I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for an advance copy of 1979, the first novel to feature reporter Allie Burns, set in Glasgow in 1979.

Allie has just landed a reporting job at the Daily Clarion, a Glasgow tabloid, but to get away from miracle baby type stories and make her mark in the male dominated newspaper world she needs some hard hitting stories. She teams up with fellow journalist, Danny Sullivan, to investigate first white collar crime then home grown terrorism.

I thoroughly enjoyed 1979 which is a good thriller with a slightly old fashioned feel to it and most apt for the setting. Of course, it being set in home territory for me doesn’t hurt as familiarity with the locations and local patois (or patter as we like to call it) creates a vested interest and identification.

The novel is told from Allie’s point of view with Danny providing an expanded viewpoint as necessary. This allows the reader to get involved in the story and root for them when the going gets tough. Interestingly the novel covers not only their investigation but the fight to get what they’ve uncovered published. There is plenty of discussion with lawyers and the news editor before print. It’s an aspect of journalism that most of us don’t think about. There is another matter of the law raised that seems preposterous to us in the 21st century, but was the case in 1979.

The two major investigations that Allie and Danny scoop are slightly perfunctory, because it’s what happens after them that leads to the third scoop, the saddest of them as it becomes personal.

The novel held my attention throughout for the writing style that urges the reader on, the great period setting and the home location. The plot is good as well with three mini plots and a bit of fluff reporting to really show the working life of a junior reporter, albeit one with ambition.

1979 is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

The start of a new series, 1979 marks something of a change of direction for Val McDermid as she moves away from a crime fiction setting into investigative journalism.

Here we are introduced to Allie Burns, an investigative journalist working for the Glasgow Daily Clarion, looking to make a name for herself with something a little more substantial than the ‘women’s stories’ usually assigned to female journalists. Alongside her colleague Danny Sullivan, she enters a world of international fax fraud, attempted terrorism and, eventually, murder...

I’m a huge fan of Val McDermid and have read the majority of her work. Although on the whole I enjoyed this book, I do have mixed feelings about it. The plot of 1979 can be roughly divided into three sections; I felt that each seemed to lack the detail and depth I would normally associate with the author and the eventual denouement seemed decidedly rushed. Some of the characters also felt a little less nuanced than I would expect; Danny in particular seemed rather unrealistically naive, given his profession. Ultimately, perhaps investigative journalism is not as engaging to me as a police procedural.

There is plenty of potential for this series, moving forwards. I’m looking forward to seeing how the character of Allie develops. I also think the period setting offers plenty of scope for the author to explore the attitudes and politics of the time. I will definitely continue with the series.

For me this was a solid read, but perhaps not one of McDermid’s best.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The weather's very bad in the winter in Scotland. So it comes as no surprise that the train which journalists Allie Burns and Danny Sullivan are travelling on is going nowhere.

But their careers are going somewhere. When the story generated by the strange circumstances gives them headlines, Danny admits to Allie that he's working on something much bigger...and far less pleasant.

What unfolds will make 1979 a year to remember in Scotland for all the wrong reasons.

Classic Val McDermid - brilliant

A new book by 'Queen Of Crime' Val McDermid is always a big event, the first book in a new series? One of the most anticipated books of the year.

Set in 1979, the two main characters are Danny Sullivan and Allie (Alison) Burns, junior reporters on the Clarion, Scotland's best selling daily paper.

The characters, the period and the atmosphere are brilliantly portrayed, with an unflinchingly authentic attention to detail drawn from the author's own life and career.

The plot? At first it feels a bit different, where are the Police, who's committing the serious crimes? It starts with Danny and Allie chasing stories to report on and it doesn't take long to undercover the big one that could cause them both a lot of serious trouble.

If you've read Val McDermid's books you'll know they can often start slowly, before building up to a vice-like tension, and she's done it again here. The second half is spectacular, with a completely unpredictable plot wrapped around the characters you've already got to know so well.

Absolutely compelling, deeply emotionally involving, simply brilliant and the best new book from Val McDermid for a few years. A contender for the book of the year.

I can't wait to see where these characters go next.

Thanks to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group.

Hang on,hang on. A McDermid book with no psycho killer and no bodies stacking up? How can this be?
This can actually be,very very good.
The first in a new series,that gives us journalist Allie Burns in Scotland 1979.
Where McDermid has amazingly made it feel fairly modern. So many times the lack of today's modern technology makes a story feel dated,but not so this time.
Full of characters that will hopefully become firm fixtures,I'm hoping to get to know the offices of the Clarion fairly well over next few years.
Nicely plotted,full of details of the time,and just an all round blinking good read.
But with McDermid,when is it never?

1979 by Val McDermid

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.
I enjoyed the first in a new series, we are introduced to Allie Burns & Danny Sullivan who are journalists who are waiting to hit it big with the best scoops.
Danny is on the cusp of getting the news on a Mr . Big and he is secretly doing it through his businessmen brother .
What I like about novels by Val McDermid is that she really gets under the skin of her characters , good or bad . This gives us , the reader a real insight to the underbelly of those we'd never meet in real life.
A very good read.

An enjoyable insight into the life of Allie Burns, whose career as a reporter is in the ascendant due to her nose for a story.

Written over the course of 1979, the book is in turns reportage, investigative and a gentle mystery.

It was an enjoyable read, and I would recommend it.

Allie Burns #1.

As 1978 makes its cold snowy way for 1979 will the Winter of Discontent make way for better times? Widespread strikes and industrial action, galloping inflation, pay curbs, high unemployment, demonstrations, waste piling up in streets, bodies unburied ..... terrible news for the public but sadly great copy for journalists like Allie and Danny Sullivan of The Daily Clarion in Glasgow. The two team up to investigate a story Danny has sniffed out through his brother Joseph with a potential insurance scam which evades the 83% higher rate band of tax for the wealthy. The second is highly topical as it looks at the way forward for Scotland and devolution with a highly dangerous conspiracy.

I really like the central character of Fife born, Cambridge graduate Allie, she feels very real as do the issues she faces as a woman in the 70’s with the misogyny and sexism making your fists involuntarily curl in sympathy. Danny is a terrific character too and the family dynamics angle of his storyline is extremely good and you feel his pain. All the characters are well portrayed (there are a lot though!) and as you’d expect from Val McD we have some excellent strong female characters in addition to Allie. Especially likeable is Rona Dunsyre and I’ve a sneaky feeling she’s going to be very present in the next instalment!

The novel is extremely good contextually both in political references and events and in social commentary via music and writers such as William McIIvanney and PD James. I wish I could say I don’t remember these awful times with the dying embers of the Jim Callaghan government before the advent of the Iron Lady but sadly I do all too clearly. It resonates though it’s not a happy trip down memory lane but I think it makes an excellent backdrop to this new series. The times are hard which is an apt reflection of the events the journalists are investigating and it adds an extra layer of authenticity. The journalism angle is totally believable which is no surprise with the authors background. I find both storylines interesting though the second is grittier, much more tense and scary and way darker evoking painful memories. It’s well written, it’s not especially fast paced at times but that suits some of the stories Allie writes about and it gets much faster once the devolution story comes aboard. The dialogue is good, there is some humour to ease tension and there’s plenty of Glasgow ‘colour’ provided by characters, places and er, the ?healthy? diet!

Overall. I can’t wait to see what Allie gets up to next and where her life and career journey takes her - this is the start of another good Val McDermid series in my opinion.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Little Brown Book Group for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

I'd love to say I'm not old enough remember 1979 but I'm be almost lying. Almost. I'm old enough, technically, memories are a bit sketchy though. I've photos from around that era, but I can't say I've got much by way of conscious recollection of the era, and as a toddler/mini human, in spite of holidaying in Scotland most summers around that time, I certainly had no awareness of the call for devolution or the IRA or an of the other moments of history that come to inform 1979. For me, seeing the past through aged and acutely aware eyes made this a very intriguing and engrossing story. Although fictionalised, much of what happens in this novel is grounded in truth, and taken from the very real history of Scotland at this time. It's given the Val McDermid treatment, obviously, but combining that fact and fiction gave the whole book a kind of authenticity that you could almost picture it as more a biography than a work of fiction.

And maybe the reason for that lies in the author's own experiences and history which are echoed in the book. This is the story of Allie Burns, a relatively new journalist, struggling to be taken seriously in a career, and a world, that is still dominated by men. She is a woman who knows what she wants, is ambitious and is clearly very switched on and with an eye for a story, as any good journalist should be, but pushed into producing the fluff pieces for the Clarion, the Glasgow based newspaper where she works. Stories deemed far more suited to her gender, if not her talent. Against the odds, she finds herself front and centre of two major scoops for the paper, one of her making, one in support of friend and colleague Danny Sullivan, both stories that will send shockwaves across the city.

I really liked Allie as a character. She is very down to earth, but determined. There were a couple of times when you have to wonder if her journalistic spidey senses were always working at full strength given she missed some rather clear signals about at least one of the people in her life, but when it comes to a story, she is absolutely spot on. She has a real nose for it, able to take a basic lead and find the real story at the heart of it. Intrepid, I suppose. Maybe a trifle cliched, but often used to describe an investigative journalist, and in this case quite fitting. Between them, it's fair to say that Allie and Danny push the boundaries a little when chasing a story, but all for the greater good and it certainly adds a layer of tension and urgency to this particular story.

This is a slower paced book, a good deal of it spent in the setting up of the investigations as well as getting to know the key players within the story. That's not to say that it is without the tension or the pace. It isn't. The book is set at a very key moment in Scottish history, with the bid for devolution and separation from Westminster, with shadows cast across the story from the other side of the Irish sea, and the ongoing conflict between the armed forces and the IRA. Add in another story thread which could have been ripped from the headlines in the past couple of years, never mind the end of the seventies, a story of the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor and you get a really intriguing and compelling look into the world of journalism that will make you smile, laugh, pause and hold your breath in equal measure. There is also an element of murder mystery in this book, a story which becomes very personal for the Clarion team and which enhances the sense of threat that builds in the latter stages of the book. There are so many suspects, so many people with cause to hold a grudge against the victim, that you could almost play eeny-meeny to take a stab at who actually did it.

I'm really intrigued to see where Val McDermid takes this series. Allie is a character who has real potential to develop and grow, both in her career and learning more about her personally, and there are so many headlines and incidents from the early eighties that inspiration shouldn't be lacking. You are really drawn into the heart of this novel with characters and stories so well fleshed out that they feel real. The fact that the author is able to draw on her own experience, coupled with her natural ability to spin a bloody good tale means I am definitely looking forward to reading more.

Oh it was great to be transported back to 1979, away from current COVID restrictions. I’d truly forgotten what we worried about in the 1970s but Val McDermid’s new crime thriller certainly jogged my memory. It also reminded me of the fabulous pop stars and music of the day- I was a big Bay City Roller fan and I could just imagine driving along with the Tom Robinson Band on the car radio as Danny does!
Allie Burns is a young reporter working in Glasgow for The Clarion, fresh from Cambridge and a journalism course she is keen to make an impression with her new colleagues. However this is not 2021 and she is a woman working in a man’s world. She is tough and does not suffer fools gladly but has to put up with poor assignments which are apparently “suitable for a woman” as well as a level of mysogony from her male colleagues.
She is drawn to Danny, another young reporter. He treats her well and once trust has been established he invites her to help him on an assignment to bring down an insurance company that is committing fraud by aiding clients to evade tax. His own brother is involved and he is very torn about how to investigate the story without revealing that Joseph is involved.
Scotland in the 1970s is looking towards devolution and some want independence- not so different from nowadays. However Danny and Ally get involved in a nationalist terrorist plot involving the IRA as they go undercover to research their story.
This is a gritty and compelling read with a fabulous cast of characters. Allie Burns really got under my skin and I’m definitely looking forward to her next outing as this book has been advertised as the first in a new series.
The setting was well described, and I really felt that I was walking the streets of 1970s Glasgow. The cold of the freezing Winter was almost like another character in the book. The prejudices of this time were many and it’s hard to believe that it was only 40 years ago. How glad I am that things have changed in a more positive way in 2021.
The newspaper setting was very authentic- it was obvious that the author had first hand knowledge of working for the press at this time.
My overall impression was that this was a fabulous read and I highly recommend it .
Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

The prolific crime writer Val McDermid begins a new series featuring an ambitious investigative journalist, Allie Burns, a Fife Cambridge graduate, a grunt reporter working for the Glasgow Daily Clarion in 1979. This is a particularly politically turbulent period of British history with its winter of discontent, the power cuts, the strikes, paving the way for the election of the Conservatives under the radical and divisive defining leadership of Maggie Thatcher. This book captures the time, with its culture, music, literature, films, the newspaper industry with its boys only culture which McDermid was a part of, lending an authenticity to her storytelling, with the social norms and attitudes of the era, the sexism and the misogyny, and the widespread prevalence of anti-gay attitudes that could ruin lives and careers.

Allie is lonely, and struggling to get allocated any meaningful stories, but she finds friendship and professional support from fellow journalists, Rona Dunsyre, and particularly Danny Sullivan with whom she builds a close relationship whilst working on 2 exclusive scoops that is to make both their careers. Their investigations take them into a world of danger, corruption, terror and a tragic murder. Danny first brings in Allie on a story that he picks up from his adopted brother, Joseph, who works as a junior clerk at Paragon Investment Insurance (PII) and with whom he has an uneasy relationship with. Danny struggles when it comes to writing his stories effectively and he wants Allie to help polish his story before presenting it to Angus Carlyle, the editor. Allie returns the favour when she uncovers an incendiary potential lead that involves the impending Scottish devolution referendum and the IRA.

Both Danny and Allie are natural born journalists, but have to fight hard to get themselves taken seriously in a cut throat business, neither can resist the lure of potential exclusives, and do not wait for them to land in their laps. Not everyone in the newspaper industry is like them, for so many others its the wages, the expenses, being one of the lads in their 'banter', the companionship of the hard drinking culture, not to mention the sheer swagger of the job, that keeps them going. This is a great start to McDermid's new series, Allie makes for a charismatic lead, on a sharp learning curve, whose world is torn apart when she discovers the murdered body of Danny at his home. I can see this appealing to many crime and mystery readers, particularly those interested in this interesting historical period. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Alison – Allie – Burns is chasing her first big scoop. After years studying in Cambridge, she’s back in Scotland hoping to be taken seriously in a newspaper newsroom. But this is 1979, and the old boys’ club is still out in force, no matter how talented she is. However, Allie joins forces with fellow journalist Danny Sullivan on the story of their young lives. Danny needs Allie as much as she needs him, and together they work on exposing the criminal underbelly of what is considered respectable Scotland. It’s not pleasant work, and it will mean more casualties than expected… but what price will the pair put on the truth? The duo are quick to make enemies, people who do not want their seedy practices revealed but when Allie uncovers a homegrown terrorist threat, she’s got a plan. Will it work? One thing is for sure: neither are willing to back down. I was interested to learn this is the first in a new series and if so, then Allie Burns has got my undivided attention.