1989 is the second book in the Allie Burns series about a determined Scottish journalist, inspired by the author’s own career and experiences before she became a bestselling crime writer. I had been quite disappointed by 1979, so was somewhat hesitant about having to read this one, but actually enjoyed it more, despite there being way too much going on for one book to cover properly. This would work as a stand-alone if you haven’t read the first book, and there are no major spoilers here for 1979.

Ten years on, Allie is living in Manchester, very much in love with Rona, and enjoying the freedom to be herself denied her in her native Scotland, but chafing from the limitations of her new role. She’s now the Northern editor of a London-based Sunday tabloid after the owner, a bullying egomaniacal press magnate, dismantled her investigations team and made most of her colleagues redundant. Covering the nations’ tragedies is taking its toll, however, and she longs for a big story that will restore her mojo, so when a friend mentions the tragedy of Scottish AIDS patients having to seek treatment in England and drug trials being moved behind the Iron Curtain, she’ll stop at nothing for the scoop.

In 1989 I was in my first year of university in Edinburgh, living in lodgings with no TV and no real interest in the news. I remember the Lockerbie bombing of course, partly because I was home for the holidays, but the other disasters featured here are ones I’ve mostly read about later rather than remembering as they occurred. This book uses them as a backdrop to her main story, which sets the scene, and gives us the context to Allie’s mid-career crisis, but I felt it tried to pack too much in raising major topics which are then barely mentioned. As with 1979, there is a murder here, but again it occurs very late, and the reveal of the killer is very much an afterthought in the overall plot. The pace is again slow, although there’s more action in this one. I still don’t like Allie as a character - as before, she takes stupid risks and will sacrifice anyone for a story, then feels sorry for herself when things go wrong. Rona remains the more likeable character and fortunately has a bigger role here.

I did like all the era-setting details - the first mobile phones, dial-up internet, the early clubbing scene, and having to go to a library when you wanted to know something, and the playlist at the end is superb - gosh I love 80s music, but for overall enjoyment I can stretch to 3 stars, no more, and doubt I’ll be continuing this series - I’m just hanging out for more Karen Pirie, & Tony and Carol books.
Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC; I am posting this honest review voluntarily.
1989 is published today.

Let me start with saying that even with this being the 2nd book of a series, it was easily read as a stand alone. I haven’t read 1979 yet, but didn’t feel like I was missing any information.

I loved the nostalgia of the book. And I love a slow burn story. However, I had a hard time staying interested in this story. The book heads in several different directions that didn’t feel relevant to the main mystery.

1989 by Val McDermid is a highly recommended second novel featuring investigative journalist Allie Burns and following events in 1989.

Allie Burns is running the northern news operation of the Sunday Globe, but she is till an investigative reporter at heart. While covering the memorial service for Lockerbie Pan Am bombing victims, she receives a lead over another story about HIV/AIDS patients and pharmaceutical companies. This is just the start as Allie covers 1989, an unsettling year that I wasn't sure I wanted to return to, but following Allie through the events was interesting. The plot mainly focuses on the Aids/HIV crisis, but also sends Allie to East Germany, covers Gorbachev, perestroika to the Berlin Wall coming down and numerous events in-between.

Allie and her girlfriend, Rona, are both fully realized characters who work well together in the narrative and help add depth to the plot. There are little details included in the plot that will take readers who remember back in time while the narrative also covers the bigger, news worthy topics from the time. There are plenty of little pop culture references included in the plot. The writing is excellent, as expected, but the novel did feel a little overly long and slow-moving. Perhaps covering so many well researched events from one year was a bit too much, but 1999 will be an interesting third novel to this series that started with 1979.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Grove/Atlantic via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Amazon

Keep the opening of this terrific novel in the back of your mind because it's not the focal point of the story and you won't know who or why until it's almost done. Focus instead on the story Allie Burns is telling about the changes in journalism in the UK and about how AIDS patients were treated in the late 1980s. Allie and her partner Rona have moved from Scotland to Manchester- Allie works as the last staffer for a paper in Ace Lockhart's empire while Rona is freelancing. Lockerbie took a lot out of her but now she's energized by the hunt for answers about Scottish AIDS patients coming south and about big Pharma. There's a separate plot line about Genevieve, Ace's daughter, and Ace's determination to get a foothold with the opposition in Eastern Europe. These two come crashing into one another in Berlin, where Allie engages in highly risky behavior to help a source and Genevieve, well, she does something stupid as well. To be honest, the Genevieve thread doesn't work as well as Allie's but it's an interesting reminder of the situation in the region as Gorbachev rose to power. No spoilers from me on anything about this complex novel which addresses so many issues with terrific characters. Don't worry if you didn't read 1979- this will be fine as a standalone. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. It's a great read.

1989 by Val McDermid
I think this is my own fault and I should have not picked this book. I love this author generally but I did not like the previous book 1979 and I feel the same about this one. Too much info dumping on the time period and I don’t really care about the main character. I prefer her previous series and some of her older work.

When last the reader saw Allie Burns, in the first book of this series, it was 1979 and she was a fledgling reporter chasing her first big scoop. Ten years later, she is a decent journalist stuck working for the tabloid Sunday Globe. She has settled in to a loving relationship with Rona and is now living in Manchester. Her boss is the disreputable Ace Lockhart, in a race with Rupert Murdock to see how low journalism can sink. There are a few storylines here that center around these main characters along with Lockhart’s daughter, the very spoiled Genevieve.

The book is quite atmospheric in giving a good sense of the time, highlighting some of the historical events. It was a fun trip down memory lane for those of us who do remember the first “mobile” phones being the size of a car battery with a handset on top! I recall using one of those!

1989 was a time of tragedies as well including the Lockerbie explosion and the poor treatment of HIV/AIDs patients due to ignorance, fear, and discrimination. But it was also a time of hope as Glasnost seemed to be the harbinger of the break down of the Iron Curtain. The book was at its most compelling near the end as a murder occurs and Allie tries to track down the truth about both the victim and the killer.

With 1989, Val McDermid continues her latest series starring Allie Burns. In this unique sequence of novels – each set ten years after the previous entry – McDermid chronicles the life of journalist Allie Burns as she navigates the ever-changing landscape of the newspaper industry, highlighting major landmark events in both her home country of Scotland and the world at large.

Following the documented events in 1979, Allie Burns and her girlfriend, Rona Dunsyre, have relocated from Glasgow to Manchester to begin their lives together as a couple. Allie has given up her job as an investigative journalist to oversea a contingent of freelancers for a tabloid newspaper despite her belief that the Sunday Globe is more interested in sensationalism and gossip than hard-hitting news stories.

1989 begins with Allie Burns covering the memorial service for the families devastated by the recent Lockerbie bombing and ends with Allie uncovering a horrific scandal decades in the making – with stops along the way that expose corruption in the field of AIDS research, the crumbling of the Eastern Bloc, and the senseless tragedy that occurred at Hillsborough Stadium (to name just a few.) Both Allie and Rona are working for Wallace ‘Ace’ Lockhart – a Rupert Murdoch-like media mogul who once lost everything, built himself back up to legendary status, and will now protect his business – and family – at any cost.

Unlike most crime novels, 1989 isn’t interested in following just one case from beginning to end. This is a series where the true strength of the whole is fashioned from the interconnectedness of smaller pieces – a look at how society is altered not only by seismic events, but also by smaller seemingly innocuous choices. Allie Burns serves as the reader’s metaphorical Yellow Brick Road, leading them down a path that is fascinating, flawed, and ultimately redemptive.

Only a prodigious talent like Val McDermid would risk dropping a murder in the final seventy pages of a novel and then follow it up with a compelling investigation, several unexpected revelations, and a thoroughly cathartic conclusion. Lesser authors would have built an entire novel around that death and still not have managed to grab the reader’s attention and elicit such emotion from the proceedings. This is how one knows they are in the hands of a master of her craft.

In a fitting tribute to McDermid’s own past, 1989 contains multiple references to the expanding proliferation of female-led PI novels that inspire not only Allie Burns in the book, but also Val McDermid in real life. As she did in 1979, Val McDermid also provides a playlist of music designed to transport readers back to the late-80s.

Now that 1979 and 1989 have been released, Val McDermid’s Allie Burns series is shaping up to be one of crime fiction’s greatest achievements – both ironic and fitting for a sequence of novels that might not even exist were it not for the worldwide Covid pandemic. Fans will be hanging on tenterhooks waiting to see what Allie Burns’ life looks like in 1999, 2009, and the final book in the series, 2019. What everyone can agree on is that Val McDermid is most definitely the “wielder of the pen” we want to take us there.

Like its predecessor, <i>1979</i>, this book brought back a lot of memories. And I'm reminded that the more things change the more they stay this same. In the first book the Scots were talking about independence from Britain which was very deja-vuish given I read this just after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. And this centres around media moguls and uncertainty in Eastern Europe.

Allie's moved with partner and fellow journalist Rona to Manchester. We meet Rona in <i>1979</i> and learn she's gay but a tad suspicious of her motives in befriending Allie given the competitive environment in which they worked. As the book opens Allie's just suffered through (but survived) a heap of redundancies as the owner of her newspaper (Ace Lockhart) takes a cost-cutting axe to his organisations. We learn he's obsessed with competing against Rupert Murdoch (the Australian-born media giant referred to often).

We also meet Ace's daughter and heir Genevieve, who's been groomed to take over her father's empire but seems to have some empathy and a conscience - of sorts. She's smart and sent off here to befriend both sides of the moving political feast in Eastern Europe.

Although not given the freedom to pursue her own stories Allie's looking into trials of HIV / AIDS medication, trials that were aborted in Scotland and moved behind the Iron Curtain.

Allie heads to East Berlin to investigate but becomes embroiled in something bigger. Again she seems inordinately naive and here Rona agrees with me. It brings Allie into contact with her boss's daughter Genevieve and things become complicated. A bit too complicated, perhaps and the original story is lost.

The plot felt a little scattered here - the introduction of terrorism and plane crashes which isn't touched on again, the movement of Scottish men with AIDs to England, the pharmaceutical testing and then Genevieve's exploits in Europe. I was (however) more interested in a murder investigation which plays out quite belatedly and appreciated the way McDermid (Allie) handles it.

I love Val McDermid's writing and have seen / heard her speak a couple of times and love several of her other series'. My biggest issue with both <i>1979</i> and this book is that there's too much happening. They're overly complicated so my attention is divided and ultimately I disengage.

Having said that, I'm assuming there'll be more in this series and I'll read them. I like Allie and Rona (who plays more of a role here). I like where I think McDermid is going to take Allie and I hope those cases will be more to my taste.

1989 follows on from Val McDermid's book featuring the character of Allie, 1979. McDermid has a great way of setting the scene. This era was all about the AIDs epidemic, the break up of the Soviet Union and Mcdermid nails it. The first part of the book I definitely found to be slow and it took me a while to get into it. The latter part sped along nicely featuring kidnapping, spies and murder. Thank you NetGalley for my advance copy of this enjoyable book.

1989 is a hard hitting page turning read that you soon lose yourself in the story.

This book would be an excellent Book Club choice which I am sure we will see.

Allie Burns is back and I cant help but admire her and her partner Rona.

The book starts with the Lockerbie bombing , AIDS?HIV that was so horrific as it became world wide known, the regime of East Berlin and so much more.

All before we get to the murder that only adds to the intrigue and the depth of the novel.

Val McDermid always writes a thought provoking hard hitting novel and 1989 is no exception.

Allie Burns has grown so much since the book of 1979 and I can only hope we get to see her again soon.

You can certainly read this book as a stand alone but I would suggest that you start with 1979.

I cant wait to get my hard copy of 1989 to sit on my shelf with the rest of my Val McDermid books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic Monthly Press for a book that was so very hard to put down and I wont forget anytime soon.

"In the new installment to her historical crime series that began with 1979, internationally bestselling author Val McDermid delivers a propulsive new thriller that finds journalist Allie Burns has become an editor, and as the Cold War and AIDS crisis deliver a nonstop tide of news, most of it bad, a story falls into her lap. And then there's a murder.

Hailed as Britain's Queen of Crime, Val McDermid's award-winning, internationally bestselling novels have captivated readers for more than thirty years. In her Allie Burns series, she returns to the past - both ours and in some ways her own - with the story of a female journalist whose stories lead her into world of corruption, terror, and murder.

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 for the victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, 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 skullduggery in the medical research labs and there are seismic rumblings behind the Iron Curtain. When murder is added to this potent mix, Allie is forced to question all her old certainties.

Readers are having a great time time-traveling with Val, and 1989 is a seamless, riveting novel that brings us once again face to face with how very much past is prologue, and how history's sins stay with us."

What I love most about this series is that it's crime solving when it was still really compelling, not all tied into gadgets.

It was interesting to revisit 1989 Britain with Val McDermid. She sets the scene with Maggie Thatcher at the helm, Rupert Murdoch ruling the press with scandal and fake news taking over the tabloids, Gorbachev spruiking perestroika and glasnost in a year that started with funerals for the victims of the Pan Am flight 103 disaster in Lockerbie and ended with the dismantling of the Berlin wall.

Allie Burns is a journalist for one of Murdoch’s rivals, Ace Lockhart, who with his daughter Genevieve controls a publishing empire and is looking to expand overseas. Living in Manchester with her partner Rona, a fashion journalist, Allie is now the northern editor for the Sunday Globe. She still writes feature articles and with no staff journalists left, uses freelance journalists to chase other interesting stories. However, more and more she’s becoming disenchanted with the paper’s quest for sensation over hard news. So, when she discovers a good lead on a story about the treatment of Scottish HIV/AIDS patients and a possible scandal involving a pharmaceutical company, she decides to chase it up in her own time. Her investigation will take her behind the iron curtainto face potential danger in East Berlin.

There is plenty going on in this novel with no time for a dull moment. Although the plot centres around Allie, there are a number of other threads interweaving loosely through the overall story which do come together to make for a very entertaining novel. And in the background is the news, including the horrific Hillsborough football stadium disaster in which nearly a hundred football supporters were killed and almost eight hundred more injured. Allie’s description of being on the ground amongst the chaos of bodies and injured people everywhere, brought home some of the horrors frontline journalists often have to face. To round it all off, the novel is nicely bookended by a man plotting a murder in the prologue and Allie’s discovery of the man and his motive at the end.

A powerful window into a past filled with uncertainty, fear and discrimination. It also established a strong connection with current issues. It is interesting to read about things that we know more about than the protagonists knew at that time.

Allie's strong empathy comes pouring off the pages. More than that, the emotional struggle is obvious both in how Allie acts, as well as in how her loved ones view her. Rona is a great "storytelling tool" in this respect. The stress and heartache of the last ten years of their lives are taking a toll. Adding the current trauma and day-to-day issues, Val McDermid created well-rounded characters.

Allie is a strong woman. Her conversation with Gerry is powerful and she oozes confidence. It was funny and moving. I only regret she did not punch the chief reporter. She is also very flawed and has insecurities. She feels more real to me than other Val McDermid characters.
A sudden surge of suspense halfway through the book, in the important scene between Colin, Wiebke and Allie took me by surprise.

Genevieve took a 180 degree turn seeming deluded and irrational several times.

It took a while to be gripped by the story, but once I got there, I could not let it go.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Val McDermid, and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

Always eager to to read the works of Val McDermid, I readily reached for her latest novel. Allie Burns and her journalistic prowess are back for another adventure, using the backdrop of history to spin a story like no other. McDermid packs of punch with this novel, which explored a number of issues from 1989, both social and historical, while providing her reader with something well-worth their invested time. I can only wonder where McDermid will take things next, but am sure fans are in for another treat.

Allie Burns has come a long way in a decade. Now in a senior role within the Sunday Globe, Allie has come to terms that her passion for investigative journalism must be shelved as she tries to cater to readers with tabloid-style writing. Sent to cover the Lockerbie memorials after a plane exploded over the small Scottish town, Allie soon realises that she is meant to be a pretty face digging in the mud of societal grief.

After tripping upon a story about AIDS in Edinburgh, Allie discovers that there is more to it than labelling the city as the disease’s European hotspot . A drug trial aimed at stemming the effects of HIV is quickly stopped by UK authorities. As Allie digs a little deeper, she learns that trials for the drug continue in East Germany, though little is known about what’s going on. Allie vows to get answers and heads behind the Iron Curtain to get to the truth.

While in East Germany, Allie learns much about the pharmaceutical industry, but has another hot potato story land in her lap. The apparent suicide of a media magnate has ties to Nazi Germany and Allie is keen to get to the bottom of this as well. While she tugs on a string or two, Allie soon realises that she has unraveled quite true story and won’t stop until she gets to the truth. The world is changing around her, but Allie Burns is one woman who won’t watch it pass her by! Another stunning story by Val McDermid that will keep the reader flipping pages well into the night.

I have long enjoyed the work of Val McDermid, who never shies away from controversial things while highlighting the wonders of Scotland. There is so much going on in this piece that it is difficult to summarise with ease. McDermid encapsulates a great deal within the pages of this book and keeps the reader wanting to know more. Society and the world at large come under the microscope in this piece, which is both reflective and refreshing in equal measure.

McDemrid is able to develop a strong narrative from the outset, which serves to guide the story along for most of the ride. There are strong themes that resonate out of what McDermid has to say and she’s keen to address them in detail. Great characters offer the reader some entertainment throughout, though it is the depth to which they take the novel that is their greatest purpose. A few key plot twists, complementing the historic goings-on, prove to be the best part of the story and keep the reader learning as they make their way through this gripping tale. I wonder if there is more. to come and what year Mcdermid will choose next.

Kudos, Madam McDermid, for a great piece and wonderful collection of historical moments. You never ceases to amaze.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Val McDermid, and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

Always eager to to read the works of Val McDermid, I readily reached for her latest novel. Allie Burns and her journalistic prowess are back for another adventure, using the backdrop of history to spin a story like no other. McDermid packs of punch with this novel, which explored a number of issues from 1989, both social and historical, while providing her reader with something well-worth their invested time. I can only wonder where McDermid will take things next, but am sure fans are in for another treat.

Allie Burns has come a long way in a decade. Now in a senior role within the Sunday Globe, Allie has come to terms that her passion for investigative journalism must be shelved as she tries to cater to readers with tabloid-style writing. Sent to cover the Lockerbie memorials after a plane exploded over the small Scottish town, Allie soon realises that she is meant to be a pretty face digging in the mud of societal grief.

After tripping upon a story about AIDS in Edinburgh, Allie discovers that there is more to it than labelling the city as the disease’s European hotspot . A drug trial aimed at stemming the effects of HIV is quickly stopped by UK authorities. As Allie digs a little deeper, she learns that trials for the drug continue in East Germany, though little is known about what’s going on. Allie vows to get answers and heads behind the Iron Curtain to get to the truth.

While in East Germany, Allie learns much about the pharmaceutical industry, but has another hot potato story land in her lap. The apparent suicide of a media magnate has ties to Nazi Germany and Allie is keen to get to the bottom of this as well. While she tugs on a string or two, Allie soon realises that she has unraveled quite true story and won’t stop until she gets to the truth. The world is changing around her, but Allie Burns is one woman who won’t watch it pass her by! Another stunning story by Val McDermid that will keep the reader flipping pages well into the night.

I have long enjoyed the work of Val McDermid, who never shies away from controversial things while highlighting the wonders of Scotland. There is so much going on in this piece that it is difficult to summarise with ease. McDermid encapsulates a great deal within the pages of this book and keeps the reader wanting to know more. Society and the world at large come under the microscope in this piece, which is both reflective and refreshing in equal measure.

McDemrid is able to develop a strong narrative from the outset, which serves to guide the story along for most of the ride. There are strong themes that resonate out of what McDermid has to say and she’s keen to address them in detail. Great characters offer the reader some entertainment throughout, though it is the depth to which they take the novel that is their greatest purpose. A few key plot twists, complementing the historic goings-on, prove to be the best part of the story and keep the reader learning as they make their way through this gripping tale. I wonder if there is more. to come and what year Mcdermid will choose next.

Kudos, Madam McDermid, for a great piece and wonderful collection of historical moments. You never ceases to amaze.

Second in the trilogy and another fine novel from Val McMermid.
Covering a corrupt press baron, Lockerbie, Hillsborough and the AIDS pandemic, it is part historical, part thriller. There are even moments of espionage worthy of John Le Carre at times.

Entertaining, enjoyable and thought provoking in parts, all make for another 'must read' from this author. Already looking forward to the series finale.

This is such a great series by Val McDermid! It's a bit different from her crime thrillers, but very thought-provoking and I really enjoy the historical aspect. 1989 was a crazy year! The aftermath of the Lockerbie, Scotland plane crash, the Hillsborough soccer incident and the beginning of the end for the fall of the Soviet Union and communism - it sounds like a lot, but it works as investigative reporter Allie Burns must cover all of these events. Her relationship with Rona is also presented as warm and loving and supportive, which is nice to see in a fiction novel. I certainly hope there is a third book planned for this series. Reliving 1999 could be interesting - preparing for and worrying about Y2K, the war in Yugoslavia, the introduction of the euro, and more.

Once again, Val McDermid does not disappoint. Her characters are so real and relatable. Her descriptive style takes you right back to 1989.

Highly recommend this one! This was my first book to read by this author but definitely won't be my last. The characters will stay with you long after you finish the book and you will find yourself wishing the story would never end.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a review copy of 1989.

It's now 1989. Margaret Thatcher is the Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Iron curtain is on it's last legs. The AIDS crisis is at it's height, the medical sector isn't coping and society as a whole is busy blaming the victims instead of helping them. Dodgy pharmaceutical companies are circling like vultures. Britain has had one tragic disaster after another. The Lockerbie disaster in Scotland, the M1 plane crash in Kegworth and then the Hillsborough disaster in Yorkshire and Scottish reporter Allie Burns is witness to it all.

Like the first book in the series (1979) there is a murder in this story but it's not the main focus of this historical novel. We follow Allie, now 35 and living in Manchester with her partner of ten years Rona as she battles gender politics and a difficult boss to get her copy into print unedited (ie not drastically changed) by her male counterparts.

The prologue of 1989 sets up a murder. We learn how the death will happen, the location and who the intended victim is but we don't know when it will happen, who the killer is or the motive.

Many of the big news worthy events of the late 1980s feature in this novel as well as a dramatic escape from Communist East Germany, a couple of fake kidnappings, a lot of gender politics and yes that murder.

There is also a lot of 80s pop culture referenced and use of one of those Motorola brick phones (my sister had one in the mid 90s) which were the size of a shoe.

While this isn't a gory thriller like a lot of the authors other works this book probably has the highest death toll of any of her novels.

I'll be interested to read a third book in this series, should there ever be one. I'd imagine a book set in 1999 would heavily feature the whole Y2K panic of the late 1990s.....

Recently read 1979 which I loved and I loved 1989 even more if that's possible. Allie and Ron's the central characters are brilliant and Vals writing is superb. Felt like I knew the characters and the whole book felt very true to life with its poignant references to HIV/ Aids and pension fund thefts. Can't wait to read more about Allie and Rona. Another sure fire winner from Val.