The Impossible Dead - Tapa dura

"Fox works for me. Divorced and in his mid-40s, he's quieter than Rebus and warier of confrontation, but no less complex... So doubters be damned: this novel is taut, compulsive and hugely satisfying" (John O'Connell GUARDIAN)

This is the second outing for Rankin's Inspector Malcolm Fox, who has the seemingly impossible job of rooting out corrupt colleagues (Henry Sutton DAILY MIRROR)

Proving there's life - and murder - after gloomy Rebus, Rankin pops up with a new cop here, DI Fox (MAIL ON SUNDAY 'LIVE')

Criminally good (Fanny Blake WOMAN AND HOME)

The plot, pacing and characterisation are all handled with impeccable skill, while Rankin infuses his story with subtle social commentary into the bargain. Fans may still mourn Rebus, but Fox is a worthy replacement (BIG ISSUE)

No one writes dialogue that seethes with conflict as well as him (Mark Sanderson EVENING STANDARD)

This is Rankin, so it's only to be expected that the plotting should be tight, the dialogue quick-fire, the crimes disturbingly believable, taking place as they do in a world that is so thoroughly and obviously our own, today. What the creator of Rebus also gives us in Fox - initially in the inspector's first outing, The Complaints, and again here is another complex, driven policeman: difficult, largely miserable and lonely, but utterly real' (Alison Flood THE OBSERVER)

What is the most memorable here is the storyline about the deterioration of Fox's father, handled so sensitively as to make Henning Mankell's depiction of the decline of Wallander's father seem histrionic (Jake Kerridge FINANCIAL TIMES)

Fox remains a worthy successor to Rebus, retaining his outsider status and incorruptibility but operating in a much more modern context (Joan Smith SUNDAY TIMES)

Post-Rebus Rankin has lost none of his mastery of excitingly gripping storystelling (Marcel Berlins THE TIMES)