DCI Karen Pirie is a dedicated, determined and wonderfully flawed protagonist. I have a soft spot for this Detective and enjoyed her strengths and weaknesses because they made her believable. I liked that she was not afraid to question/challenge her colleagues, no matter their rank. I also enjoyed her vulnerabilities which were the foundations of her dedication and ability to get the job done. I felt her loss in terms of her partner, Phil and how she placed herself in risky situations – almost taunting someone to do something so she could be with Phil – knowing the she would fight for survival if anyone were to dare. I loved the authenticity of the police work and hierarchy within this novel. The process and forensics fascinated me and reminded me of a few real life cases I had read about in University involving familial DNA. Awesome! The Historic Crime Unit / cold cases interest me too, so learning that this was the focus of this book…well I just may have Eeeeeek’d!! Karen as a character, well, you can’t help but dig in deep right alongside her – her way of dealing with personal tragedy, her way of rampaging through the white noise towards the truth of the matter and her ever growing relationships with those around her just give a hugely gripping anchor to the wider narrative, where in the mystery elements Val McDermid gives your brain a work out.

A decent plot that is not straight forward but excellently told and there are the usual twists and turns that make the difference between average thrillers and very good ones. Karen’s character is the reason to read this series- there’s just something about her that seems so real. She is intelligent, strong, and complex with a bit of snark mixed in, and I especially love her relationship with Jason (aka “The Mint”). McDermid balances the intense character studies in Out of Bounds with an inside view of the Scottish legal system and again shows her acuity in producing intelligent thrillers.”— Associated Press Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie, leading the Cold Case Unit has stumbled upon a small plane crash some 20 years ago with all four passengers killed. Forward to current day and it appears the son of one of the victims either committed suicide or was murdered. Karen is also involved in another cold case of a young girl who was brutally murdered with no suspects in sight until DNA emerges from a crash victim. The same clues will be offered many times throughout the chapters, along with forcing the reader to try to understand why other officials in both cases want Karen to stop all the investigating work. Val McDermid has many fans that enjoy her style of writing.I marvelled at the volume of information divulged in each case,the myriad twists and turns and how the cases were resolved,in their own unique way,although not to everyone's satisfaction. 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. The story itself, is complex, a series of almost perfectly timed coincidental meetings which lead Karen to the two cold cases that form the focus of the story. Alongside that, there is a strong social commentary on the condition and terms under which Syrian refugees are accommodated or perhaps more aptly, tolerated, in current society. There is an almost inevitable feeling of where that part of the story will lead, and I wasn’t surprised to see it head there, as sure and true as the Restalrig Railway Path on which it took place. But this was perhaps the only predictable part of the story, the rest of it branching off as series of possibilities, with any one of a number of possible resolutions to the two sordid tales. Scottish crime writer Val McDermid’s 30th novel, is a suspenseful thriller called Out of Bounds, with Little, Brown – AVAILABLE NOW!

Karen Pirie and her colleague Jason,the duo who make up the Historic Case Unit,face the daunting task of unearthing new evidence in the Tina McDonald case,a twenty year old murder/ sexual assault that,as yet,remains unsolved. The first chapter of this book features a group of teens who’ve been out drinking, stealing a car, and joyriding themselves to a fatal accident. 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 Pirie – or at least I hope not. THE AUTHOR: Val McDermid is a popular Scottish author who was born on June 04, 1955 in Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom. She is particularly famous for writing all her novels in the Mystery, crime and Thriller genres.Often at the end of the day, she knew there was no point in stripping to the skin and sliding between cool sheets. She would only lie stiff as a corpse, thoughts of murder running in her head, frantic hamsters on a wheel. The Hook - Val McDermid is one of my adopted authors at my hometown public library. I really love the stand-alones and non-fiction McDermid writes but have dipped in and out of her series for years. McDermid is an outstanding author who may just be the Queen of Crime after having lost Ruth Rendell and P.D. James. Aye. We got a hit on the DNA database. I don't pretend to understand these things, but it wasn't a direct hit. Well, it couldn't have been, because it ties in with a twenty-year-old murder and this laddies only seventeen.' The rustle of paper. 'Apparently it's what they call a familial hit. Whoever left his semen all over a rape murder victim in Glasgow twenty years ago was a close male relative of a wee Dundee gobshite called Ross Garvie.'

I never spook myself, says top Scots crime writer Val McDermid". Daily Record. 31 August 2016 . Retrieved 25 October 2016. Out of Bounds is the fourth book to be realised in the Karen Pirie detective series – a DCI who is head of Police Scotland’s historic cases unit. I started off wondering if I had the right book and it wasn't until I was a little way in did I realise what a brilliant way Val Mcdermid had dealt with the death of Karen Pirie's significant other. I have nothing but praise for Val mcDermid over this. In this book 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. Inspector Karen Pirie whose job it is to solve cold crimes leads the investigation that should be straightforward but soon finds out that this is not the case. While investigating Karen is drawn in by another unsolved case that is being investigated by a colleague, a mystery that is linked to a terrorist bombing two decades ago. And again, she finds that nothing is as it seems.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. DCI Karen Pirie and her colleague DC Jason ‘The Mint’ Murray make up Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit, based in Edinburgh. When a teenage joyrider ends up in hospital, a routine DNA analysis finds a link to a twenty year old unsolved murder. Karen, still grieving the loss of her lover and colleague Phil, needs the distraction of work, but also can’t resist getting involved in a recent investigation when she discovers the dead man’s mother was also murdered years earlier. With her senior officer just waiting to catch her out, Karen doesn’t hesitate to bend, if not break the rules, and call on her network of clever friends, to get to the truth - but someone is just as determined to stop her... Readers will easily connect with Karen, whose unwavering confidence is tempered by a strong dose of kindness and sense of justice . . . Satisfying investigative detail, swift pacing, and realistic mysteries steeped in the intricacies of Scottish law; a sure fit for fans of Tana French and of Denise Mina’s Alex Morrow series.”― Booklist (starred review) The sense of place, not only Edinburgh, but much of Scotland, is very strong in this novel. I read novels set in various places hoping to get a feeling for the setting and the people who inhabit it. McDermid excels at this here. Close attention to the geography of Edinburgh, the streets that Pirie covers in her insomniac nightly walks, is one detail I appreciated. Police in Scotland, as in Ireland, and England, don't always work in the places where they were raised. As a result, Pirie is aware that this officer is from Dundee, as he talks in a distinct way. Another police officer's Glasgow accent gives him away. The narrator shifts accents, and though I don't actually know how accurate these accents are, it certainly adds to the texture of the narration, as does McDermid's attention to the diversity of Scottish talk, and the importance of geography. The latest case belonged to Inspector Detective Noble. An apparent suicide of one of the sons whose mother was killed on board that ill fated plane. Karen's idea of a professional detective did not include Noble. Although officially this wasn't Karen's case she decided to do her own bit of investigation. This may not sit well with Chief Constable Simon Lees but that never stopped Karen when she had her mind set on finding answers that others had overlooked.

What superlatives are there left to describe the phenomenon that is the multi award-winning McDermid? . . . Told with McDermid's legendary verve and eye for detail, it grabs the reader by the throat and never lets go.”― Daily Mail (UK) In terms of plot, structure and style, well come on….we are dealing with Val McDermid, THE Queen of Crime Writing so needless to say, this book was perfectly paced for a Historic Crime Unit’s case – a gradual build up that has you hooked from the get go! With various threads and a complexity that is intriguing yet easy to follow, the reader is drawn in and then #Boom – hit with twists that will keep you guessing! In terms of supporting characters, you cannot help but like Jason ‘the Mint’ Murray, the bumbling and perhaps generally intellectually challenged DC who works alongside her in the cold case unit. He is vulnerable, unbelievably naïve and yet has the heart of gold and an underlying amount of respect, and fear, for Karen. Their partnership is unorthodox, yin and yang, and yet it works perfectly. Each book in this series is driven by Karen. She’s been well developed, shown growth and depth, and matured. She’s not the only character to do so, though. Jason “the Mint” Murray is another wonderful character who has grown and is devoted to Karen. At the end of chapter 3, I’m told I’m reading about DCI Karen Pirie, and then I remember what happened in the last book. I re-read the chapter because it defines who Karen is now. This is one reason why I enjoy Val McDermid’s books. She surprises me.Ross Garvie,a teenage joy rider,critically ill in hospital,the only survivor of the horrific accident that saw his three mates die,seems to hold the key to their investigation.