See More From Book Club Friends

Sign up and log in to post, comment and join the conversation.

Book Club Friends is 100% Canadian 🇨🇦

Ian Rankin
A Song for the Dark Times
Book #23 of the Inspector Rebus series
See the list of Inspector Rebus books in order

A Song for the Dark Times

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

Author: Ian Rankin
Published: 2020
Page Count: 336

This page may include affiliate links.

Purchase on:

Amazon
Amazon

Book Club Discussion Questions For A Song for the Dark Times

A Song for the Dark Times
Discuss A Song for the Dark Times With Your Book Club Friends

Do you want to take a deeper dive intoA Song for the Dark Times? Chat about themes, characters, settings, plots and let’s celebrate this book for our Book of the Month discussion!

Suggest A Song for the Dark Times

More Book Club Discussions

A Better Man
A Fatal Grace
A Great Reckoning
A Rule Against Murder
A Trick of the Light
A World of Curiosities
All the Devils Are Here
An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s
Beautiful Ugly
Bury Your Dead
Glass Houses
How the Light Gets In
How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future
Iron Lake (20th Anniversary Edition)
Kingdom of the Blind
On Tyranny
State of Terror
Still Life
The Beautiful Mystery
The Boyfriend
The Briar Club
The Brutal Telling
The Crash
The Cruelest Month
The Frozen River
The Grey Wolf
The Housemaid
The Life We Bury
The Long Way Home
The Madness of Crowds
The Mighty Red
The Nature of the Beast
The River We Remember
The Rose Code
The Searcher
The Thursday Murder Club
See All Discussions

Highly Recommended Books by Ian Rankin Book Club Friends

In the Dead of Night
Bad Guys
Hardly Knew Her: Short Stories
Badger's Moon
Pitch Dark
Crowned and Dangerous
Back of Beyond
Deja Dead
The Mistletoe Mystery: A Maid Novella
Scarpetta
Hardcore Twenty-Four
1979: An Allie Burns Novel
Precious and Grace
Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage
The Hunter
Funeral in Blue: A William Monk Novel
Silent Partner
Lord John and the Hand of Devils
Heartstones
A Question of Identity
The Crow Trap
A Christmas Resolution: A Novel
And When She Was Good
The Evidence Exposed
Nightshade
The Maid's Secret
Skin and Bones: A Mike Bowditch Short Mystery
Return to Sender: A Longmire Mystery
Dancing with Demons
The Anodyne Necklace
The Lions of Fifth Avenue
Journey to Munich
Song of the Lion
The Benefit of Hindsight
Death of an Expert Witness
Fatal Pursuit
Bone Box: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax
Hints of Heliose
Long Time Gone
Outsider
The Word is Murder
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
The Copper Peacock
Dr. No
Bones of the Lost
Sometimes I Lie
Cemetery Dance
Evan's Gate
Blue Genes
The Bone Collection: Four Novellas
Slaves of Obsession: A William Monk Novel
Hunger
What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust
Heartwood
Just a Little Bit Dangerous
Cross Bones
A Private Investigation: A DC Smith Investigation
Foul Matter
The Housemaid's Secret
Stone Cold
The Perfect Son
The Keepsake: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
Marble Hall Murders
The Housemaid's Wedding: A Short Story
The Leopard
The Red Door
Slough House
Heaven's Prisoners
The Job
Outside
B is for Burglar
A Tangled Web
Fire and Ice
Diamond and the Eye
I Know Who You Are
Death of a Maid
Asta's Book
No Good Deeds
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
Plum Lucky
Explosive Eighteen
Mrs de Winter
The Collectors
Elevator Pitch
Mortal Prey
Gone
Urn Burial
The Crack Cocaine Diet
Death on the Tiber
The Confession
The Judas Judge
The Last Camel Died at Noon
Love You to Death
The Front
Hush Hush
The Camel Club
A Christmas Legacy: A Novel
Keystone
The Girl of His Dreams
Daylight
A Hanging at Dawn: A Bess Crawford Short Story
Book of the Dead
A Traitor to Memory
The Crowded Grave
Love You More
The Painted Queen
Holy Ghost
A Gambling Man
Find Them Dead
A Place of Hiding
Battle Mountain
The Apprentice: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
The Drop
The Bone Hacker
Past Lying
Far From True
Sweet
A Minute to Midnight
Rainbow's End: A Richard Jury Mystery
Fire
Critical Mass: A V.I. Warshawski Novel
The Genius
Time and Tide: A DC Smith Investigation
The Quiet Side of Passion
Angels in the Gloom: A Novel
No Shred of Evidence
Garment of Shadows
The Blood of an Englishman
White Fire
The Fourth Enemy
Many Rivers to Cross
The Silkworm
The Therapist
The Charming Quirks of Others
Lost Light
The Scam
The Hunt: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
Death of a Ghost
Dead on Target: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Dance Hall of the Dead
A Sorrowful Sanctuary
Love and Other Crimes
King and Maxwell
Coffin Road
Stop Them Dead
A Lesson in Dying
An Island of Suspects: A Brittany Mystery
Home
Butchers Hill
The Stone Wife
Execution Dock: A William Monk Novel
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
A Fatal Lie
Treasure State
Duel to the Death
Stone Cold
Caravan: A Novel
Monster: An Alex Delaware Novel
The Thunder Keeper
R is for Ricochet
The Shadows We Hide
Persons of Interest: A DC Smith Investigation
A Darker Reality
A False Mirror
The Vanishing Museum on the Rue Mistral
The Hidden One
Hidden Prey
Bones to Ashes
Nowhere to Run
Home by Nightfall
The Murderer's Daughter
The Ides of April
In Plain Sight: A Kate Burkholder Short Mystery
Mercy
The Truth About Melody Browne
Dixie City Jam
The Typhoon Lover
At Risk
The Favor
Island of the Mad
Dead Like You
Easy Prey
A Sudden
Mile 81
The Other Daughter
Behind Closed Doors
Flight of Dreams
No Mark Upon Her
But For The Grace: A DC Smith Investigation
The Night Fire
Here One Moment
Two of the Deadliest
Iron Lake (20th Anniversary Edition)
No Night Is Too Long
A Cold Blooded Business
Forever and a Day: A James Bond Novel
Dorchester Terrace
Unnatural Exposure
A Christmas Promise: A Novel
Lay Down the Law
Kopp Sisters on the March
At the Reunion Buffet: An Isabel Dalhousie Story
A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy
Diamond Solitaire
Perfect People
The Water's Lovely
Void Moon
From Potter's Field
The Pearl Diver
False Prophet: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
Prayers for the Dead
Whistle: A Novel
Mrs. Pollifax
Hour Game
By a Spider's Thread
Flags on the Bayou
The Edge
A Grave in the Woods
The Lamorna Wink
Find Her
Metro Girl
Westwind
City of Endless Night
Gun Games
Real Tigers
Black Rainbow
Better Safe Than Sorry: A Sgt. Windflower Mystery
This Body of Death
Death of a Dentist
Lady Cop Makes Trouble
A Taste for Death
Deadly Election
The Master of Blacktower
Dead Watch
Depth of Winter: A Longmire Mystery
All the Devils Are Here
Murder and Mendelssohn
Girl in a Box
Acqua Alta
The Old Silent
Long Shadows
Blue Monday
Prophecy
With No One as Witness
I'd Know You Anywhere
Remarkably Bright Creatures
His & Hers
Day of the Dead
The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine
Body Double
Wicked Business
Flying Too High
Blue Heaven
Friend of the Devil: An Inspector Banks Novel
Alexandria
The Wire in the Blood
The Baby Snatcher
Christmas at Patchin Place: Two Molly Murphy Mysteries
Nobody Walks
Bless the Bride
The Black Echo
Full Scoop
The Man with a Load of Mischief
Fractured: A Will Trent Novel
See Delphi and Die
Sacred and Profane: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
Uniform Justice
Apostle's Cove
Murder 101
The Catch
By Its Cover
The Hyde Park Headsman
Edge of Evil
To Darkness and to Death
The Full Cupboard of Life
Over the Edge
At Midnight Comes the Cry
The God of the Woods
A Hidden Secret: A Kate Burkholder Short Story
Simisola
Death of a Nurse
Wild Crimes
Rattlesnake Crossing
The Rise: A Short Story
Send Bygraves
A Christmas Hope: A Novel
Silent In The Sanctuary
The Weaker Sex
The First Cut: A Novel of Suspense
The Blood Doctor
Moon Music: A Novel
The Secret Servant
The Babysitter's Code
The Perfect Victim
Monday Mourning
Cadillac Jukebox
The Joy and Light Bus Company
Motor Mouth