Bleeding Hearts

Ian Rankin
Little, Brown, and Company (2006)
ISBN 0316009121
Reviewed by Stephanie Rollins for Reader Views (10/06)

Ian Rankin is the Edgar Award winning author of “A Question of Blood.”  Ian Rankin’s “Bleeding Hearts” is a long, but well-written story.  It takes place in many cities, including London and the United States.  It is about a hit man of many different names.  On a routine hit, the police immediately start tracking him.  Who ratted on him?  It could only be the middleman or the person who hired him. 

He travels to London to figure it all out.  He takes Bel, the young daughter of his gun maker.  Yet, the gun maker is known for being protective of Bel.  The hit man describes Bel.  “Bel’s got short fair hair, eyes slightly slanted like a cat’s, and a long straight nose.  Her face looks like it’s been polished.”  I cannot help but to think that the gun maker was completely stupid to let his naïve and pretty daughter go with this rogue.  Will their partnership lead to sex?  Even worse, will it lead to a relationship?

“Bleeding Hearts” has a lot of dry, intelligent humor.  To get through airport security with a knife the gunman asks them, “Since when did you get fat terrorists?”  Some of the humor is a little bit politically incorrect.  To explain the hit man’s skill as a locksmith he explains, “I’m not the world’s greatest locksmith, but any housing-project teenager could have been into the place in seconds.”

Readers wanting a quick, easy-to-read book will not enjoy “Bleeding Hearts.”  It has 374 pages of tremendous depth   Rankin uses a lot of descriptive words to paint the pictures of the surroundings and the characters.  The humor and the dialogue are dry and understated.  It has tremendous detail.

There is no doubt that Ian Rankin is a brilliant author. He is a Picasso of words.   I believe his audience is limited to avid readers who are not necessarily looking for a mindless read.  There is nothing superficial about “Bleeding Hearts.”  It is like a hybrid of “Law and Order,” and “CSI,” on steroids. 

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