Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but flawed book
Review: As a reader of mysteries who does her best not to figure out who did it, I found this novel disappointing--it was far too easy to guess the murderer. And once I had figured that out, the defects in the characterization of the quartet of witness/suspects become more glaring; the four seemed increasingly to be designed to exemplify contrasting elements rather than to develop as real people. McDermid's Place of Execution was a far more affecting book. For Scottish mysteries, I still prefer Ian Rankin and Denise Mira.
Rating: 
Summary: The Distant Echo
Review: At four o'clock in the morning in December of 1978, four students from St. Andrews School in Scotland stumble across the bloodied body of barmaid Rosie Duff. She is still alive, if barely, and the fastest of the students, Alex Gilbey, runs off through the blinding snow to find help. He eventually staggers up to a police car, covered himself in Rosie's blood and soaked in sweat, looking, he is uncomfortably aware, more like a man guilty of murder than a respectable citizen reporting a crime. Sure enough, in the absence of other suspects, Gilbey and his friends, the self-styled "Laddies fi' Kirkcaldy," are suspected of the murder--Rosie dies shortly after the boys find her--though definitive proof of their guilt is never uncovered.The murder investigation of 1978 and its repercussions for the four students are the subject of the first part of The Distant Echo. The second part opens twenty-five years later, when Rosie's murder is reinvestigated as part of a cold case review. Modern forensic techniques such as DNA analysis will, it is to be hoped, finally exonerate Gilbey and his friends and bring the real killer to light. But, of course, things don't go as smoothly as one would like for the Laddies fi' Kirkcaldy.... It is a measure of McDermid's success that one cannot be at all confident about the identity of Rosie's killer until it is revealed at the book's end. Until then even the unlikeliest of suspects seem as if they just might have committed the crime. The Distant Echo is tense--I read the last 120 pages or so in one sitting, it being impossible not to do so--and its complex characters well drawn. I am not convinced that in the end the motivation of the killer makes perfect sense, but my niggling doubts are far outweighed by my appreciation of the good read McDermid has given us.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Thriller
Review: Award winning British author Val McDermid chronicles a murder at St. Andrews, Scotland in 1978 and the long-lasting effects twenty-five years later. Returning home from a late night party in St. Andrews, college students Tom, Alex, David, and Sigmund, stumbled over the snow and onto the blood-soaked body of Rosie Duff, a barmaid at a local pub. Though medical student, Sigmund "Ziggy" tried to staunch the flow of blood, Rosie was dead by the time Alex returned with help. While the narrative may seem lengthy, every bit of it shows how the discovery of Rosie's body caused the lives of these four men to spiral out of control, never to be the same again. Ziggy's homosexuality is revealed, causing a rift with his friends David and Tom. Tom finds salvation and later becomes a minister. Alex seeks solace with David's younger sister, Lynn, whom he later marries. David later marries a much younger Helene and distances himself from his family. And at the crux of this fractured friendship is the thought that each man believes that one of the others may have been responsible for murdering Rosie. Fast-forward twenty-five years, when two of the four friends are killed under suspicious circumstances. Though Alex suspects that someone is taking revenge for Rosie's murder, he cannot convince the former officer assigned to the case, Jimmy Lawson, that his family's lives are in danger. Racing against the clock to find the true identity of Rosie's killer before any more murders are committed, he encounters many obstacles, the least of which is the fact that evidence relating to Rosie's murder has mysteriously disappeared. The ever present suspense constantly leaves the reader guessing and wondering as to the identity of Rosie's killer. And while the revenge killings twenty-five years later seem very cut and dry, nothing is truly as its seems. Ms. McDermid has spun a very twisted tale, the culmination of which will leave the reader stunned in this expertly crafted thriller.
Rating:
Summary: HIGHLY LISTENABLE ENTERTAINMENT
Review: Following on the heels of her acclaimed mystery "A Place of Execution" British writer Val McDermid offers an equally compelling story based on a 25-year-old unsolved murder. Talented voice performer Gerard Doyle gives an outstanding reading of this tale, spicing it with proper amounts of chill and suspense. A quarter of a century ago four male students, much the worse for drink, staggered toward home through snowy Scotland. They are friends and all enrolled at St. Andrews School. Their nocturnal journey is interrupted by the discovery of a young woman's body - Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead. Of course, the prime suspects are the four young men. Rosie's family is convinced of their guilt, still no one is charged for her murder. Seque ahead to the present day when the use of DNA evidence enables law enforcement officials to solve decades old crimes. However, there's more than crime solving going on here as one of the original foursome dies in a house fire. Soon, a second loses his life in what looks like a botched burglary. The remaining pair know they must solve the cold-case before they are also killed. For mystery fans "The Distant Echo" is highly listenable entertainment. - Gail Cooke
Rating: 
Summary: Longish and boring
Review: How many times have we readers been confronted with this boring pattern: the dead body of a young woman found in the night ... and 482 pages later finally we get to know who killed her. Something ideal for the insomniacs! There are many more original thrillers on the market.
Rating: 
Summary: Slower pace that I suprisingly enjoy
Review: I generally like the faster paced books but I make an exception for Val McDermid's stand alone novels The Distant Echo and A Place of Execution. I really enjoy the atmosphere created in her writing. I have not been able to get into her series books but these two are definitely worth picking up.
Rating: 
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: I read The Place of Execution which was absolutely terrific, a must read. Immediately followed up with this one; what a huge disappointment! The book was extremely dull and I couldn't wait to finish. I continued reading only because I had put so much time into it (400+ pages) and thought it had to get better.
Rating:
Summary: McDermid does it again!
Review: I think that Carol Howell's review in Iloveamysterynewsletter.com says it all much better than I ever could. Her mysteries are intelligent, as well as mesmerizing. I look forward to more stand-alones from Scotland's finest import. "Four college chums drunkenly heading home after a holiday bash in St Andrews, Scotland, stumble across a body. A local barmaid, Rosie Duff, has been raped, stabbed and left to bleed to death on a snow-covered hill, and the quartet are the most likely suspects from the moment that they report their grim discovery. Could one of them have done it? Each suffers the anguish of being accused and convicted in the minds of local gossips, and several are brutalized at the hands of the Duff brothers, determined to get vengeance for their young sister's barbaric murder. Twenty-five years later, this unsolved crime is slated to be re-opened by the local police, one of many to be re-examined in light of new forensic techniques available. The four pals have drifted apart, yet retained some of the connections forged in their pre-college days when they were avid music lovers and wannabe musicians, and gave each other schoolboy nicknames: Ziggy, Gilly, Mondo and Weird. Despite their middle-aged respectability and achievements -- medicine, business, academia and religion -- each cringes when remembering the pain of suspicion and vilification. Old crimes beget new ones, and watching the unraveling of old lies and secrets is fascinating in McDermid's capable hands. She's created a chilling and chilly mood piece with the veneer of a procedural. A fat hardback with deceptively large print that turns into a page-turner 'til the ultimate, satisfying conclusion. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED."
- Carol Howell, Iloveamysterynewsletter.com
Rating:
Summary: Simply superb
Review: In 1978 St. Andrews, Scotland, four intoxicated students stumble home at four in the morning while snow heavily falls. However, they sober up rather quickly when they stumble over the raped and murdered body of Rosie Duff. Though everyone especially the victim's siblings believe that the drunken male quartet killed her, no proof exists and thus no one is charged with the homicide. Twenty-five years later, forensic science has advanced to the point that the Scottish police reconsider this cold case. Instead of rejoicing that perhaps Rosie's killer is identified, the reopening of the investigation sets off someone seeking revenge against the four former students, who remain haunted by that deadly discovery. Two of them, Sigmund Malkewicz and Davy Kerr, suddenly die in what look like accidents, but their deaths sends a shiver up the spines of the surviving pair. Alex Gilbey and Tom Mackie become determined to learn the truth about the murder a quarter of a century ago and the two killings of their friends because they fear they are next. On the other hand, Assistant Chief Constable James Lawson wants them to stay out while he tries to solve the murder as homage to his former superior, Detective Investigator Barney Maclennan, who died during the 1978 investigation. Part one takes place in 1978 is brilliantly designed so that the audience wonders who killed Rosie. Part Two occurs in 2003 is well written with an intriguing and plausible ending. The contrasting police procedural story lines enable the audience to see how far forensics has come in a relative short period while entertaining the audience with a strong two in one novel that ties nicely together. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Val McDermid's Best Book to Date
Review: In December 1978, around four in the morning, in the middle of a heavy snowstorm, a group of graduate students leave their favorite pub. They're singing and arguing and horsing around when Alex loses his footing. His fall however is broken by something soft. When his vision clears and he has his wits about him, he realizes he has just fallen on top of a woman's body. Ziggy, the pre-med student, sobers up immediately as he recognizes the bleeding woman. She is Rosie Duff, the barmaid, who has been a friendly comfort to the boys for as long as they have known her. She is still alive, but barely. The group is in the middle of snow-covered landscape with no signs of life anywhere. Alex sets out to find help and eventually comes across a young cop, who listens to Alex's fantastic story with suspicion and skepticism. But by the time they reach the scene, Rosie is dead. The four students are the most likely suspects in her brutal killing. Over the next few days the police subject each of them to intense interrogations. None of them are prepared for the force of prejudgment and personal attacks inflicted by the townspeople. Finally, they are released; they go home for the holidays, but their ordeal is far from over. No charges are ever brought against the four friends. They get their degrees and move on with their lives, but each of them is haunted by the events of that winter night twenty-five years ago. Then in November 2003, a decision is made to open old cold case files and Rosie Duff's is one of the most troubling. Things have changed for the detectives who originally investigated her murder. Some have retired, some have died and some have gone on to promotion after promotion. Most of the current force, old enough to remember Rosie, feel that they have a second chance to get the fractious four. One in particular has them in his sights and is determined to bring them to justice. Then Ziggy, who has made his home in America, dies in an arson fire. Alex and only one of the "four" attend the funeral; there they both admit that they are uneasy about the circumstances under which their friend died. They promise to stay in touch. Soon, they learn that another member of their group has been murdered. Suddenly the two who are left realize that they and their families are targets of a killer. THE DISTANT ECHO is Val McDermid's best book to date. She has written a mystery that is a full-blown whodunit with believable characters and a chilling eeriness. Each bit of information, each new clue, each new idea fits together with perfect symmetry. Readers will be hooked immediately to the complexities of the murder investigation, the impact it has on everyone attached to the case, and how corrupt officials have the power to twist the truth while contaminating the evidence. In her own inimitable style, McDermid has written a masterful novel that will haunt readers long after the crimes are solved. --- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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