Out of Bounds

The thirtieth spine-chilling thriller from the queen of crime, Val McDermid.

For a long moment, it seemed to teeter between the tipping point and stability, before gravity finally won. Once it started turning, momentum took over. The Land Rover rolled end to end twice, tumbling the four youths head over heels like dice in a cup.

When a teenage joyrider crashes a stolen car and ends up in a coma, a routine DNA test could be the key to unlocking the mystery of a twenty-year-old murder inquiry.

Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie is an expert at solving the unsolvable. With each cold case closed, justice is served. So, finding the answer should be straightforward, but it's as twisted as the DNA helix itself. Meanwhile Karen finds herself irresistibly drawn to another case, one that she has no business investigating.

As she pieces together decades-old evidence, Karen discovers the most dangerous kinds of secrets. Secrets that someone is willing to kill for …

'There are lots of things that ran in families, but murder wasn't one of them ...'

In Out of Bounds, Val McDermid returns with her most atmospheric, gripping novel to date, the fourth in the Karen Pirie series.

'The queen of crime is still at the top of her game' – The Independent

'Incredibly suspenseful' - Sunday Mirror

Hailing from Kirkcaldy on the East Coast of Scotland, Val McDermid is a playwright, journalist and, first and foremost, one of the world’s most popular and consistently inventive crime writers. Undoubtedly her best-known creation is the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, beginning with The Mermaids Singing, adapted for television as the drama Wire in the Blood. Her other popular series include the Kate Brannigan series, originating with Dead Beat, novels featuring the crime journalist Lindsey Gordon, the first of which is Reporting for Murder and most recently The Distant Echo launched the Karen Pirie series. Read more about Val McDermid and her work.