1989

Written by Val McDermid

Narrated by Katie Leung

The second thrilling novel in Val McDermid's new Sunday Times best-selling 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

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Oct 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781004084173

Val McDermid

Val McDermid is a No.1 bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold more than sixteen million copies. She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009, was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2010. Val writes full time and lives in Edinburgh and the East Neuk of Fife.

[Alan Riles · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Preferred 1979!
Perhaps a reflection of 1979 being my last year in England before emigrating to Australia? Just somehow did not resonate to the same extent.
However the development of Ally Burns character, and her sexuality, is very well done. And the cut and thrust of journalism and the newspaper industry too.
Settings of Glasgow, Manchester, Berlin and Poland, plus what seems to be a hallmark of Val, a cameo appearance of NW Highlands and Islands, in this case a small island off Coll. An indulgence that is now starting to come across as a welcome idiosyncrasy!
Confirms her status as a great contemporary author.