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A review by hannahbezz
Still Life by Val McDermid
4.0
I've never read Val's work before, but i do enjoy a good crime thriller and this absolutely meets that criteria. Having never read a DC Karen Pirie novel before I was worried I'd struggle to pick up a back story or would feel I was missing something, but this wasn't the case at all.
The characters in the book are brilliantly portrayed, i felt like I could connect with them all and almost predict what their reaction to different situations would be based on their given personalities.
As the book unfolds, DC Pirie is working on two separate cases, but the way this was interleaved felt natural and easy to follow, keeping them as distinct and independent scenarios - much as i suppose it must be for real Detectives who would also not have the luxury of focusing on single cases at a time.
Val McDermid is also brilliant at concreting the story in the time it is set in, with cultural, political and geographical grounding that i felt really added something extra to the story. The brief mentions of covid (the book is primarily set in Feb 2020) felt natural and true to the time its set in, rather than gimicky, and the undercurrent of political disruption felt exactly right.
Absolutely loved this book, and would definitely recommend it to anyone!
The characters in the book are brilliantly portrayed, i felt like I could connect with them all and almost predict what their reaction to different situations would be based on their given personalities.
As the book unfolds, DC Pirie is working on two separate cases, but the way this was interleaved felt natural and easy to follow, keeping them as distinct and independent scenarios - much as i suppose it must be for real Detectives who would also not have the luxury of focusing on single cases at a time.
Val McDermid is also brilliant at concreting the story in the time it is set in, with cultural, political and geographical grounding that i felt really added something extra to the story. The brief mentions of covid (the book is primarily set in Feb 2020) felt natural and true to the time its set in, rather than gimicky, and the undercurrent of political disruption felt exactly right.
Absolutely loved this book, and would definitely recommend it to anyone!