Out of Bounds: An unmissable thriller from the international bestseller (Karen Pirie)

Out of bounds" von Val McDermid ist der vierte Band der Karen Pirie novels und erschien 2016 bei sphere.InhaltKaren Pirie stößt völlig unerwartet auf einen möglichen Schlüssel zu einem Fall, der weit in der Vergangenheit zurückliegt. Doch werden alle Beteiligten Interesse daran haben, diesen Fall aufzuklären? Wird man versuchen, sie mundtot zu machen?MeinungCoverEs wirkt düster und geheimnisvoll, auf jeden Fall ein eyecatcher.Anfangs...Anfangs war es etwas schwer, in den Krimi hineinzufinden (für mich), da ich merkte, das Pirie eine Vorgeschichte hatte mit einem Mann, der nun aber verstorben ist. Daher macht es für mich gerade bei dieser Reihe schon Sinn, die Bücher in der richtigen Reihenfolge zu lesen.CharaktereIch mag Piries Art, die Hartnäckigkeit, mit der sie sich festbeisst an dem Fall. Das niemand und nichts sie beirren kann.SpannungDadurch, dass sich Pirie Leute in den Weg stellten, dadurch, das nicht jeder die Wahrheit sagte, gab es immer wieder Spannung. Man wusste nicht so recht, ob die Ermittlerin sich jetzt völlig verrannt hatte oder ob sie nicht doch Recht hatte. Man fing an, selber zu überlegen und versuchte gemeinsam mit ihr den Fall zu lösen.Wie geht es weiter?Ich habe kurz nach Lesen des Buches drei weitere Bücher bestellt von Val McDermid. Das sagt doch alles...Das mache ich nur selten.FazitToll und spannend geschrieben, kann ich jedem Krimi Fan nur empfehlen.

Karen Pirie, Detective Inspector with the historic case unit of Scotland‘s police, reopens a cold case when an accident with several teenagers shows DNA links to a 20-year-old unsolved murder. A male relative of the young driver, now in coma, can be connected with Tina McDonald’s case. Yet, things are not as easy as it seems first: the driver was adopted and getting access to the files will require a lot of persuading. At the same time a supposed suicide attracts Karen’s attention. What makes her doubt this explanation is the fact that the victim’s mother was killed in a never fully explained plane crash. IRA terrorists were suspected at the time, but nobody has ever been convicted and murder normally does not run in families. Even though it is not her case, she starts digging not knowing what she is going to unearth…“Out of bounds” is a novel in the series of the Cold Case Squad of Fife centred around Detective Inspector Karen Pirie. Even though, I did not know one of the preceding novels – “A Distant Echo” (2003), “A Darker Domain” (2008), “The Skeleton Road” (2014) – I did not have any major problems getting into the story. There are some hints to Karen’s private life in the past, she seems to have lost her partner not too long ago, but this is not crucial for the plot or to understand the character’s action.The two cases that the protagonist works on are both attractive crime scenarios: one solved by a DNA match which does not turn out to be as simple to solve as expected and going into details of biology and genetic engineering as well as legal questions about which information connected with adoptions should be provided to whom. This is found most interesting for the case since it forces you to make up your mind about such a situation and how you would opt. The second case is not too far thematically from this one since here also questions of parenthood and DNA proof pop up. Nevertheless, this is much more complicated than the first.All in all, the story moves at a high pace, shifting from one case to the other, providing a bit of information here and then going on somewhere else – this seems quite authentic in police work, since there is always some waiting time when you have to look at something different. As presumed, Val McDermid manages to solve both cases without leaving and questions unanswered. As always with her, we do have another crime novel full of suspense which does not need any blood or excess of violence to get keep your attention.