Great reading.
This book gripes you right from the get go. It involves Allie, a journalist, who is trying to chase down a story about a pharmaceutical company moving clinical trials of a HIV drug from Edinburgh to East Germany so they could control the results. They were intending to falsify the results or massage the outcome, but a whistleblower came forward with information. This was to cost Allie dearly.
It also delves into the war, when Germany killed Jews. A murder happens but is not recorded as a murder, but a suicide. WHY??? Read the book to find out what happens. Great reading.
Val McDermid truly is the Queen of Crime. Even having not read the first book of the series, I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I am a sucker for crime dramas.
I have heard that Val McDermid’s books are always highly anticipated and I can see why after reading 1989.
Having not read the first book of the series, I was going into the book completely blind. Unlike past experiences where I can get lost while reading books that are continuations of another, that was not the case for 1989.
As reading the story of Allie Burns, it made me sit at the edge of my seat in a subtle way. And it is one of the best ways because you’re wondering what happens next, but at the same time you don’t worry about it so much that you forget to enjoy reading the book.
This book is also a reminder of how screwed up the world we live in is. You start to think how awful what the book mentions is, and then you realize “oh, this is us.”
Reading 1989 makes me want to read the book that precedes it, 1979. Val McDermid truly is the Queen of Crime.
Not just a crime novel but also a fascinating character study and a snapshot into the world of investigative journalism.
After relocating to Manchester, Allie Burns is searching for a story that will bring her career as an investigative journalist back into the limelight. She happens upon a lead about a drugs trial for HIV and once again she throws herself recklessly into a precarious situation.
1989 is not just a crime novel, or a book about a journalist determined to crack a case. This series, and the way we re-join Allie ten years after the events of the first novel, actually turns her into a fascinating character study. We are given the opportunity to see how her career and personal life have developed over time rather than just getting a snapshot of her life during one particular period.
As if that wasn’t enough, the two books together also paint a picture of the social and political landscape in Scotland, England and Europe at the time they take place. Developments in technology, changes in journalistic practices and a woman’s place in this type of working environment are all explored. It’s pure genius.
Throughout the book real life events are juxtaposed with the fictional elements and this grounds the story in a way I wasn’t expecting. There was one event being described which took my breath away when it became clear to me that it was something which had really happened – the lines between reality and fiction were flawlessly blurred. I am fascinated to see what 1999 has in store for Allie Burns.
Allie Burns story with lots of twists and turns
I have not read any books by Val McDermid before but I will certainly look out for them.
This is another book about the journalist Allie Burns and begins with her investigation into the circumstances surrounding testing and the search for a cure for HIV which takes her to Berlin, where she is asked to help a scientist to escape from the East. She agrees but this puts her in great danger, from which she is rescued following the intervention of her boss. She returns to England and is then sent to cover the Hillsborough disaster. Both events make her begin to question her ability to cope with major events like this.
The book is well written and the characters are interesting, the variety of plots make it a very good read.
A very interesting and insightful read, highlighting the events of the late 1980s
Somehow this was the first Val McDermid book that I’d read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it so will be searching out some more of hers. It was only after I started it that I realized it was #2 in the series, but it read very well as a standalone.
The central character Allie Burns is an investigative journalist living in Manchester with her partner Rona. There’s a lot going on in 1989 from the Lockerbie tragedy to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as goings on in the Soviet Union. It was interesting to re-live some of these as well as remembering the huge brick phones that we used to have!
It was an interesting, fast-paced read and I really enjoyed reading about Allie’s life and her investigations which were woven into what actually happened during those times. She’s a great, insightful character and I’ll definitely now go back and read #1 in the series.
Val McDermid shows her readers yet again why she's the undisputed Queen of Crime in this, her second book featuring investigative journalist Allie Burns and her partner, Rona.
1989, the sequel to 1979, takes us back to the world of HIV/AIDS, Lockerbie, Hillsborough and Rupert Murdoch. The scene is skilfully set at the outset and we know we can expect intrigue, deception, corruption and murder.
Allie Burns, hot on the trail of a story of an NHS scandal, which quickly leads to evidence of criminal malpractice in the wider pharmaceutical industry, is drawn into a plot to 'liberate' a researcher from East Berlin. She is saved from imprisonment, and worse, by the intervention of her boss, Ace Lockhart. But have the means he uses to achieve his ends always been justified or are there more dubious and incriminating acts in his past that make him a target for revenge.
This carefully crafted plot with it's cast of expertly developed characters is what we have come to expect from Val McDermid. Hopefully, she won't leave another gap of ten years in the career of Allie Burns.
Val McDermid delivers another brilliant thriller.
Intriguing revenge thriller, packed full of interesting characters, notably Allie Burns, the reporter at the centre of the story. Informative about AIDS, the gay community and a Jewish community murdered by Germans. The reader is swept along with the pacy and intricate plot. As always, Val McDermid delivers - another brilliant story.
Visit the late 1980s journalistic world entwined with the politics of the day for a novel of crossing strands and intrigue.
Throughout the book the scene is set convincingly for the the second instalment in Val McDermid's series about journalist Allie Burns, and whilst I haven’t read the first one (1979) I don't think it's absolutely necessary to know the character's backstory.
Throughout the book the scene is set convincingly for the late 1980s journalistic world entwined with the politics of the day and as the storyline develops, you are reminded of the big players of the time with Robert Maxwell seemingly providing the character of Ace Lockheart. Lockhart has political and commercial interests with the former Soviet Empire and these ties are at the dramatic centre of the novel.
Allie meanwhile uncovers a story regarding the quickly growing AIDS epidemic and the shortcomings in the handling of it.
There are many crossing strands intertwined throughout this novel and it keeps you interested whilst not troubling you in any way. This is a shame as I prefer my crime novels darker and more tense whereas this novel was fairly predictable and slow. That said, I enjoyed the novel and my introduction of the characters and will read the first one while I wait for the next one!
An interesting read. Lots of cultural references intertwined with several parallel running stories.
This book took a while to get going if I’m honest. To begin with I thought the story was going in one direction and I was really interested in the HIV storyline however this then seemed to get a bit lost as the story developed in other directions. It follows the lives of Allie and Rona who are both in the world of journalism and it details some of the tricky situations faced by them with a backdrop of the powerful media world. By the end I really wanted to know how things were going to end up.