Westwind - Ian Rankin

In 1990, when Westwind was first published, Ian Rankin had written only one of his now famous John Rebus novels and was working on the second. The book didn’t exactly make much of a splash. As Rankin puts it in his introduction to this 2019 edition, it may have been published but, “Not that anyone noticed. There was one hardcover printing, one paperback, and one in large format for readers with limited sight. It didn’t sell in the USA and no foreign-language publisher wanted it.” Even Rankin could not “muster” much enthusiasm for the book. Then, according to Rankin, someone on Twitter convinced him that the book was not as bad as he remembered it to be. After re-reading the novel for himself, Rankin realized that Westwind paralleled much of today’s geopolitical situation and, more importantly, that he had enjoyed reading it.

Thus was born last year’s slightly revised version of Westwind, of which Rankin says:

            “I’ve given the original printed text a polish, hopefully ridding it of those flawed sentences and scenes. A few words have been added here and there, while others have been removed or altered, but it is essentially the same book that it always was, just thirty years older and a little wiser…”

Westwind is set in an alternate reality 1990 in which the US has decided to remove its troops from Europe under the assumption that it’s time for Europe to take responsibility for its own defense. Some British citizens are thrilled to see the backside of American troops; others fear what might happen in their absence. As the end-date for the removal of the last troops approaches, tensions are high and protesters on both sides of the issue are determined to be heard. Communication satellites are circling the earth making life better for everyone – but that’s not all they are doing. Everyone and everything that happens on the ground is fair game. There are no more secrets.

Ian Rankin

In the midst of all the turmoil, an American space shuttle crashes upon its return to Earth, killing all of the American astronauts on board. The only survivor is the British astronaut who was only on the flight in the first place as a courtesy to the key American ally. Now the question is why rescuers had to pry the fingers of one of the dead Americans from around the Brit’s neck before they could remove him from the shuttle remains. Meanwhile, at a British ground-control center, Martin Hepton, whose job it is to monitor one of the most advanced communication satellites in Western Europe watches helplessly as the center completely loses contact with it. The satellite is unresponsive to ground-control operators for almost four minutes and only resumes contact just when everyone feared it was lost forever.

Nothing like this has ever happened before, and one of Hepton’s colleague’s has reason to believe that it was not an accident this time either. Unfortunately, the man only has time to hint to Hepton that something is very strange before he disappears. Now, Hepton, believing that his friend is in trouble, wants answer – and he starts asking the kind of questions that a whole lot of very dangerous people don’t want him asking.

Bottom Line: Westwind is an enjoyable spy-thriller right up until it reaches its final climax. The characters are likable, and it’s easy to root for them as they try to figure out what is going on before they are all killed by super-spies and assassins from around the world. The book’s big flaw is how much it begins to resemble a James Bond movie as it approaches the big-reveal part of its story. Just as in a typical Bond script, as soon as the villains seem to have custody of all the good guys, they can’t resist boasting in detail about their mad plot and how it all works. Rather than eliminating their rivals immediately, they prefer to explain what will happen (in great detail, mind you) after they kill them. The unfortunate effect of this approach is that it pushes Westwind from far-fetched thriller category into cartoon category, making it not so thrilling after all.