A Song for the Dark Times cover art

A Song for the Dark Times

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

A Song for the Dark Times

By: Ian Rankin
Narrated by: James Macpherson
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

 From the iconic Number One bestseller Ian Rankin, comes one of the must-read books of the year: A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES

'Genius ... Only great novels capture the spirit of the age. This is one of them.'
THE TIMES

* * * * *

'He's gone...'

When his daughter Samantha calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it's not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days.

Rebus fears the worst - and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect.

He wasn't the best father - the job always came first - but now his daughter needs him more than ever. But is he going as a father or a detective?

As he leaves at dawn to drive to the windswept coast - and a small town with big secrets - he wonders whether this might be the first time in his life where the truth is the one thing he doesn't want to find...

PRAISE FOR A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES:

'Magnificent ... utterly unputdownable and an immersive pleasure' MARIAN KEYES

'This is Rankin at his best, Rebus at his best, storytelling that meets the moment and transcends all genres and expectations' MICHAEL CONNELLY

'An outstanding addition to one of the finest bodies of work in crime fiction' MICK HERRON

'Rankin remains the king of the castle' THE TIMES

'Typically compelling' DAILY TELEGRAPH

'Masterly storytelling' SUNDAY EXPRESS

'Excellent' LIZ NUGENT

'The best that the crime genre can offer' FT

'Rankin grows better with time . . . Rebus grows ever more compelling' DAILY MAIL

* * * * *

PRAISE FOR THE ICONIC NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER:

'Ian Rankin is a genius'
LEE CHILD

'A master storyteller'
GUARDIAN

'Rebus is one of British crime writing's greatest characters: alongside Holmes, Poirot and Morse'
DAILY MAIL

'Great fiction, full stop'
THE TIMES

'One of Britain's leading novelists in any genre'
NEW STATESMAN

'Rankin is a phenomenon'
SPECTATOR

'Worthy of Agatha Christie at her best'
SCOTSMAN

'The king of crime fiction'
SUNDAY EXPRESS

****

Ian Rankin's SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 5th October 2020©2020 Ian Rankin (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Private Investigators Thriller Thriller & Suspense Crime Suspense
All stars
Most relevant
Found it an ok story not the best book I have listened to Maybe because the last 2 were above average. Storyline and narration both fine

listenable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
With sublime narration from James Macpherson this is another excellent instalment. The Rebus retirement years certainly make for an a wonderful ride! Bravo Mr Rankin.

Stellar entertainment!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Two intertwined stories bring Rebus, Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox back into our lives, not to mentiom Big Ger and Christine Essen. Rebus is in better health than during his last two or three outings which is wonderful. The plots are engrossing - well, of course they are, and the team of Rankin and Macpherson bring the various characters to life admirably.

Another Rebus Masterpiece

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book. Now of course I'm waiting for the next installment. Thanks in advance Mr. Rankin.

Rebus, he always gets his man.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved the reading but thought the two strands were too divergent. I’ve enjoyed other Rebus stories more but this was the first I’ve listened to rather than read.

Good tale

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A masterpiece indeed and seems to be the valedictory to Rebus that Exit Music did not turn out to be.
Set on a broad canvas from Edinburgh to the North Sutherland flow country around Tongue and involving all the main characters from the series, Rebus and Siobhan of course, Cafferty, and Malcolm Fox.
Double plot a little reminiscent in fact of Exit Music, with a domestic element (Rebus' daughter) and foreign money again but this time with a very long reach of the past through a WW2 internment camp.
A sense of closure for the characters (is this really the last Rebus?) except perhaps for Siobhan so maybe in her lies the continuity? Sad if this is the last Rebus but I actually think it is probably time.
Regardless, Ian Rankin continues to excel and I look forward to wherever the muse next takes him!

The valedictory that Exit Music was not!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Characters have developed well and progressed as people normally would have in life. interesting twist to see Rebus in a difficult role with his work and family life intersecting.

Great new listen from my favourite crime writer

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
So good the story the characters and James McPhersons narration i enjoy so well done





Great story great narrated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sammys in strife. Rebus can’t let anything go. Nice to see Big Ger Siobhan and Fox all blended in well.

He will never let it lie

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Combination of Rankin’s pros and MacPherson’s narration up to the usual standard of creating incredible characters and placing the in well created places and situations
Please don’t let Rebus die for many more books to come

Perfect as ever

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.