THE SECOND THRILLING NOVEL IN VAL MCDERMID'S NEW SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES
It's 1989 and Allie Burns is back.
Older and maybe wiser, she's running the northern news operation of the Sunday Globe, chafing at losing her role in investigative journalism and at the descent into the gutter of the UK tabloid media.
But there's plenty to keep her occupied. The year begins with the memorial service to the victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, but Allie has barely filed her copy when she stumbles over a story about HIV/AIDS that will shock her into a major change of direction.
The world of newspapers is undergoing a revolution, there's skulduggery in the medical research labs and there are seismic rumblings behind the Iron Curtain. When kidnap and murder are added to this potent mix, Allie is forced to question all her old certainties.
Praise for 1979
'McDermid is at her considerable best' GUARDIAN
'Irresistible' PATRICIA CORNWELL
'A brilliant novel by a supremo of the genre' PETER JAMES
'Outstanding' SPECTATOR
'Another masterpiece' DAVID BALDACCI
'Sensational. One of Britain's most accomplished writers' SUNDAY EXPRESS
'A thrilling snapshot of a fascinating era' JANE HARPER
'Allie Burns is off to a flying start, and well worth following' SCOTSMAN
'A brilliant thriller' LINWOOD BARCLAY
'A nail-biting new series' OBSERVER
'Full of wit, thrills and incisive social observation' MICK HERRON
'Her best book in years' THE TIMES
A gripping
It’s tantalising to read what’s essentially an historical drama-thriller, but set in a time period one actually lived through. Weaving major events, music and technological references throughout the narrative, Val McDermid creates a vivid sense of the time.
Over the course of the novel, our heroine - journalist Alison "Allie" Burns – pursues contemporary news stories including the aftermath of the bombing of PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and later in the book the Hillsborough Stadium disaster in Sheffield.
A story lead takes Allie to East Berlin prior to the fall of the infamous wall, where she's reluctantly persuaded to participate in a plan to allow her source's girlfriend to defect to the west. The daughter of media baron - and Allie’s boss – Wallace “Ace” Lockhart becomes embroiled in a dangerous caper of her own, and Allie is called upon to put her superlative investigative skills to the test in bringing events to a dramatic climax.
While my personal preference is for McDermid's police-based crime series (Tony Hill/Carol Jordan and Karen Pirie) and several of her standalones, I still found 1989 a great read, featuring the intricate plotting and nuanced characters for which the author is renowned. McDermid uses evocative settings, great characterisations and relationships and new perspectives on pivotal historic events to draw the reader into the world of her characters.
I'd enthusiastically recommend 1989 both to existing fans of Val McDermid's substantial body of work, and to new readers who are interested in "recent history" historical settings and tensely plotted crime-thriller narratives.
Sarah, 14/10/2022
