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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
A historical rape and murder; the present-day murders of the original suspects; graphic crime descriptions
Language
Some
Some strong language
Sexual Content
Some
Some sexual content; the original crime was a sexual assault
Substance Use
Barely any
Heavy drinking in the 1978 sections; the four students were drunk when they found the victim
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The weight of being suspected for twenty-five years for something you didn't do; the way suspicion shapes a life
What this book is about
In 1978, four St. Andrews students stumble across a young woman dying in the snow. She cannot be saved. No one is charged with her death. Twenty-five years later, the four men — now middle-aged — begin dying. Someone has decided the original investigation was wrong. Val McDermid's first Karen Pirie novel is structured around the gap between 1978 and the present, and deals with the specific weight carried by people who were suspected of something they didn't do — and with the investigator's challenge of separating guilt from the appearance of guilt across decades.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
first Karen Pirie novel by Val McDermid
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