The Distant Echo by Val McDermid
The Distant Echo is the first Karen Pirie novel by Val McDermid. I have also read the two most recent Karen Pirie novels – Still Life and Past Lying.
In 1978, four students walking home from a party in the early hours stumble across a dying woman in the snow. Rosie Duff has been raped and murdered and now the students are covered in her blood… Finding the body changes their lives in an instant. They might be witnesses, but they feel like they’re suspects. None of the have cast-iron alibis for the evening. The police won’t leave them alone, nor will Rosie’s family or their fellow students.
Fast forward to 2003 and Rosie’s killer has never been found. A new cold case unit is set up, including a young DC Karen Pirie. The investigations into Rosie’s murder reopen and the four students find they are still suspects.
When two of them die in suspicious circumstances, the remaining two realise they are in danger. The only way to stay alive is to find out who really killed Rosie back in 1978…
The Distant Echo is another fantastic page turner from Val McDermid, with plenty of twists. The four central students are likeable characters and you want to believe they are innocent. But could one of them be guilty and hiding it from the others?
I wonder if, when she wrote this, Val McDermid knew it would be the start of a series focusing on Karen Pirie? She doesn’t even appear until page 200 and seems to be a background character – just one of many police officers involved in the case.
I loved The Distant Echo. If you enjoy a police procedural/ detective type novel, I would definitely recommend it. But this is no cosy crime read. Val McDermid’s murders can be pretty brutal and disturbing. I will definitely be working my way through the remainder of the Karen Pirie series, alongside the Tony Hill/ Carol Jordan series and waiting for the next publication in the Allie Burns (‘the nines’) series.
