Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Out Of Bounds cover art

Out Of Bounds

By: Val McDermid
Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Murderer's Son cover art
Detective Sebastian Clifford, Books 1-3 cover art
A Long Time Dead cover art
Live Free or Tri cover art
The Lost cover art
The Black Echo: Harry Bosch Series, Book 1 cover art
Little Girl Lost cover art
Skinner's Rules cover art
The Murder Wall cover art
Good Girls Don't Die cover art
First Blood cover art

Summary

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

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

©2016 Val McDermid (P)2016 W.F. Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"Incredibly suspenseful." (Sunday Mirror)

"It grabs the reader by the throat and never lets go." (Daily Mail)

What listeners say about Out Of Bounds

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,762
  • 4 Stars
    685
  • 3 Stars
    161
  • 2 Stars
    34
  • 1 Stars
    19
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,763
  • 4 Stars
    515
  • 3 Stars
    95
  • 2 Stars
    30
  • 1 Stars
    15
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,558
  • 4 Stars
    609
  • 3 Stars
    180
  • 2 Stars
    44
  • 1 Stars
    15

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Slow to start but ultimately satisfying

I like Val McDermid’s books as she write so well, but sometimes shrink from her graphic details of murders. Thankfully this book is devoid of any gruesome descriptions of post mortems and doesn’t spend any time in the the minds of psychopaths relishing their deeds. There’s quite a bit of forensic detail thanks to the author’s close association with the world famous department at Dundee University. I did a FutureLearn course run by that University on forensics in which Val McDermid actively participated. She has also written a book on the topic.

The book meanders for quite a time as two separate stories are introduced, but gathers momentum after about 40 out of 62 chapters. I didn’t mind the slower pace as we got to know the various characters and learn some interesting facts about forensics and the laws relating to privacy. The author indulges her political beliefs over the treatment of Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Scotland: all very laudable but a bit of a diversion that slows the pace of the novel. Par for the course the chief character, DCI Karen Pirie, is a bit of a maverick going off at tangents and getting into trouble with her superiors, but she’s an engaging, sympathetic and at times funny character.

I did enjoy the book and thought the slower pace reflected the more realistic time course of investigations in real life, even if the crimes were unusual.

At first I thought it was to be a four star listen but by the end I thought it rated higher than that as the author carries the two stories forward such that I was keen to find out what happened next as one lead after another seemed promising and then went nowhere.

The narrator is excellent as she creates many different voices making the book seem like a dramatisation.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

50 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book - brought to life by the narrator

Val McDermid is usually a safe bet for an entertaining read - and this is a good story with well rounded characters. I've chosen to leave a full review here to give a mention to the narrator though. I felt that Cathleen McCarron was brilliant. Her characters were very recognisable and her male voices were good. I felt that she brought great emotion to the job and really brought the story to life for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

47 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great narration of a rather pedestrian story

The narration of this book was amazing and what ultimately kept me listening. So many different voices, Cathleen McCarron deserves an Oscar!
The story was interesting enough, but it was wordy and with a lot of non-essential information which slowed the action down, like the biographical detail of the show biz producer who died in the air crash, which never came into the plot again.. Much of the plot was predictable, with heavy signalling of events. I can't imagine many Chief Inspectors get to choose the cases they feel like investigating.
To be honest, I was relieved when it came to an end and I could finally turn it off.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

a few loose ends

Enjoyed this but felt it ended a bit abruptly. I was a bit perplexed when the narrator said it was the epilogue as I thought there were still a few loose ends to be tied off within the main story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not gory

This story is not as gory as some of the authors books, more gentle people focused. I enjoyed it a lot

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Rubbish

Didn't even bother to finish it, awful narration, bored to sobs, rather stick pins in my eyes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

skipped chapters!

This book was not exactly fast paced. I stuck with it as the narrator was brilliant. Her range of voices was amazing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Struggled with it

Usually love these books but could not get in to this one. Not sure if it was the story or narrative but found it irritating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Val McDermid, nuff said

Cannot go wrong. Consistently good quality - genuine strong characters, original believable stories and quality writing. Add to this a top quality narration and you have a satisfying and enjoyable listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good book

Enjoyed the book but did think the ending left you hanging without closure, needed one more para

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful