The Distant Echo (Karen Pirie, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Jun 07, 2021 Julie Griffin rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. McDermid's Carol Jordan/Tony Hill series is at the top of my favorites, but I haven't really dived into her other series until now. As filming has begun on the Karen Pirie series, set in St. Andrews/Fife, I thought I should start. This is an odd one to start with, I discovered, as Karen Pirie is not in the book until it's halfway done, and then only on a few pages. She's a very minor character, and there is no drawing of her character and she plays no real part in the plot. I'll be checking out McDermid's Carol Jordan/Tony Hill series is at the top of my favorites, but I haven't really dived into her other series until now. As filming has begun on the Karen Pirie series, set in St. Andrews/Fife, I thought I should start. This is an odd one to start with, I discovered, as Karen Pirie is not in the book until it's halfway done, and then only on a few pages. She's a very minor character, and there is no drawing of her character and she plays no real part in the plot. I'll be checking out the second one to get better acquainted with DI Pirie. The main characters in this book are four friends who are impacted by a murder investigation.
That said, this book is handled with McDermid's usual ability to balance an extended cast of well drawn characters and write a plot so natural that you get flashes of insight --- could that be? No. Maybe. No again-- and the resolution is both plausible and believable but not obvious or easy.
Much of this book focuses on the lasting traumatic effects of crimes on people who are victims, people who are innocent witnesses, and those poor souls like Richard Jewell who are targeted by the police and media and forever after tainted with suspicion. Justice denied or delayed can also affect people in lifelong ways.
The first part of the book follows four college friends at St. Andrews in 1978. Stumbling home from a student party in a freezing snowfall, Alex and Ziggy and Weird and Mondo happen upon a local barmaid who's been stabbed and dumped in a shallow ditch in a cemetery. While Ziggy, a medical student, tries to keep her alive, Alex races to the patrol car usually parked near the area, and summons the police and an ambulance. When he and the officer arrive back up the hill, Rosie Duff has died. This was the day that changed their lives, as rather than being praised for trying to save her, the boys are targeted as suspects by the police and the newspapers. The girl's brothers try to see their own justice meted out, one player tries to take his own life, another becomes a religious leader, but as the case remains unsolved they all move on with their lives, crippled by the murder in various ways. Twenty-five years later, a cold case review brings up the possibility of new forensics, and someone doesn't want the case solved. Is it one of the four boys, now grown, or perhaps the girl's brothers, or someone else? Will Rosie Duff ever receive justice? McDermid brings alive complex characters in a way that few equal, so you care about what will happen as you look carefully at each player with suspicion. The ending is believable and logical, and satisfying after so many years. ...more

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Jan 06, 2019 Windy rated it really liked it

McDermid is an excellent writer with characters you can see and touch. I've dropped a star for this one though because I found the plot hard to swallow. ...more

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