The Distant Echo by Val McDermid - Review

 

I picked this book up in The Bookish Type in Leeds at their sale which I went to in the summer of 2023 I think. I got tons of books there and I'm trying to get through them! I think this was in the sale section for just a pound, which is a bargain! I always enjoy Val McDermid and I'm glad that the queer bookshop sells her stuff! 

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book, and I also read that it's the first book concerning the detective Karen Pirie (as you can see on the cover). I thought it would have more Karen in it but she's barely there - which I actually quite liked and I think it really worked for the narrative. 

It's a book in two parts. The first part takes place in 1978. Four friends - the Laddies fi' Kirkcaldy - are are university in St Andrews and they've been to a house party and are walking back to their shared house when one of them, Alex Gilbey, trips over the body of a woman they kind of know. She's a barmaid in one of the pubs they like to visit, and Alex has had a bit of a crush on her. She's alive, but barely. One of the boys tries to save her while Alex goes off to find the police. When he gets back with a local patrol officer, James Lawson, the girl, Rosie, has died. 

The four boys do have something to hide, as they nicked the car belonging to one of their housemates, but they didn't kill Rosie. But suspicions fall upon them and it's hard to shake these accusations off. The four lads have been friends since high school and have a strong bond. 

There's Sigmund, aka Ziggy. He's gay, but only Alex knows it. There's Alex, who asked Rosie to the house party that evening. There's Weird, who likes taking mind altering drugs. And there's Mondo, who did take the car out for a while at the party. Alex isn't sure whether to suspect any of his friends or not. He doesn't want to, but the police investigation peters out. All the boys go through some big stuff. They are threatened by Rosie's brothers, Brian and Colin, until the police warn them off. 

Then it's 2003, twenty five years later. Alex and his wife are expecting their first baby. Ziggy is living in America with his husband, Paul. I won't spoil what Weird is up to. Mondo has kind of drifted up from the others. Rosie's case is reopened by a cold case team, and Karen Pirie is heading up the investigation. But most of the evidence has gone missing, meaning that new forensic methods can't be used to try to finally get the killer. Then Ziggy dies in odd circumstances, and it's all back open for Alex and the others.

I really liked the book. The first half in 1978 felt very modern. I did think there were a couple of anachronisms, but I could mostly forgive them because the writing is just so good. The second half, weirdly, feels further away from now. Things like the fact that not everyone was carrying their mobile phone at all times and they still used landlines. It just seemed so weird when realy 2003 doesn't feel that long ago. That's when the book was written, by the way, it's not a more modern one that Val has placed completely in the past. 

I would read more in the Karen Pirie series, especially if they're not 'typical' detective novels like this one isn't. I'm giving it five out of five.