Fantastic story - narrator could be better!

The story was nothing less than I've come to expect from Val McDermid - fantastic.
Unfortunately the narrator ruined it in parts for me. He would slip into a Scottish accent when speaking for someone American and sometimes not switch from one characters voice to another when he should have - making it slightly confusing to keep up. There were a couple of times where I had to re-listen to bits to work out exactly who was speaking.

I wouldn't let that put me off listening to one of Val McDermid's books read by him again but I feel it needs to be pointed out.

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30 people found this helpful

Loved the story and the narration

I love Val’s writing, the details, the depth wide ranging of knowledge of history, forensics, the finely sketched lively characters I can identify with and the turns of phrases. Bad narration can distract or it can make a story come alive and Tom Cotcher did a fab job. Thoroughly enjoyed this.

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Enjoyable Crime Drama

I enjoyed the fact that the performance was delivered in a Scottish accent given that the story was set in Scotland. The story was captivating and well written. I enjoyed listening to it.

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Val never disappoints!

This is an excellent police procedural set in Fife when in 1978 the body of a young woman is found by four young men, Ziggy, Gilly, Weird and Mondo, who soon become suspects but the case was never solved. Twenty five years later the cold case is reopened and we found out what happened to the four men and how being suspects affected them.

The book sucked me in straight away, though the pace throughout is slow and steady and quite tense at times. There were enough red herrings to confuse me and I didn't guess who the killer was until the last minute. It's quite a long book (the audio version is more than 14 hours long) but kept my attention all the way through. Fife is perfectly described so that even though I've never been there it felt very familiar.

This is the first in the Karen Pirie series, but Karen appears very little in this book, so I look forward to learning more about her in future books.

Tom Cotcher did a good job with the narration though I had to listen at a slower speed than I usually do because of his accent.

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Great!

Really enjoyed this audio book. I read this a while back, so I knew "who done it" but it was still gripping. I love Val Mcdermid books, the characterisation is always the best part, her characters are always believable because they aren't black and white. She always gives the good and bad nuances of each character and allows you to make up your own mind about them, so you never feel patronised or told - this is how it is or who they are.
Enjoyed the narration although some of the voices were similar so I mixed up who was speaking on occasion which is why I gave it four stars instead of five.

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A story of two halves

I loved this for the first half of the book, set in the 1970s.

Waa less keen on the later section but taken together it's a decent listen.

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Great Book

This story has everything lots of twist and turns. Also read with lots of feeling. Live Val McDermid

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Best audible book so far

Having taken up audible books over the past year to while away the time on my journey to work and got through two dozen or more The Distant Echo is the best so far. The characters were all believable the narration excellent (on a par with the Rebus books) and the story never sagged. Lots more Val McDermid books to go at and hopefully more of the same

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well written and read

loved the story and narration. detailed descriptions of friends and their ways gave a realistic picture of the characters. I was immersed in it all. it is my favourite book so far ( over 50 listened to)

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Very enjoyable

I really enjoyed this novel about a group of students who are accused of a crime and how this affects their lives. A great plot that switched between two time periods and not too many characters to make things confusing. The characters well developed as was the plot and nicely narrated. This was the first Val McDermid novel for me and although a little on the long side it won't be the last

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