Saturday, July 09, 2011
The Distant Echo by Val McDermid .
On a freezing Fife morning four drunken students stumble upon the body of a woman in the snow. Rosie has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in an ancient Pictish cemetery. And the only suspects are the four young men now stained with her blood.
This novel is an enjoyable read that draws you in and makes you wonder. This book has 561 pages and was written in 2003. It is a crime thriller described with a very extensive vocabulary, yet it is so easy to read. The Distant Echo deals with suspicion and how easily mud sticks. This book shows how easy it is to believe that someone is up to no good and to think badly of them. As the tale moves on, you become suspicious of all the students and new events appear to back this up. Your suspicion grows as each character has done things that make them a suspect. You then begin to wonder if one of the students did kill Rosie Duff.
The plot of The Distant Echo is very involved and well developed. You do not know which way this story is going to pan out. Val McDermid teases the reader by adding loads of information that makes sense, red herrings that lead you up the wrong path.
The meaning of the title "The Distant Echo" is explained on page 411...
He would never be able to look in the mirror and see an echo of his mother's features. He would never be aware of those strange congruences that happen in families, when a child's reactions replicate those of it's parents. He was adrift in a world without connections. The only real family he had still didn't want him.
...The Distant Echo is set in St. Andrews , a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. It is not to be confused with Melksham , a medium-sized English town, lying on the River Avon in the county of Wiltshire.
The pace of this novel is good and the ending is okay and not obvious. I will vote this book 5 stars on Good Reads because I can't fault it. No wonder Val McDermid has won so many awards for her novels as her books are a joy and so easy to read.
On a freezing Fife morning four drunken students stumble upon the body of a woman in the snow. Rosie has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in an ancient Pictish cemetery. And the only suspects are the four young men now stained with her blood.
This novel is an enjoyable read that draws you in and makes you wonder. This book has 561 pages and was written in 2003. It is a crime thriller described with a very extensive vocabulary, yet it is so easy to read. The Distant Echo deals with suspicion and how easily mud sticks. This book shows how easy it is to believe that someone is up to no good and to think badly of them. As the tale moves on, you become suspicious of all the students and new events appear to back this up. Your suspicion grows as each character has done things that make them a suspect. You then begin to wonder if one of the students did kill Rosie Duff.
The plot of The Distant Echo is very involved and well developed. You do not know which way this story is going to pan out. Val McDermid teases the reader by adding loads of information that makes sense, red herrings that lead you up the wrong path.
The meaning of the title "The Distant Echo" is explained on page 411...
He would never be able to look in the mirror and see an echo of his mother's features. He would never be aware of those strange congruences that happen in families, when a child's reactions replicate those of it's parents. He was adrift in a world without connections. The only real family he had still didn't want him.
...The Distant Echo is set in St. Andrews , a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. It is not to be confused with Melksham , a medium-sized English town, lying on the River Avon in the county of Wiltshire.
The pace of this novel is good and the ending is okay and not obvious. I will vote this book 5 stars on Good Reads because I can't fault it. No wonder Val McDermid has won so many awards for her novels as her books are a joy and so easy to read.
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Whats the next novel that you are reading about? Don't tell me, rape, torture, blood, conspiracy theory, murder, paedophilia, necrophilia etc.........
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: 9 July 2011 at 18:45
: 9 July 2011 at 18:45Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
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