Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Out of Bounds

Grieving after the death of her partner, Chief Inspector Karen Pirie throws herself into her work - solving cold cases.

When Ross Garvie crashes the car he was driving and killing three of his mates, the resulting blood test shows a DNA connection to the main suspect of the unsolved murder of Tina McDonald twenty years previously. 

While Karen is investigating this link she is informed of the suicide or murder of a young man, Gabriel Abbott, on a bench by Loch Leven. This case had nothing to do with her work until it was revealed that Gabriel's mother had died in a small plane crash twenty years previously and the cause of the crash was never completely resolved. Her interest is further spiked when it is revealed that Gabriel had been investigating his family tree. 

Complications arise in resolving both of these cases as arguments about the legality of releasing information about a person's DNA ensure. It is also argued that families may have rights to the privacy regarding possible crimes of family members in the distant past. Karen's argument that a victim's family has a right to closure, knowing how a loved one died, is not shared by all parties.

Interest from senior police in the cases only occurrs when attempts are made on Karen's life by one of the suspects and it is no longer possible to avoid investigating further.

Out of Bounds by Val Mcdermid is the fourth book in the Karen Pirie series and is another dramatic and thought provoking book to read.

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