One of the better Inspector Rebus novels (I do need to check back and see how often I have used that phrase). A returning psychopath, establishment paedophiles, and a long-lost ex-girlfriend infest Rebus’s life, and knowing that the law may never succeed in delivering justice is starting to grind him down. It’s also a very interesting novel about parenthood – Rebus and his daughter, still recovering from the injuries she sustained in the last book; his ex-girlfriend and her missing son, tangled in the decadent lives of the offspring of a senior judge; the parents and daughter of Rebus’ colleague whose death opens the book; children and moral panic in a depressed housing estate; and the ex-con returning from America to exert an ancient revenge. It is very compelling reading.