A review by alibi313
The Distant Echo by Val McDermid

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

When I began reading, I anticipated giving this book a 4⭐️ review, even though the killer was telegraphed within the first 25 pages. The writing and characters were interesting enough that I wanted to know where it would take me. However, once the book hit the halfway mark, I began to lose faith in the writer’s abilities to deliver a satisfying narrative. She began giving me glimpses of the action through the eyes of the killer, with absolutely no reasonable motives for anything they were doing. Endless red herrings and dubious suspects didn’t ever obfuscate who the culprit was; it just made that character’s behavior ridiculously unbelievable. And the final chapter info dump that supposedly explained it all was wholly inadequate.