The Complaints

by Ian Rankin, Hachette, 381 pages, $38.

Goodbye, John Rebus, hello Malcolm Fox.

Last year's Doors Open – Ian Rankin's first novel since retiring Rebus in Exit Music – was a mere caper diversion, but with The Complaints, Rankin has created a new character who will appeal to Rebus fans.

Inspector Malcolm Fox is a cop who investigates other cops. He's divorced, a reformed alcoholic, doesn't smoke, and worries about a sister in an abusive relationship and his father in a retirement home.

But his life gets more complicated when he is assigned to check out a young, up-and-coming cop with possible links to child pornography.

Then a murder occurs close to home, and Fox soon finds himself getting set up for a fall.

It's 2009, and Edinburgh is again the grim, bleak background, with Fox seeking some answers in a very murky world of corruption.

The Complaints is a slow-burner, reeking of authenticity and featuring a knotted story that gradually unravels with measured craft and unpredictability.

Like Rebus, Fox will do what he sees fit, even if it rankles his colleagues and bosses.

If Rankin has permanently retired Rebus, it's easy to see Fox becoming a new, ongoing protagonist and a popular replacement.

• David Manning is the former features editor of The Nelson Mail.

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