Reviews - The Distant Echo

330 reviews for:

This is the first Karen Pirie novel and she appears more than halfway through. Her presence is minimal. This is a very long novel. I prefer my crime novels to be around 300 pages or less. This one, however, covers a case in detail when a murder occurs, and the resurrection of the cold case. It has a major twist at the end. I read it before and during a trip to Edinburgh. It is set in St. Andrews and Fife, and I even managed a day trip up there which enhanced my enjoyment of the book. A worthwhile read as long as you are up to almost 600 pages.

ingera's review against another edition

2.0

Such a promising start, but then it just dragged on and on. Also guessed the killer very early.

tjmcq's review against another edition

4.0

Murder mystery that eeps you guessing. A real page turner. A little over the top a couple of times, but mostly great. A

magis1105's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

It's a classic murder mystery. It starts in two timelines.
In one four university students are busy partying and after getting smashed drunk they decide to take a shortcut back home in the middle of a blizzard. On their trip, they find a badly hurt young woman. The wound is too severe and the police arrive after she has died.
The other timeline is 20 or so years later. The four students are trying to live their life and yet the shadow of those events still haunt them.

It is attention-capturing. I like the way it's portrayed. I will continue the series, hopefully sometime soon.

Full review can be found here: https://bunkerofbooks05.wixsite.com/bunker-of-books/post/distant-echo

ionadouglas's review against another edition

1.5

slow-paced

syren1532's review against another edition

4.0

Another fantastic book by Val McDermid. Returning home from a party in the early hours of a December morning in 1978 four St Andrew's university students stumble across a woman's body. For twenty five years they have been both witnesses and suspects in the murder although no evidence was found to link them. Now the police cold case team are reopening the case but they don't have all the evidence. Then two of the four die in suspicious circumstances. Will the real killer be revealed before all four of them are dead? Great read.