|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
One snowy winter night, four drunken college students stumble on the body of the dying Rosie Duff, who has been raped, stabbed, and left for dead in the ancient pictish cemetery of St. Andrews, Scotland. The boys are, of course, suspected of the crime, even though one of them, a medical student, tried to save her life. None of them can really account for their time at the party they all attended, because they had "borrowed" the automobile of their absent English roommate and were all out of the house at one time or another during the evening. Their fellow classmates suspect them. Their long-standing friendship undergoes changes, but they still all stick together, and stick to their stories. One even finds Jesus and becomes born again. 25 years later, the soon to retire Assistant Chief Constable (Crime) James Lawson, becomes head of the review of cold cases that Sam Haig, Chief Constable has called for. By using the new forensic techniques developed over the intervening decades, Haig feels that they should be able to clear many of the old open crimes from the books of the Fife constabulary before he retires. Two of the four friends die within weeks of each other. Is the murderer trying to cover his tracks or are Rosie's brothers trying to kill the 4 suspects again, as they had tried to do in 1978? This is a very slickly written book, as are all of McDermid's works. Unfortunately, I didn't find any of the characters compelling enough to care about. When Ziggy got dumped into the bottle dungeon of the castle, I gasped. When Weird is beaten up by Rosie's brothers, I hoped that someone would come and save him before he was killed. When Mondo attempted suicide, I wondered what would happen to the other 3 if he died? But I didn't really like any of them. I was also able to guess the killer, which is something I rarely do. McDermid has succeeded in writing another excellent novel of psychological suspense. Unfortunately, it's not my kind of story.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, May 2003
This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
