sorts of animals which do not need much description to get a picture in the reader's head, so their is already a great deal of depth to where we know we are. The voice sounds like the perspective of Rebus, although not in 1st person, it details how he feels and what is going through his mind in the appropriate places.What makes someone kill an animal in captivity? Or abuse children? The applicability of the title is one of few in my studies that can be discovered early on; the views of most people, Rebus and Rankin is that they are dead souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment