THE SKELETON ROAD.

THE SKELETON ROAD by VAL MCDERMID.

BACK COVER BLURB: When a skeleton is discovered hidden at the top of a crumbling, gothic building in Edinburgh, Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie is faced with the unenviable task of identifying the bones. As Karen's investigation gathers momentum, she is drawn deeper into a dark world of intrigue and betrayal.

Meanwhile, someone is taking the law into their own hands in the name of justice and revenge -- but when present resentment collides with secrets of the past, the truth is more shocking than anyone could have imagined . . .

FIRST SENTENCE {PROLOGUE}: Sunset is often a glamorous business in the Cretan holiday harbour of Chania.

MEMORABLE RANDOM MOMENT{PAGE 221}: Did he seriously think that Maggie Blake would feel better about being deserted by a murderer rather than losing her lover to a killer? (Sorry folks, I'd lost the post-it-note saving my Memorable Moment so simply opened the book at a random page and, closing my eyes, pointed at a random sentence. TT)

SOURCE: Given to me from a friend.

READ FOR: The 13th book read for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2017.

MY THOUGHTS: As a fan of psychological/crime fiction Val McDermid is an author many fellow readers have recommended to me. Perhaps not one of her better books. Whilst I can't say I'll never pick up any of her other novels this one certainly won't have me hurrying to read any more. 

Long winded. Veering between the Balkan War atrocities of the early 1990's and present day England, Scotland and Croatia. Alas the interweaving timelines (to say nothing of the toing and froing between the various countries AND the inclusion of the back stories of several of the prominent characters) whilst convoluted enough to make the plot difficult to follow weren't so convoluted as to make the ending anything like a surprise.

Lacking any characters who interested me, let alone any I came to care about. I also had a difficulty in that whilst I do like strong, feisty female leads, I don't like this to be at the cost of male characters who here, almost without exception (in fact I'm struggling to think of any exception), were portrayed as being only slightly short of imbeciles.

Perhaps worst of all though was the feeling that the whole novel was driven by the author's sense of social conscience and feminist agenda. Not that these cannot play a part but arguably not when the reader feels as if they are being blatantly preached to.