FLESHMARKET ALLEY

The skeletons of a mother and child, discovered when the cellar floor of a pub is excavated, turn out to be fakes. But the missing teenager and the stabbed body of a Kurdish journalist are very real. Scottish actor James MacPherson adds legitimacy to Rankin's gritty tale with his native brogue and with the subtle accents he gives the immigrant characters. Detective Inspector John Rebus sees himself as a man out of place, but racial tensions and the underground slave-trade propel him and his sometimes partner, Siobhan Clark, into a dark world that challenges even Rebus's limits. The reading and production are exceptional, and as an added bonus, the novel is followed by an interview with the author. But the sharp cuts of the abridgment leave loose strands of Rankin's many interwoven subplots. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE/JULY 05]