Gentle SPECTRUMS discussion

Here is our buddy-reading conversation about "Hide & Seek"! Ian Rankin's theme of his first 3 novels, which he did not recognize as mysteries, draws from Robert Louis Stevenson also of Edinborough. This title comes from an early line in "The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde". It reads: "If you be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek!" With this 1886 quotation, Shirin & I begin reading this 1990 book! Your hostess, Carolyn.

I always hope my friends will go first, so there is no way notes only reply to me. Please don't hold back on giving me all of your ideas and impressions, Shirin, even though I am writing first. :)

I remember the nice feeling we shared in common of loving John Rebus right away. It came back immediately in this sequel, too. I think we have to acclimitize ourselves to entirely different supporting personages because he is not dating the same woman, nor working with the same police. It is fun to watch John communicate and work with anyone. His thoughts about a life that is not perfect are relatable and funny.

My omnibus of 3 novels, "Rebus: The Early Years" does not have chapters, does your book? I am 60 pages from the end in the heading entitled "Friday". I will stay general enough, that my pondering should not spoil wherever you are in the story, Shirin.

I love that he has been promoted from a constable to an inspector and now leads crime investigations. Obviously, he has a new chief inspector, because the predecessor lost his son in the first novel and we are grateful John's Daughter is safe. Samantha Rebus has not visited in this novel so far but I prefer less talk about divorces and ex-spouses.

The crime is thankfully is not so disturbing as taking or killing children. Addiction is a subject that interests me, since I am dealing with it (pertaining to alcoholism) in my family. Besides containing a crime of course, I find this whole novel much more pleasant and easier to enjoy. Maybe life is lighter for John. He only needs to pay attention to doing his job. He is not juggling emotions about his Dad or Brother, nor being stuck doing "grunt work" (an expression that means small jobs no one likes). I am happy to see John as an inspector who can delegate leg work to other officers. He is not shy about taking charge in his new role. In many series, authors too long portray their characters are struggling and not achieving what they want to.

The crime is not personal at all. It doesn't involve anyone he knows. Of course, John's kind personality shows care for everyone: victims, families and friends, the young, the poor, the elderly, the fearful.

I distrust Tony. I make a guess that he is guilty of a crime. It does not matter if one neighbourhood is usually the district where you work. If another officer takes a case there, you leave him or her in charge of it. Tony appears at the crime scene too much. Later, we learn that his brother is one of the three wealthy men investing in the new chief's anti-drug strategy for Edinborough.

One of the three rich men committed suicide. Was it embarrassment for being seen in the car by John, on the hill where people pay for sex from poor, drug-addicted boys? Was that man involved in another crime? Was his death a suicide?

I will close my pondering with the question you & I have anticipated, Shirin: do we pick up any similarities to "The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde"? The novel and character are mentioned halfway through but I have not thought about this question yet.

I got a lot of reading done in one night, fortunately, therefore my notes about "Hide & Seek" are numerous. However, I am happy to find that with Ian Rankin, I can't help reading on! There is no slow or boring place that creates a pause! A lot like Anne Perry's stories, which also balance the personal lives of characters with their investigating work; the interest and action keep us reading, doesn't it!

I am on page 54, chapter Tuesday (190 pages version). John now picked Dr. Jakyle and Mr. Hyde.
The crime is not about children, that's true. But, I think this book has more detail which is more disturbing to me (in comparison to the first book), Occultists and someone was going around poisoning junkies!
Many characters have changed. I'm new to them. So, it takes time to start thinking or judging about them. Till now, I'm not very comfortable with Tracy.
I didn't read your details about the story. The start is strong (as in the first book), there is a crime and probably a serial killer who should be caught.
John is still John.:) He gives up gifting the book to his friend. I do the same sometimes.:)

Hi Shirin, only one person is poisoned so far; no sign of a serial killer. There is only the need of people who know something about him, including police investigators, to be careful. The whole novel seems to be about why one crime took place, which I like.

No, we don't like to read of a serial killer. I favour serious "standard mystery" like this and sometimes "cozy mystery" but not "thriller / horror". There is only a hint of the occult so far. I am glad you note the difference between obsessive practices and actual spirituality like paganism and wicca. You introduce a good conversation topic that I did not yet because my reading entry was long.

I love non-traditional spirituality and also the paranormal but never evil things. It seems that what makes things evil or fanatical is obsession with rules and tradition. That way, one is religious or fanatical but misses the heart of spirituality. When people kill in the name of a religion, they lacked understanding in the love and faith at the centre of it. If a thriller novel is about the occult, it would disturb me, because you know a person is justifying evil acts in their mind.

I think the word "occult" was used because our author knew nothing about the subject. I sensed naivety when that student, Charlie, whom readers thought was a homeless squatter, was a university student. It is naive to believe an expert on paganism and wicca needed to sought at a university. There are pagans and wiccans in every country where there is freedom of religion; viewed harshly by traditional religions.

An author must gain a lot of information and knowledge in researching their wide variety of stories. What we take for granted as common knowledge now was less known decades ago but farther in the past than 1990! That was recent. It is when I graduated from high school! :) Anyway, I like it best when a crime mystery has nothing to do with the investigator, so that I as a reader feel more safe. We will both be relieved if the novel is not as evil as we thought.

I can't tell if Tracy is meant to be an unreliable character, or if Ian did not establish her clearly. In the beginning, it sounded like she was the wife of Ronnie who yelled "hide" or "Hyde"; crying as if she had been affected personally by his rants. I wonder if you were shocked, Shirin, when we discovered that she was only a girl who had visited or shared an empty house with him over 6 months and did not know his last name, or much about him.

Also, the beginning of the novel described "calvinists", another type of religion, putting a teenager's body into a hole at a construction site and pouring cement to hide it. I have seen nothing about a missing teenager or calvinists, therefore there is more to learn. I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts as you go along. Of course you can look at my posts closely when you have reached "Friday". Does your novel have no chapter numbers either? In which language are you reading Ian Rankin?

Yes, we love John like usual: his kindness towards everyone and his passion for books! Haha, I laughed too, that he bought books instead of clothes for a party. Especially, since he was not much interested in that party nor in that brief girlfriend.

Hi Carolyn. I start the Thursday chapter!
I completely agree with you about spirituality and obsession. Yes, killing people in the name of religion is lacked understanding. I'm glad this book is not a crime as imagine earlier. The story seems to drop the evil idea.

I should confess, at the beginning of the book, I didn't understand "hide" could mean "Hyde" :). But, when John speaks with the boy, then ring a bell!

I got used to seeing, people getting so close so fast in books and movies. We care to know about our friends, even their parents. Maybe some kind of people even in my country act like this book. But, it's not common, doesn't it?

I read this book in English (none of Ian's books translated), and my version has no number or something to split parts. Sometimes it's confusing when switch. I see you don't have it either. I thought something is wrong with the none-paper version.

I like that the story is told from a different point of view, individual people. John and Holmes work on the same case and investigate; they misunderstand their behave. Holmes didn't want to introduce his girlfriend to John, and John thinks about business matters only. Reminded me that we can't judge people only by their actions.

I am glad to have your update, Shirin. I will give you a little time before I write more. There might be something you want to reply to in message #2. When I wrote it, you avoided looking at it too much until you got further in the novel. Thursday is quite far along! Yes, I am relieved the plot line is not about cult evil, or such fealty to religions that it is cult-like.

When you have a moment to catch-up on message #2, I will enjoy contributing to all of the great topics you are adding here. I love having your perspective, so that I understand the stories better, myself. And to have great memories of trying Ian Rankin out and becoming his fan with you. Your friend, Carolyn.

I distrust Tony. I make a guess that he is guilty of a crime. It does not matter if one ... Wow, Carolyn, you understood! I thought something wrong with Charlie and Tracy but never paid attention to Tony. :)
Pay for sex from poor, drug-addicted, and dogfighting all was quite embarrassing.
Was that man involved in another crime? Was his death a suicide? ... at first, I thought this is another frame for murdering but, we know he kills himself for the shame of his pictures or maybe blackmailing.
No ex-wife and, I'm glad we see John with no breakdown. :)
The book's name was surprising to me. Cause there is no person's evil side, just a club called Hyde. I looked to recognize a psychopath the whole time. Parently, there were more than one, people who do anything to join the club and for what?! money? Lived in a better place than a flat! Amazingly had no sleeping problems.

Hi Shirin,

It looks like you are finished the novel. Instead of new progress notes, I can see what you think of it. To answer your previous question about if people getting close quickly is realistic: do you mean peers and friends generally, or did you refer to romantic relationships? I don't know if you meant who John was dating. You might be circling back to my comment about Tracey's role confusing us. Yes, you can make friends and boyfriends fast sometimes, if the people and situation are open to it.

If you referred to Tracey, the introduction of tears over the addict's panicked behaviour indicated a married couple. It did not resemble someone who only knew the person by first name because they slept in the same empty street of houses. The narrator wrote that when he pushed her outside, "someone always let her in, whenever he did this". The narration also said that Tracey allowed herself to cry "this time", as if this were a long committed relationship. It does not match the superficial acquaintances they prove to be later. I wonder if Ian drafted them to be a couple and did not correct the introduction, when he made role changes.

Yes, dog-fighting was bad enough but separate. Ian used a lot of short plots to through us off the trail, including the cult idea. We find at the end that it is about causing drug-hungry people to offer sex in cars, through two-way windows, and boxing for the entertainment of the wealthy in a dirty secret club.

I like the way Ian fooled us. I don't think he wasted time on the "red herrings", the trails that went nowhere, like the photographer. I do not think he wasted time on them but entertained us until he got onto the right track. It would realistically take time. I love the new officer and his girlfriend.

Do you like the ending? Do you think it is realistic that criminals would get away with that illegal, dangerous club, just because they were public figures in public government jobs and other places? Tony was not a criminal after all but he knew about "Hyde's". His addicted brother visited it.

Thanks, Carolyn, for clearing up a point for me about Tracey. And yes, Holmes and his girlfriend are nice. Hope to see them in the next book. I wasn't a fan of other characters in the first book but, these two are fine. :)

The ending, no, I didn't like the end. But, I think it's realistic that criminals get away because of their relationship, money, or government job.

I see we both gave the novel five stars. Is there anything you would like to discuss about "Hide And Seek"? Along with any subjects or favourite parts you add, I think it would be fun to describe why this is a five-star story or mystery for us.

On a personal note: we laid our Spirit to rest 2 hours ago. The ground thawed enough lately and we planned everything we wanted to say and do, with all of our other cats in attendance of Spirit's service with us.

On a shockingly sad note: we are told that Marigold is in stage 4 kidney disease and doctors expect her to only survive the toxins poor function leaves in a body, for 1 month. This again, 3 1/2 months after Spirit! Well, we are going to fight this with a combination of the very best we can do with western medicine, prayers, faith, and the energy medicine types of aura and other healing I began studying with our precious Spirit. We are warned about Marigold but we do not give up.

We are giving her a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow. She is Mom to everyone except McCartney & Spirit: Angel, Petal, Conan (missing), and our late Love (ascended in 2014). Photos, good memories, happy times. If we receive a miracle of bonus time and health: we accept it gratefully and gleefully! Your friend, Carolyn.

Dear Carolyn, I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm sure Marigold will recover soon with medicine and prayers. I'll pray for her health and for you to be strong and fight.
I heard about some medicine dry food called Royal Canin, for kidney disease (Renal). It's French food, do you know it? It's the best dry food that we can find it here. I used dental Royal Canin and saw positive effects.
There will be a miracle and I wait for her recovery and good news.
Your friend, Shirin.

Shirin, thank you for your care. I wanted to share the worry so friends know what we are going through. Let's continue in e-mail.

We have the Royal Canin foods for kidney disease. We believe in serving dry food as treats. Food is only maintenance. My first childhood cat had this at age 20, not age 10 when Marigold was diagnosed last year.

We are trying to help remove the toxins, cleanse and preserve her kidneys from overworking. There is a special herb capsule blend coming by mail, she has medicine, and I have started giving sub-cutaneous fluids.

For a miracle, I appreciate prayers from caring friends like you. I add energy medicine and acupressure that I am learning too.

I hope friends respond to laying Spirit to rest yesterday. It was a major day, sensitive. We make sure he is still talked about. Today is Mother's Day and I identify that way with them. Happy Mother's Day to offspring and animal Moms! Love, Carolyn.

I am glad Marigold, her Daughters, McCartney & I took many photos on this Mother's Day, with Ron. We are sad it was her last, a very good Mother to her cats and a wonderful Daughter to Ron & I. You know that Marigold lived until June 21, celebrating McCartney's milestone birthday that month as well. God bless our Marigold.

In these months of 2021 that changed so much that is important to our close family, I am reading and slowly catching up on my book reviews. Here is the one for "Hide And Seek". https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...