Val McDermid - The Distant Echo

Review by Brian Lowen on show 10th March
On a freezing night in Fife, Scotland, four drunken university students, on their way back to their lodgings after a late night party, stumble across the body of a woman in the snow. As they try, unsuccessfully to revive her they are covered in the blood from a deep stab wound. By the time the police and ambulance arrive Rosie is dead. The four students know Rosie as she was the barmaid at their local pub.

As the police investigation gets underway, our four young lads change from being witnesses to being the chief suspects.

Part one of the book is set in 1978 and deals with the police investigation of the crime led by DCI Barney Maclennan which fails to find any other suspects but there is not enough evidence to arrest the four lads.

Rosie’s two brothers, Colin and Brian Duff take matters into their own hands and try unsuccessfully to beat a confession out of the boys, being finally warned off by the police to keep out of it.

Part two of the story takes us forward to 2003. The four students have all become successful in their chosen careers, some married, but still remain firm friends and keep in touch with one another.
The police then decide to revive this cold case to seek a conviction, hopefully using new technology to nail the guilty murderer. The case is led by Asst. Chief Constable James Lawson who was the first policeman on the scene of the crime way back in 1978 when he was just a police constable.

Then the illegitimate son of Rosie (who nobody knew about – except her two brothers) appears on the scene and starts seeking revenge for the death of his Mother. Two of the four lads are killed in mysterious circumstances and the remaining two realise they are on a hit list and so set about themselves to find the murderer.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story is very gripping – when you put the book down, the story remains with you, especially as it builds up to the dramatic ending. Val McDermid brings the characters vividly to life, but I did find some of the names a bit confusing – each of the four students has a nickname so that is eight names you are dealing with. Thankfully, the nicknames are used mostly in the story. One or two subtle clues are given during the book and I was rather pleased with myself that I had managed to work out who was the murderer long before the end!

This is Val McDermid at her best but another strange title that I couldn’t connect to the story – as with Wire in the Blood.

Brian