Will I love Westwind?

I picked up Westwind out of curiosity; it’s the “lost” Rankin novel from 1990, revived after years out of print. It also ticked my boxes of interest when it comes to my favourite thriller reads: surveillance, conspiracy, geopolitics, and technological dependence, all themes that feel even more relevant today.
Known for his Rebus crime series, Rankin here tries his hand at a Cold War-style techno-thriller. The setup is classic late-20th-century paranoia: satellites fail, an astronaut is stranded, and strange deaths follow on Earth. It’s fast, conspiratorial, and already shows flashes of Rankin’s sharp pacing.
Still, the book shows its age.… show more.