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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
*3.5*
i've always measured the quality of a crime-mystery thriller by how easily i can figure out who-did-it. for example, agatha christie stands on the highest of pedestals for me just because everytime she reveals who the killer is at the end of her books, i've always been pointing at a completely different direction. not such thing with this book because me, with the greatest power of deduction and panic, figured out who the killer was. i was both shocked and happy.
now, the situation is the following one: i did enjoy this book. perhaps it started a bit roughly but, around the 40% mark, shit started to go down left and right and i was hooked . having said that, i cannot truly ignore the fact that the mystery, in the end, wasn't that good. you may think i'm being falsely humble but, trust me, i'm not. i'm terrible at this whole detective thing-- terrible i tell you. so i can tell you there's room for improvement in that department.
nonetheless, just because the mystery bit wasn't that good doesn't mean that the plot wasn't. and it really wasn't; like i said, after a while, i was hooked. all the main characters had that bit of simpathetic charm that made me care about them enough to keep on reading. and even when they were SO annoying i was done with them, the physical description ( a mop of dark hair, the kind with a wave that's almost impossble to keep looking neat. blue eyes, deep set, wide cheekbones and a full, almost feminine mouth ) kept me around just for the sake of visualising colin morgan playing him at some point. yet, this didn't not manage to spread to every single character for someone managed to sneak around by being both the main and the most secundary of them all: karen pirie.
look, if i'm picking the first book on the poirot's series, i'm expecting to meet poirot from the get go. and surprise, surprise, you do; he's there, can't really miss him. now, imagine my surprise (and i'm not sure if this qualifies as a spoiler) that the first book on the karen pirie series only features karen through the sideliness, not even appearing at the very end to miracously solve the main mystery. i assume she really comes on her own with the following books but they really should put that tiny fact on the warnings at the beginning. just saying.
i've always measured the quality of a crime-mystery thriller by how easily i can figure out who-did-it. for example, agatha christie stands on the highest of pedestals for me just because everytime she reveals who the killer is at the end of her books, i've always been pointing at a completely different direction. not such thing with this book because me, with the greatest power of deduction and panic, figured out who the killer was. i was both shocked and happy.
now, the situation is the following one: i did enjoy this book. perhaps it started a bit roughly but, around the 40% mark, shit started to go down left and right and i was hooked . having said that, i cannot truly ignore the fact that the mystery, in the end, wasn't that good. you may think i'm being falsely humble but, trust me, i'm not. i'm terrible at this whole detective thing-- terrible i tell you. so i can tell you there's room for improvement in that department.
nonetheless, just because the mystery bit wasn't that good doesn't mean that the plot wasn't. and it really wasn't; like i said, after a while, i was hooked. all the main characters had that bit of simpathetic charm that made me care about them enough to keep on reading. and even when they were SO annoying i was done with them, the physical description ( a mop of dark hair, the kind with a wave that's almost impossble to keep looking neat. blue eyes, deep set, wide cheekbones and a full, almost feminine mouth ) kept me around just for the sake of visualising colin morgan playing him at some point. yet, this didn't not manage to spread to every single character for someone managed to sneak around by being both the main and the most secundary of them all: karen pirie.
look, if i'm picking the first book on the poirot's series, i'm expecting to meet poirot from the get go. and surprise, surprise, you do; he's there, can't really miss him. now, imagine my surprise (and i'm not sure if this qualifies as a spoiler) that the first book on the karen pirie series only features karen through the sideliness, not even appearing at the very end to miracously solve the main mystery. i assume she really comes on her own with the following books but they really should put that tiny fact on the warnings at the beginning. just saying.
slow-paced
Really enjoyed this first part of the series!
Dutch review: https://elinevandm.wordpress.com/2022/01/11/de-verre-echo-van-val-mcdermid-4/
Dutch review: https://elinevandm.wordpress.com/2022/01/11/de-verre-echo-van-val-mcdermid-4/
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Excellent cold case. Not every cold case starts twenty five years after a murder is committed. McDermid gives us plenty of 1970's scenes helping us understand the main characters before shooting to present day 2003 and the beginning of the cold case investigation unit.
All that prep work makes for a page turning finale. Well done.
All that prep work makes for a page turning finale. Well done.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thrilling, unpredictable and gripping. McDermid’s writing is brilliance and her plot is riddled with clues and red herrings a plenty! She has a clear command of character and the structure of the novel is brilliance. This is the first in a crime novel series which looks like a very promising read!
Val McDermid never writes less than well. She knows her police procedure, her forensics, her journalists, her criminals, and, of course Scotland. This is billed as a Karen Pirie book (the first) but she doesn’t appear until over halfway through it and doesn’t present herself particularly well at first when she does appear. One has to hope she gets it together a bit more in subsequent books. Four young lads, university students at St. Andrew’s, stumble on the nearly dead body of a young local woman, Rosie Duff, a barmaid where they drink. They try but fail to resuscitate her, and with no other obvious suspects they are pretty much in the frame for her murder, despite never officially being more than witnesses to the crime. Rosie’s brothers disagree with the police and try their own forms of justice but are forcibly dissuaded by the police from going any further. And then, nearly 25 later, the four, now middle aged, start being murdered in turn. There’s another obvious suspect in addition to the Duff brothers. I worked out who was responsible before the end but without real evidence to support me. I will read the next in the series, A Darker Domain.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No