Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly are two of the most successful contemporary crime writers, but both for very similar reasons. In their novels, for example, Fleshmarket Close and The Black Box, they infuse their plots with social issues to make their stories relevant to the world we live in: Connelly's victim, a photojournalist is murdered during the LA riots for a more complex reason which people have overlooked and Bosch investigates, whilst Rankin's Rebus delves into the world of immigration and asylum seekers, also in a personal way through character.
Both authors lend their main characters Detectives Bosch and Rebus personalities which keep the reader's personally engaged, enough so to make them read the next book in the series with the same character. They both have family issues and struggling relationships with their daughters, and use their unpredictable, exciting profession as an outlet and possible suppression of their inner-issues such as drink as well as family.
Finally, both characters are haunted by the past; Rebus by his troubled family life and broken marriage, and Bosch by a case that was put to bed but never fully solved.
