1979

Allie Burns, Book 1

By: Val McDermid

Narrated by: Katie Leung

Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Hailed as Britain's Queen of Crime, Val McDermid's award-winning, internationally best-selling novels have captivated readers and listeners for more than 30 years. Now, in 1979, she returns to the past with the story of Allie Burns, an investigative journalist whose stories lead her into world a corruption, terror, and murder.

The year started badly and only got worse - blizzards, strikes, power cuts, and political unrest were the norm. For journalist Allie Burns, however, someone else's bad news was the unmistakable sound of opportunity knocking, and the year is ripe with possibilities. But Allie is a woman in a man's world. Desperate to get away from the "women's stories" the Glasgow desk keeps assigning her, she strikes up an alliance with wannabe investigative journalist Danny Sullivan. From the start, their stories create enemies. First an international tax fraud, then a potential Scottish terrorist group aiming to cause mayhem ahead of the impending devolution referendum. And then Danny is found murdered in his flat. For Allie, investigative journalism just got personal.

The first novel in McDermid's newest series, 1979 is an atmospheric journey into the past with intriguing insight into the present, and the latest addition to McDermid's crime pantheon.

©2021 Allie Burns (P)2021 Recorded Books

I almost returned this book

I felt it started slow. I didn’t like Danny at the beginning.
The story brought up interesting perspectives on what is betrayal and entrapment. Especially relevant in the 21st century.
A view of 1970’s politics was also interesting.
I was pretty well engaged in the book by the 3/4 mark.
A few character developments were well telegraphed in advance but that was fine.
I would recommend the book.

Great story great performance

The characters are believable and well written, the plot unfolds with essential details moving to a surprise conclusion

Glimpse of the Scottish world of journalism

Was sucked right back into the Glasgow I used to inhabit in those years. Val McDermid has the knack of getting the details just right. Enjoyed it a lot and the reader was excellent- apart from a few mispronunciations of “Stranraer”, “epitome” and “slavish”! I must be getting old and crotchety!

Excellent!

Started a tiny bit slow for me but wow it got very good. Excellent story and character development. Reader was great.

Classic McDermid

Since June 2020, I have listened, transfixed, to all of Val McDermid's books and have enjoyed the many variations of her craft. This one takes us back to 1979 - perhaps to the early years of her career as a writer. Similar to uncovering the serial killer's first murder, reading this story might tell us more about the writer than all of those that followed. As always, I love Katie Leung's delivery.

She just knows how to tell a story....

I love Val McDermott's writing and I actually enjoy her standalone novels at this point more than the Tony Hill books. As series often do they have gotten old and it's just hard to find new ways to explore that relationship. But at the end of the day she is a terrific storyteller and writes great characters. I have loved every single one of her standalone books and this is no exception. People complained about the narrator being difficult to understand. I had no issues. her Scottish accent is superb but some people might have to listen to it on a slow down speed.

What a surprise!

I found myself listening to Graham Nortons book club (also here on Audible) about 6 months ago. Funny how this was the last book reviewed and the one I recalled most. I recall the reviewer kind of downplaying how old it was (comparatively) and what a "nice little story " it turned out to be.

The story was FABULOUS! It took me a bit to get the hang of the Scottish accent, but eventually the story rolled over me in a beautiful narration and held my attention throughout

Autocratic greed, surprise babies, government corruption and a dunderheaded attempt to change the political landscape all play a part in a story of young journalists chasing stories worth writing all while trying to find/earn their place in the world . It is wonderfully devoid of gratuitous love stories. Every characters personal and professional life was perfectly woven into the larger story. I really enjoyed this book and will be looking forward to it's follow up.

Don’t read the trailer!

This is another fine example of Val McDermid’s art. It uses 20/20 hindsight to delve into several issues that still plague Scotland, such as independence from the English rule.

I found the narrator charming. Possibly because my Granny was from Scotland and it sounded familiar!

One disappointment was the descriptive blurb in Audible. That blurb mentions a major plot reversal which doesn’t occur until three fourths of the way through the novel. But knowing this thing was going to happen affected my objective enjoyment of the story. I anticipated it at each turn of a chapter, so when it occurred, I found it anti-climactic.

In conclusion, this, to me, isn’t my favorite McDermid novel, but I think at least one other reviews was far too critical. It’s easily worth the one credit it cost me.

Guessing till the end

I was unsure at first about the story because it’s different from the titles of Val’s I normally listen to but kept listening and I am so glad I did.
The characters really grew on me and the plot twists kept you guessing.
I am looking forward to more from Ali Burns and hope she gets with Ronna.

Returned because of reader

Katie Leung has a very pleasant voice, but it's too subtle and the cadence too rhythmic for this subject matter. Need someone with more energy.