Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

A dark, gripping and well researched book that made me understand what was London at the end of the 70s.
It's a mythical time if you think of the musical scene but it was also a bleak time on the politica and social side.
The book is well researched and there are plenty of references to papers, the characters are fleshed even if not always likeable.
It was an interesting, informative and fascinating read as the author is a good storyteller.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

London in the late 1970s is on a knife edge. Jim Callaghan is barely holding on to power with the unions striking everywhere and his rival is a woman, Margaret Thatcher. The IRA bombing campaigns on the mainland are high profile and the police are corrupt. In this maelstrom a disparate set of characters spin in and out of each others lives - the lecturer, the impresario, the policewoman, the journalist - all are part of the events.
Anthony Quinn has written a series of novels which chart modern history over the last 150 years and each offers a superb insight into time and place through engaging and complex characters. Here, it is easy to see where the plots are heading but that doesn't make them any less exciting. The role of sexism in the last seventies is writ large from Fleet Street and the Met to the humble secretary, also the fate of the Irish. It is pitch perfect writing from a true master

Rating: 2.5/5

I expected to enjoy this as, although I didn't live in London in the 70s, I was in my teens then and listening to the same music, following the same news stories, experiencing similar day-to-day life. So I thought it would be a nostalgic trip.

Unfortunately, I wasn't captured or captivated. None of the characters really caught my interest and I positively disliked every moment spent in the company of Freddie Selves. Perhaps that's why I didn't get engrossed in the story or atmosphere and the story didn't really come alive for me.

I found myself the entire time wishing that it were a standard whodunnit with Vicky Tress as the main character. I liked her a lot!

It's well written though, so they higher ratings by other readers are understandable. Just not the right book at the right time for me!

Late 1970s London is evocatively recreated in Anthony Quinn’s latest novel, through the stories of the four main characters. The first one we meet is Vicky, a ‘plonk’ (the very un PC seventies term for a female police officer) who has just helped to capture a serial rapist and is head hunted to join CID and soon finds herself entering the murky world of police corruption. We also meet Cal, a young Northern-Irish college lecturer who falls victim to the prejudice and suspicion which surrounded his countrymen at that time, and Hannah, a journalist on a left-wing national paper and finally Freddie, a theatre director who came from a working class background to become the darling of the chattering classes.

Their interlinking stories take place against the grimly claustrophobic and depressing backdrop of the dying days of the Callaghan government, with the unions holding the government and industry to ransom, the IRA waging war on perceived enemies of the Irish state and Mrs Thatcher waiting in the wings to charm disillusioned working class voters. I’m just about old enough to remember the terror of the IRA’s bombing campaigns in the 70s and 80s and for me this tumultuous time in British history was movingly recreated.

I don’t think Anthony Quinn has ever written a book I haven’t loved, and I am delighted to say that I found this equally engaging as his previous novels. This is set in London. It is 1979 and a Labour government are stuttering to a close – the unions are in uproar, rubbish is piled in the streets and the city is divided, fractious and on the edge of violence.

The novel revolves around four characters. WPC Vicky Tress, who is promoted when she managed to catch the Notting Hill rapist, but later has to confront police corruption. Academic Callum Conlan, an Irish academic who runs into an old schoolfriend, with disastrous consequences. Ambitious journalist, Hannah Strode and theatre director, Freddie Selves. As always, Quinn fleshes out his characters well. Selves could easily have been a typically narcissistic impresario in another author’s hands, but his constant eating and desire to be a good father, when his flagrant affairs are breaking down his marriage, make him vulnerable and sympathetic.

I was very young during this period, but I do remember it well. I liked the way the novel combines history and politics. The era of strikes, unrest, IRA, and a Thatcher government waiting in the wings, is very well done. For me, Quinn is a must read author and I think this is one of his best books yet. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

How could I not connect with a book that gets its title London Burning from a song on the first album by The Clash. The novel takes place in the late 70’s (very nostalgic for me) with references to The Clash and the New Musical Express - The NME wasn’t just a music paper documenting the jolt that the music industry had got from the rise of punk music it was also extremely political (left leaning) and commented on the political shenanigans of the time and the rise of the far right. This was a time in history where the political post war consensus of creating a fairer and more equal society - a country fit for heroes - was about to be transformed by Thatcher with her ‘there’s no such thing as society only individuals’ mantra.
Anyway back to the novel which captures the atmosphere of the time - the winter of discontent with many workers striking, rubbish piling up in the street, the rise of the far right marching with their Union Jacks, corrupt sexist and racist met police officers (although with recent events it looks as though not much has changed in 40 years), the IRA extending their bombing campaign to the mainland.
Into this period of history the novel London Burning throws a number of characters who’s paths will cross in events leading up to the general election of 1979.
The main characters are:-
Callum an English Lecturer and author but also an Irishman in London and therefore viewed with suspicion.
Hannah a reporter for The Ensign (The Guardian to you and me) who had previously written about the troubles in Ireland.
Vicky a Policewomen who gets mixed up in police corruption and IRA bombings.
Finally there is Freddie a theatre director about to put on a musical version of that famous socialist book The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.
I immediately connected with the characters and the storytelling is brilliant and kept me turning the pages at a fast rate. The story is all about the changes that were happening in the country in the late seventies and the events that changes the lives of the characters in the book. Loved this book.

Anthony Quinn captures a short, chaotic, violent, divisive, politically turbulent period in British history, charting a Labour government on the cusp of collapse under James Callaghan, set in a London prior to the pivotal 1979 General Election that ushered in the first female PM, Margaret Thatcher, leading a Conservative party that will irrevocably change the country. The book captures the zeitgeist of the time, the rising piles of rubbish in the city, the National Front marches, the numerous strikes, the unions holding on for a 5% pay rise, the winter of discontent that leads to rising public and media anger and disgust with a out of touch and beleaguered government. The culture of the period is beautifully captured with the likes of musical artists of the era, The Clash and the anarchy of punk rock, David Bowie and films such as The Deerhunter. It is a palpably fearful London that is being targeted by an IRA bombing campaign that brings terror and assassinations.

The novel revolves around four main characters whose lives come to intersect and connect with each other in particularly significant and profound ways. We meet WPC Vicky Tress as she plays a key role in the capture of the Notting Dale rapist, an act that has DCI David Wicks encouraging her to join CID, only to find herself caught up in the deadly corruption there amongst the police officers. Hannah Strode is a well known ambitious journalist working for Ensign, with a reputation for skewering wealthy and powerful. Academic Callum Conlan is a Irish lecturer and would be writer, if only he could get down to producing the book Polly Souter had commissioned, a lonely and compassionate man who naively befriends an Irish labourer he had gone to school with. Freddie Selves has come from working class roots to become an enormously successful music and theatre impresario, lacking the self awareness as to the consequences of his arrogant behaviour, taking people for granted in his personal and professional life, having to learn the hard way the values of kindness and gentleness.

Quinn writes a captivating novel that brings to life the spirit of London in the late 1970s through the creation and development of his key characters, amidst the death throes of the ruling Labour party, the demise of old alliances, and the clear emergence of the determined, ruthless and powerful capitalist forces with plans to tear down the old order, root and branch, we all know what followed. This is a funny, engaging, dark, brutal and illuminating read, a sensitive and nuanced portrayal of a divided Britain in this critical historical period, with its transparent class divisions, sexism, racism, and a police force with many criminal and corrupt police officers. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

Anthony Quinn’s London, Burning follows four main characters, Vicky, Hannah, Freddie and Callum, in London in late 1970s as their lives intertwine.

The author has clearly researched the period well and has produced an authentic feeling book and story that kept this reader fully engaged throughout.

Definitely recommended

Set in England during the 70's the story centers around Hannah, Callum, Freddie and Vicky. They don't know each other but as the story progresses their paths start to cross.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It covered a period of history that I vaguely remember. It was well researched. It's a gritty and quite dark book but it does have some lighter moments. I enjoyed getting to know the characters. It's my first book by this author but it won't be my last.

Rating: 4.2/5

With "London, Burning" Anthony Quinn has produced a captivating and well-written novel that is certain to evoke memories - fond or otherwise - in the minds of readers from the "Baby Boomer" generation.

Set at the end of the 1970s, the story revolves around the lives of four characters: Vicky Tress, a young police officer; Hannah Strode, a journalist working for a left-wing newspaper; Callum Conlan, an Ulsterman working as a lecturer in London; and Freddie Selves, a successful, but troubled, theatre impresario. At the outset these four individuals are unknown to each other, but as events transpire, they will come to have a significant influence on each other's lives.

The story of each of these protagonists is engaging in its own right, but Anthony Quinn does a wonderful job of creating a plotline that interweaves the four strands in a way that is entirely believable, rather than coming across as unnaturally contrived. Along the way, there is some delightfully evocative writing that really conjures up the essence of British life in the late '70s. At one point I did begin to question what form the real drama was going to take, or whether "London, Burning" would simply be an enjoyable and well-observed stroll through this period of history. I needn't have been concerned. The scene-setting builds into a dramatic story that appeals to a range of human senses ... at times shocking, at times amusing, at times poignant ... but always engaging and credible.

I have little doubt that this novel will appeal to readers who lived through this period. They will recognise and appreciate the many socio-cultural references of the day. Less certain is whether younger readers will feel the desire to pick this up too. I would hope so, because regardless of its historical setting, at its heart "London, Burning" relates universally good stories, featuring well-drawn characters.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

This book follows several main characters and we see how their stories intertwine. Vicky is a policewoman who has risen in the force to become a member of CID. Hannah is a reporter with a nose for uncovering details the rich and famous would prefer stay hidden. Callum is a lecturer and writer who is easily led by those who strive to use and corrupt. Finally Freddie is a theatre impresario with a whole bunch of issues and problems of his own. Quite how these four meet and how their lives impact those of the others, well, that's not for me to detail here as at least it might spoil things but in reality, it's all a bit interwoven and convoluted that I really couldn't do it justice if I tried.
I was only 10 at the end of the 70s so I have scant personal knowledge of what was going on in those times. Of course I have a broad understanding of The Troubles, and vaguely recollect the strikes, but little experience of the rest. But that really didn't matter as the author fleshed it all out to make it easy to totally immerse myself into the era in which he set the book.
The four main characters couldn't be more different but they are bound together by many and differing mutual friends, acquaintances, incidents, and events. Their interactions felt completely normal and not at all contrived to keep the story going, Instead, the narrative flowed along well, meandering as rivers do, branching out to encompass something else along the way. All the way until we reach the end of the book where it all, rather cleverly, comes together nicely.
This is my first outing with this author but on the back of what I read here, it most definitely won't be my last and I am adding his books to my tbr as I type. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

London, Burning is my first Antony Quinn book and I hugely enjoyed it.

The intertwining stories of 4 very different characters: an academic, a police officer, a theatre impresario and a journalist, each of whom brings a rich thread to the overall plot. Set in the 1970s amidst the drag ends of a Labour government, national unrest and a ramping up of action from the IRA, the plot zips along and is an absolute pleasure to read.

With thanks to Netgalley and Little Brown for an ARC.

London’s Burning by Anthony Quinn is my first book from the author, and it won’t be my last. Set in the late 1970’s in London in the time of strikes, IRA bombings, mistrust between one another and just before the collapse of the Labour government and Thatcher coming into power.
The is about four main characters and their stories that intertwine as the story goes on. Vicky Tress is an upcoming police officer, who is honest, but her integrity is tested when she must deal with corruption in the Met.
Frances Selves is a self-absorbed theatre director that only thinks of himself.
Hanna Strode is an upcoming journalist who wants to get the truth out there.
Callum Conlan is a lecturer and a part time writer from Ulster. Meets an old acquaintance from his hometown who he has not seen in years. Agrees to store a hold hall for him. Because of his generosity he gets accused of being a IRA bomber when a bomb goes off and his DNA is on the holdall that was carrying the detonators.
Thank you Little brown for copy of London’s Burning. I had doubts whether I was going to like this book or not but, it surprised how good this book was. This is a great gripping thriller that reminded me of the old times. Especially the crime dramas back in the day. I also enjoyed this because the unique story line as I’ve not come across a story set in the 1970’s for a while. As this is the first book from the author I have read, I will look forward to reading some of the other books that he has written. 5 stars from me.

I’m a confirmed fan of Anthony Quinn’s fiction. I particularly enjoyed the trilogy comprising Curtain Call, Freya and Eureka so I was keen to read his latest London, Burning (2021).

As usual Anthony Quinn evokes a palpable sense of time and place, here it’s London in the late 1970s. The beleaguered city is in the grip of strike action with the Callaghan government on its last legs and Thatcher waiting in the wings, elsewhere the IRA are planting bombs, the Metropolitan Police are blighted by corruption, and punk rock is part of the soundtrack.

London, Burning tells the story of four disparate characters whose stories overlap and converge. It’s very cleverly executed and each character is compelling and interesting. It all builds up to a gripping finale which concludes a supremely enjoyable novel.

Highly recommended

5/5

I loved his previous book "Our friends in Berlin" and was hoping for a sequel but this is a quite wonderfully written, plotted and evocative novel about London in the late 1970s just before the rise to power of Margaret Thatcher.

It is a London riven with discord, discontent and fear. The unions are flexing their muscles, the rubbish lies rancid and uncollected and the IRA are mounting a war of terror with a car bomb campaign.

Everything is seen through the eyes of four sympathetically drawn characters. Vicky Tress, a policewoman whose honesty and integrity is put to the test, Hannah Strode, a talented journalist on the rise, Callum Conlan, a naive Irish writer and lecturer who mixes with the wrong crowd and finally Freddie Selves, a smugly successful director with an inflated view of his own self-importance.

Their lives are drawn together in a wide ranging and intoxicating brew of terrorism, political high jinx, misogyny and corruption and the read is an exhilarating one.

This is deservedly bound to be a best seller and likely to be made into a film.

Highly recommended.

Very good. Like a series of :Line of Duty, with, inevitably, some of the strands appearing stronger than others. That said, very engrossing and London of the late 70s well captured.

This is the first Anthony Quinn book I've read but I will definitely be purchasing his back catalogue after this. London, Burning is set in late 1970s London - a place of strikes, IRA bomb threats and a Labour government on the brink of collapse. Quinn brings this era alive with a great sense of place, historical accuracy and characters I really cared about. I raced through this beautifully written and plotted novel and would highly recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

This book was a delight to read. Vicky, Hannah, Freddie, and Callum were each vividly drawn, and while I most enjoyed Hannah and Callum’s individual arcs, I read about each with interest. I loved the setting of London in the 1970s and once again enjoyed the quiet details of Quinn’s writing.