The Distant Echo
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4.2 • 89 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
This "cunningly plotted" (New York Times) thriller is coming to Britbox this October!
Bestselling, award-winning author Val McDermid delivers her most stunning story yet in The Distant Echo--an intricate, thought-provoking tale of murder and revenge.
Four in the morning, mid-December, and snow blankets St. Andrews School. Student Alex Gilbery and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. The only suspects are the four young students stained with her blood.
Twenty-five years later, police mount a cold case review. Among the unsolved murders they're examining is that of Rosie Duff. But someone else has his own idea of justice. One of the original quartet dies in a suspicious house fire and soon after, a second is killed. Alex fears the worst. Someone is taking revenge for Rosie Duff. And it might just save his life if he can uncover who really killed Rosie all those years ago.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This absorbing psychological novel of revenge shows British author McDermid (A Place of Execution) at the top of her form. In part one, set in 1978 in St. Andrews, Scotland, four drunken male students, friends since childhood, stumble over the raped and stabbed body of a dying woman, Rosie Duff, while staggering home through a snow storm. Though her violent brothers are convinced of their guilt, no one is charged with Rosie's murder. In part two, 25 years later, the police hope new forensic technologies will solve the crime, and suddenly someone is stalking the four men, whose lives have been haunted and their relationships changed by the murder. Two die, supposedly by accident, and the remaining pair, Alex Gilbey and Tom Mackie, must find out what happened before they're killed, too. James Lawson, an assistant chief constable who was a junior cop in 1978, wants to close the case and avenge the death of his admired superior, DI Barney Maclennan, who fell from a cliff during the initial inquiry. When Graham Macfadyen, who claims he's Rosie's illegitimate son and also seeking revenge, contacts Lawson, the investigation takes a startling turn. Only the careful reader will anticipate the stunning conclusion, which makes perfect sense. Outstanding pacing, character and plot development, plus evocative place descriptions, make this another winner.
Customer Reviews
The Echoing Effect of Crime
Val McDermid’s The Distant Echo opens in 1978 as four college friends, nicknamed after Bowie and Pink Floyd songs, stumble upon the body of a barmaid Rosie Duff in the snow while headed back to St. Andrew’s in Fife after a night of partying. The police investigation centers on one or more of the group as being responsible, however the case goes cold. Twenty-five years later the case is reopened as part of a cold case review and assigned to DC Karen Pirie overseen by ACC Lawson, an officer who was on the original investigation. This is a wonderfully engaging tale of the echo-effect of one crime on the lives of the four friends, the victim’s family, and a small town police force. McDermid’s writing is steady with bursts of action keeping the reader gripped as it builds towards its resolution. The book’s structure, 1978 and 2003, and its pace is brilliant, allowing the reader the time to connect with the characters and better feel the impact of the crime...and the story twists...wow, enough said. The irony is while this is the first of McDermid’s Pirie series, the DC remains a side character, somewhat of a mystery, but with just enough that you want to read so much more about her. I gave the book a 4.5 because of a few minor editing quibbles.
All wind up, no punch
Like all her books, this one is well-written and a delight to read. But unusually, in this instance McDermid doesn’t deliver. The story is overwrought, too many loose threads get pulled together at the end by narration as opposed to narrative (in other words, all the unanswered questions are explained in a few paragraphs at the very end). Very disappointing.
A Disappointment
After relishing ALL of McDermid’s Carol Jordan-Tony Hill novels, I was looking forward to this stand alone offering. Bad decision. Too slow, drawn-out plot development, and a conclusion/summation filled with revelations not hinted at in the book. Unfair to the reader, and not even cleverly presented. I’ll stay with the memories of the “Wire in the Blood” series….