Stevie‘s review of 1979 (Allie Burns, Book 1) by Val McDermid
Crime Fiction published by Atlantic Monthly Press 05 Oct 21
I was a great fan of Val McDermid’s Lindsay Gordon books back in the day, although I really haven’t read as many of her subsequent novels as I should have done. On the other hand, I recently enjoyed taking part in the MOOC on forensic science that she helped script, not to mention the Traces TV series. So when I got a notification about a local event for the launch of her new book series, I braved real people in three dimensions to attend and pick up a signed copy in hardback. Starting in 1979, the series is proposed to cover events of the final year of each decade, ending in 2019 before we all knew what we were about to face. Not that any of the years chosen were uneventful of course, and these books cover both the feel of national events and the more localised, but no less dramatic, goings-on in the lives of the central characters. In 1979 – the book as well as the year – Allie Burns is just beginning her career as an investigative journalist, although this being the ’70s, she more often than not finds herself relegated to reporting on human interest stories. That all changes when she and a colleague find themselves in the thick of a series of dramatic events.
As 1979 begins, Allie is travelling back to Glasgow on the same train as her colleague Danny, after the pair have spent Hogmanay in their respective hometowns. While they are delayed by snow, a fellow passenger goes into labour and our intrepid duo manage to both safely deliver the baby and report on the story for their paper. The resulting acclaim leaves both hungry for more. While Danny investigates corruption at the firm where his brother works, Allie acts on a tip-off from an older woman reporter that female voices are missing from the current referendum debate.
Attending a meeting of those campaigning for Scottish independence, Allie overhears a group of men seemingly plotting a terror attack. She realises she won’t be able to infiltrate their group by herself and persuades Danny to help her. Soon the pair of them are embroiled deeper than they ever intended and uncover further corruption that extends deep within the Scottish authorities and places them both in grave danger.
I enjoyed this book a lot. It definitely harked back to the Lindsay Gordon series to my mind and managed to convey the feel of 1979 very well. The tying up of plot threads at the end felt a little rushed at times, after we’d been given possibly a little too much of the main characters’ back stories earlier in the book. I hope some of those seemingly inconsequential details become relevant to later stores in the series, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the characters develop and mature with each book and every subsequent decade of their lives.
Grade: B
Summary:
The shadows hide a deadly story . . .1979. It is the winter of discontent, and reporter Allie Burns is chasing her first big scoop. There are few women in the newsroom and she needs something explosive for the boys’ club to take her seriously.
Soon Allie and fellow journalist Danny Sullivan are exposing the criminal underbelly of respectable Scotland. They risk making powerful enemies – and Allie won’t stop there.
When she discovers a home-grown terrorist threat, Allie comes up with a plan to infiltrate the group and make her name. But she’s a woman in a man’s world… and putting a foot wrong could be fatal.
Read an excerpt.
