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    Out of Bounds
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    Out of Bounds
    Ebook460 pages8 hours

    Out of Bounds

    By Val McDermid

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    McDermid excels in putting the reader at the center of the action . . . A tightly paced mystery . . . My bones tell me we haven’t seen the last of Inspector Pirieor at least I hope not.” Janet Napolitano, Los Angeles Times on The Skeleton Road

    Internationally bestselling author Val McDermid is one of our finest crime writers, whose gripping, impeccably plotted novels have garnered millions of readers worldwide. In her latest, Out of Bounds, she delivers a riveting cold case novel featuring detective Karen Pirie.

    When a teenage joyrider crashes a stolen car and ends up in a coma, a routine DNA test reveals a connection to an unsolved murder from twenty-two years before. Finding the answer to the cold case should be straightforward. But it’s as twisted as the DNA helix itself.

    Meanwhile, Karen finds herself irresistibly drawn to another mystery that she has no business investigating, a mystery that has its roots in a terrorist bombing two decades ago. And again, she finds that nothing is as it seems.

    An enthralling, twisty read, Out of Bounds reaffirms Val McDermid’s place as one of the most dependable professionals in the mystery and thriller business.

    McDermid melds the political thriller with the police procedural for an intense novel that . . . feels both intensely personal and global . . . Karen . . . once again proves herself a formidable character worthy of her own series.”Associated Press on The Skeleton Road
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtlantic Monthly Press
    Release dateDec 6, 2016
    ISBN9780802190154
    Author

    Val McDermid

    Val McDermid is a number one bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than forty languages, and have sold over nineteen million copies. She has won many awards, including the CWA Gold Dagger the LA Times Book of the Year Award and the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for outstanding achievement. She writes full-time and divides her time between Edinburgh and East Neuk of Fife.

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    Reviews for Out of Bounds

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      Book received from NetGalleyI started this last night and enjoyed it so much I finished it today. This is the first book I have read by this author, but it won't be the last. I loved how three different crimes/problems were worked together to form one story that didn't make you wonder how they were going to solve everything in x amount of pages. I will admit I was a bit lost since I had not read the other books in this series. The book is listed as a stand alone on the author's website but is technically the 4th book in the Karen Pirie series and there are a few things that would be easier to understand if you had read the other books. I was immediately sucked in because of the setting, I love Scotland. I'm more of a fan of the cozy mysteries, however, this author will be one of the few non-cozy authors I read.
    • 5/5
      Val McDermid is simply one of the best crime writers around. I have loved every book she's written. She has a number of series. Out of Bounds is the fourth novel featuring Inspector Karen Pirie. But you could absolutely read this as a stand alone.Pirie is working cold cases. When a DNA sample from an accident victim turns up a match with a twenty two year old unsolved murder, Karen hopes for a quick solve to an old case. But it's not as straight forward as she hoped. And being Karen, she can't help but follow a case that interests her. Even when it's not hers. A terrorist bombing, also from twenty plus years ago is one she can't let go.Karen is a wonderfully flawed character, struggling to overcome her own tragedies and doubts, while still maintaining a professional demeanor. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But you can't help but be in her corner. She's fierce and driven to find answers. The mental and verbal sparring between her and her superior is such fun to read. Her partner Jason is not as quick, but they make a good team. And it's impossible not to like him.Where McDermid's books shine are in the plotting. Complex and not easily sussed out. I enjoy following the police work needed to unravel the answers, discovering the connections along with the characters. McDermid adds a nice (and timely) piece of social commentary with Karen befriending some Syrian refugees.Absolutely recommended. (As are the previous twenty nine books she's written!)
    • 5/5
      It's been a long time since I read a McDermid book, perhaps 15 years. I read a number of the early Tony Hill/Carol Jordan books but gave up after 4 or so because there seemed to be a steady ratcheting up of violence and torture. Over the past three to four years I've read so many favorable comments about McDermid that when I finally heard of the Karen Pirie series I thought I'd give it a try. I started with the 4th and most recent book, "Out of Bounds" (OB) and enjoyed it very much.I have two quick comments to make about OB and the series. I strongly recommend that the reader start at least with the previous book, "Skeleton Road" (SR), and consider going with the very first in the series, "Distant Echo" (2003). Things happen in SR that you should know about before reading OB. Secondly, I've read some plot descriptions of books in this series describing them sometimes as stand-alones; wrong, wrong, wrong - it's a series, a very good one. I wish Amazon did a better job of segmenting an author's books by series like the website fantasticfiction does, but they don't and so we need fantasticfiction and hats off to them.There are two threads here - an obvious one that grabs us in a tight grip from page one and doesn't let go. This involves some drunken joy riders and the consequences of their stupidity. But then another story line worms its way in and slowly takes over; that one is about a small plane crash twenty years ago assumed to be executed by terrorists. Karen Pirie, head of a two person cold case team develops an interest in both cases, and don't get in her way. Very current, the first book I've read with a mention of Trump and of Syrian refugees (remember, this is Scottish crime). Good story, always learning something new about DNA, good characters, good tempo. Will read at a minimum the previous book and the next one in the series. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Despite, the fact that this is quite a long novel, I managed to finished it within 24 hours of starting.It is a police procedural in which modern technology plays a considerable role: DNA testing, birth and adoption databases, mobile phone messaging, CCTV, organ transplants, just to note a few elements. So much has changed hasn't it in the last 20 years? But it doesn't necessarily make an investigation easier, just provides a few more red herrings.The story threads in this novel just keep on branching, but McDermid passes the true test of bringing them all together cohesively at the end.Karen Pirie and her offsider Jason,The Mint, are still recovering from the murder of a colleague and both are learning to operate without him. Cold Case elements intertwine seductively with modern events and as usual Pirie steps on toes in a number of other teams, as well as those of her boss.There are references which place the novel in recent days: Syrian refugees who meet at night under one of the city bridges because they have nowhere else to go, even a couple of references to Donald Trump.I thought McDermid went out of her way, for Scottish readers, to give the novel a local flavour with the use of colloquialisms, and occasional architectural descriptions.An excellent read.
    • 4/5
      Val McDermid delivers another excellent addition to her bibliography with a book featuring Karen Pirie who works cold cases but is pulled into a case with ties to the here and now.The publisher's description of the story is sufficient, and I won't bother to restate it. Ms McDermid's strength as a novelist seems to lie in her ability to make her characters accessible and understandable to outsiders, while still fitting into and being good examples of their specific, and sometimes peculiar, cultures.I received a review copy of "Out of Bounds (Karen Pirie)" by Val McDermid (Grove Atlantic) through NetGalley.com.
    • 4/5
      My first review of the mew year, though I did finish reading this a few days back. What I love about this author is her tightly constructed plots, her great writing, identifiable characters and her consistent pacing. She has never let me down, and still hasn't.Karen Pirie, Police Scotland, cold case division, has suffered a tragic loss and is still trying to find an even keel. When the police get a hit of familial DNA , after a car accident that leaves two dead, one in hospital, it connects back to a twenty year old unsolved murder and rape. Karen's area of expertise and she and her partner are off, pulling records, making connections, as always hindered by those above her who are jealous of her successes. Eventually, a young man's supposed suicide will find her involved in a second case, with dangerous implications.It is easy for me to like this character, she is real, her actions and reactions not always spot on, but she cares, greatly and will do what she can to right a wrong. Not afraid to stick her neck out. Her support network is interesting too, how she puts things together, who she reached out too and the connections she makes. A very good series, not edge of your seat exciting but solid police work.ARC from Netgalley.
    • 5/5
      Enjoyed the twists and turns of this tale tremendously! Who doesn't love a really well executed (double) murder mystery!
    • 5/5
      Val McDermid's excellent crime novels continue to draw me in and to ensure that I will be reading her books for years to come.This book, number four in the DCI Karen Pirie series (although only the second I've read), sees Karen beginning to move on after the sudden death of her live-in partner - or "bidie-in", a quaint Scottish term that I love. She and Jason are the two remaining members of the historical crimes unit, which brings Jason and Karen to an odd remit. A man, Gabriel Abbott, has been found dead on a bench. He has either been murdered or committed suicide - it's hard to tell - and for the sake of ease, the police force has chosen to view the death as suicide. There's less of a complicated investigation for suicides. Karen isn't convinced. She thinks that Gabriel's death is related to a bombed plane 20 years earlier, attributed to the IRA, although Karen isn't convinced of that either. It is an extremely tangled web they must unweave in order to find out who deceived.I really like Karen. She's a gutsy woman, sarcastic, difficult, loyal, intelligent - someone I'd want as my team leader and my best friend. She's very funny, and she brooks no patronizing or fools. Her relationship with her co-worker, Jason, is very well written. He's not the brightest star in the firmament, but he works hard, and he's learning, and Karen is discovering that he makes a mighty fine colleague if she is patient with him and if she assigns him work that allows him to succeed. Slowly a friendship is forming there, and it is one of my favourite parts of this book, watching them take those steps towards trust.I'm going to track down the first two books in this series and read them, and perhaps re-read volumes 3 & 4. They're infinitely worth the time. Val McDermid may be the best crime novelist in the English-speaking world today, and I plan to read the rest of her works.
    • 4/5
      I enjoy this series, with detective Karen Pirie. The books (2 out of 4) I've read have had complex plots and, for me, the setting (Scotland) adds a little extra interest from the usual police procedural. I've found that they stand up well as stand-alones if you happen to read them out of order. I am inclined to want to read the other 2 now.
    • 5/5
      I'm glad I persisted with this series, as this instalment was excellent. The cold cases Karen investigates are not unconvincingly linked by the end (thankfully), and the resolution to each of them was realistic.I do enjoy her encounters with the Macaroon.
    • 4/5
      Val McDermid never fails to amaze me with her seemingly endless capacity to write well-plotted, page-turning stories, with characters who are convincing and whose main characters, however flawed, always strive to deliver justice. Having read the previous three books in this series I was delighted to yet again spend time in the company of DCI Karen Pirie and her side-kick in the Historic Cases Unit, DC Jason "the Mint" Murray. I love the way in which the author develops her characters over a series of books and I particularly liked the fact that she is allowing Jason, not the brightest of characters, to slowly show a different side of himself in this latest story he showed he has potential! Not only are all the trademark twists and turns of McDermid's stories, as well as her credible integration of police procedural aspects of investigations evident in this book, but she managed to introduce current social and political issues (refugees and immigration legislation) in a way which felt integral to the story in so far as these are situations which face police officers in today's society.She always manages to introduce notes of humour and lightness in even the most disturbing of her novels - in this one I particularly enjoyed being introduced to the vast selection of gins available in the UK! I hope it won't be too long before the next investigation for Karen Pirie!
    • 5/5
      I always look forward to Val McDermid's work, and "Out of Bounds" doesn't disappoint.
    • 4/5
      While I found the last Karen Pirie novel to be a little rocky, this one knocked my socks off -- Karen is back, in her off-kilter, off-the-wall, out of bounds detectoring. Pissing of the higher-ups, cleverly getting out the worst trouble, keeping her smart mind rolling and working through all the pain she can. Satisfying.
    • 4/5
      Val McDermid is an excellent writer, but at times her murders have been seen as excessively violent, and despite her vow not to write only lesbian thrillers, heterosexuals are in alarmingly short supply in some of her books. Neither too gory or ‘too gay’, Out of Bounds shows Val at her best: a teenage thief is in a coma, and DNA analysis shows he is the son of a murderer from a 20-year-old cold case. Simple, yes? No, the boy was adopted, and Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie of Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit is battling to find his real father. She is also investigating a suicide she is convinced is a murder, with the answer in an explosion from 1994 – allegedly a terrorist bomb. Karen is not convinced, and soon realises the killer is still out there, and she may be his next target…
    • 4/5
      DCI Karen Pirie is still suffering from the recent lost of her policeman husband, Phil. She’s taken to late night long walks in the hopes that they would tire her out enough to enable her to fall asleep. It is on one of these walks that she meets of group of Syrian refugees warming their hands over a barrel with fire.When Ross Garvie overturns his stolen Range Rover, killing his three mates and putting himself in a coma, his DNA comes up with a ‘familial match’ to the 20 year old unsolved brutal rape and murder of Tina McDonald. Unfortunately, there are hindrances to DCI Pirie pursuing the owner of the original DNA, one of which being Ross’ comatose condition.Gabriel Abbott, a man who has ‘issues’ is found dead on a park bench, a bullet in his head and the murder weapon in his hand. While the angle he would have had to use in order to kill himself is awkward, after some investigation the death is ruled a suicide. Although, not her case, Pirie can’t get the idea out of her head that Gabriel’s death is somehow related to the death of his mother, over 20 years earlier, when the small plane she was flying in blew up, disintegrating it and the three other passengers.Out of Bounds, this third Karen Pirie outing (I didn’t know there were two others) is an arresting read (pun intended). Pirie and her one assistant, Jason “the Mint” Murray, tackle complex issues regarding dissemination of DNA information, try to accumulate more than circumstantial evidence in their investigations, and go against their fellow police officers and her superior officer in order to get at the truth. The ensemble cast of characters, although typical (the rogue Pirie, the inept Noble, the antagonistic Chief Superintendent Lees (aka the Macaroon) and the faithful sidekick “the Mint”) keep the story moving forward nicely.All in all, Out of Bounds is a good read and, while I may not go back and read the first two books in the series, I will continue reading the series as more books are published.P.S. This book stands nicely on its own.
    • 4/5
      As the book opens, we find DCI Karen Pirie of the Historical Cases Unit still reeling from the recent loss of her partner. By day she buries herself in cold cases & spends her nights walking the streets of Edinburgh. So when she gets news of a modern link to an old case, she gratefully digs in. DNA from the driver involved in a recent car crash is a familial match to a sample from a 20 year old unsolved rape. All they have to do is track down & test older male relatives. Easy, right? Well….there’s a hitch. In alternate chapters we meet Gabriel Abbott, a young man with mental health issues. He suffers from periodic episodes of paranoia & has always been a solitary guy. When he was a child his mother was killed in a plane crash that was unofficially blamed on the IRA. Now he lives alone in Kinross & carefully follows a daily routine until the morning he’s found dead on a park bench.This instalment has all we’ve come to expect from this series…..snappy dialogue, intricate plotting, atmospheric settings & well drawn characters. But it’s also a deeply personal story as it shines a light on Pirie’s struggle to accept the loss of her beloved Phil. She copes by staying in perpetual motion. In addition to her own cases, she sticks her nose into current investigations that are loosely related in an effort to keep busy. Inevitably this ruffles some feathers but then that’s always been one of Pirie’s “gifts”. ACC Simon Lees returns as the boss from hell who would like nothing better than to make her someone else’s problem. And DC Jason Murray is back as a young copper who’s not exactly the sharp end of a stick but takes direction well. Methods employed to solve historical cases give the author a chance to showcase her vast knowledge of forensics. Multiple story lines ensure a brisk pace that makes for a quick, satisfying read. This is a kinder, gentler series than McDermid’s Tony Hill/Carol Jordan books & I’ve always harboured a sneaky suspicion that Pirie is her alter ego (Go Rovers!).
    • 4/5
      Out of Bounds is the fourth book in the DCI Karen Pirie series. Pirie is in charge of Scotland's historical cases unit, or HCU, so her focus lies with cold cases. But as so often happens in real life, the past and present are tied together and it’s sometimes difficult to separate the two.The story begins with a drunken Ross Garvie deciding to steal a car and take three of his friends along on a joyride, which turns into a high-speed police chase. Garvie ends up wrecking the car, killing his friends and ending up in a coma. As is the case in Scotland, DNA is taken from Garvie and put into the criminal database. A familial hit is found in the rape and murder of Tina McDonald some 22 years earlier. Since Garvie is only 17, an adult male relative quickly becomes the main suspect in this cold case, and the HCU re-opens the investigation.Karen Pirie likes to joke that she is attached to the historical cases unit. In reality, she and her assistant are the HCU. Karen is a flawed character, which lends to her realism and at the same time endears her to the reader. She is having trouble dealing with the death of her lover Phil Parhatka, also a police officer, who was killed in the line of duty. For anyone who has ever lost a loved one, it is easy to empathize with her. As a result of her grief, Pirie suffers severe insomnia and walks the streets in an attempt to physically tire herself out and sleep from sheer exhaustion. She is also a very dedicated police officer, and once on a case she is determined to see it through to the end and avenge those who can no longer speak for themselves. Pirie is also a polarizing character and is either loved or hated by others. She is constantly at odds with her supervisor, who she refers to as the Macaroon. In short, she is a believable and likable character.What seemed like an easy collar hits several snags and gives credence to the story, as real life is rarely a simple prospect. The Garvie case leads to a current murder investigation, which in turn leads to another cold case murder. Two of the cases are closed while the third is not brought to trial due to a lack of evidence, although Karen is convinced she knows who committed the murder. While I would have liked the perpetrator brought to justice, real life does not always turn out that way.I liked Val McDermid's writing style. She describes the settings very well and I felt like I was actually there. Also, as previously mentioned, the story and characters mimicked real life and could very well appear in today's headlines. I have not read a lot of Scottish novels and it took a while to get used to the slang, but it did not detract from my enjoyment. Unlike many contemporary novels, there was a minimal amount of profanity used, and there were no explicit sex scenes. All things considered, I would give this a solid 4.5 star rating. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and I think it was well worth my time. This was the first book by Val McDermid that I have read, but it definitely will not be my last.I would like to thank Val McDermid, Grove Atlantic, and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book. I voluntarily accepted this on a no obligation basis, and did not guarantee a review or that any review would be positive.
    • 5/5
      Cold-case investigator DCI Karen Pirie is back and is now working from an office in Edinburgh. Out of Bounds features two cases, one which is officially Karen’s and which is based in Glasgow area, and another which she can’t help getting involved in which has national and even international elements.McDermid always writes great page-turners (I had some issues with the plot of the last Karen Pirie novel, The Skeleton Road, but still couldn’t resist giving it 4 stars). This one brings all the elements together to make a great mystery that keeps you wondering to the end.Another of her strengths is sense of place. I used to live in Edinburgh so it was great to revisit specific streets and buildings through Karen’s eyes. I particularly like that McDermid shows the workings of the Scottish legal system, resisting the pressure some authors have felt to Anglicise legal terminology, as Karen negotiates her way through cases. The book also highlights wider political and cultural issues, whether it’s the recently formed Police Scotland, the power of the media, or the challenges faced by Syrian refugees.The thing that makes it for me though is the characters. Karen is tough and clever and compassionate and sometimes a bit impulsive and daft. I like her evolving relationship with her hapless sidekick The Mint and her endless run-ins with her manager. But this is no clichéd maverick. Karen knows the system and her extensive network of contacts, many of whom recur in the series, are interesting characters in their own right.I hope we hear more from them soon.*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.
    • 4/5
      I have always enjoyed Val McDermid’s novels, and have always wondered how she manages to be so prolific without letting the quality slip. This latest book once again features the resourceful Detective Chief inspector Karen Pirie, who heads up Police Scotland’s Historical Crimes Unit, reviewing so called ‘cold cases’, and demonstrates McDermid’s facility for interlacing different plot lines to great effect.The book opens with some young men from Fife on a lads’ might out which, after too many drinks, ends up with one of them hot-wiring a car and taking them for a high speed jaunt. Needless to say, this misadventure ends tragically with three of the men dead and one left comatose. Just another sordid and all too frequent a story, except that a routine DNA sample from one of them shows a link to traces left at the scene of a vicious rape and murder fourteen years ago. This sparks off a new case, or, rather, a new investigation into a very old case for DCI Pirie’s team.Meanwhile, in the small town of Kinross in Fife a man is found dead in a local park. As the victim was known for his occasional periods of depression and social dislocation, as well as a recurring obsession with conspiracy theories, the local police are inclined to dismiss the death as suicide. Becoming apprised of the death by chance, DCI Pirie is not convinced, especially when she learns that the dead man’s mother had herself been the victim of a sensational murder twenty years ago. As DCI Pirie keeps reminding us, murder doesn’t run in families … does it?To my mind the great strength of McDermid’s books is the compassionate hinterland that she bestows upon her characters, which adds to their credibility. Karen Pirie has featured in two previous novels and, as this one starts, is still mourning the death of her lover. Her grief leaves her suffering from insomnia which in turn drives her to walk some of the backways of Edinburgh by night. On one of her forays she comes across a gathering of Syrian refugees standing around a brazier on some wasteland. Meeting them again a few times she learns that they meet in this unlikely setting as it offers the only opportunity for them to gather in peace simply to socialise, and remember what they have left behind. Pirie resolves to try to help them. She is, however, far from being too good to be true, and all too readily lets her exasperation break through, especially towards her assistant, though he would probably try the patience of genuine saints, too.Like so many of McDermid’s other strong, engaging characters, Pirie is a great networker. Her contacts are spread far and wide, and she calls on them as required. She is not a superwoman, but she is an accomplished, conscientious and professional detective, who knows how to play the game, and knows when, and when not, to push her luck. Beset by an ignorant and inadequate boss (and I think we all know how that works), she repeatedly runs rings around him, leaving the reader cheering her on.The plot, or rather, plots, go through sinuous twists and turns, but McDermid never loses control. Very accomplished crime writing from McDermid, yet again.
    • 5/5
      4.5 stars

      So happy I made this my first McDermid book. Very well-written. The characters were believable and I don't recall any BS moments. So many strong, capable women!

      I'm going to miss Karen. I definitely recommend this one.