1989 is the second in the series about investigative reporter, Allie Burns. The first novel is 1979 . I gave 1979 a rating of 3 stars but that may have been generous as the novel didn't really resonate with me. I was hoping that the second novel would be better. I'll always give a Val McDermid novel a go as I have been reading her books for years. I love the Karen Pirie and Tony Hill/Carole Jordan series. I never thought I'd ever be disappointed in a McDermid book, but I don't feel the Allie Burns series is up to McDermid's usual high standard.

I can't connect with Allie and that's reason number 1 why the series has been disappointing so far. McDermid's characterisation is usually spot on, from the main players to the peripheral ones. Allie is too 'light' as a character, as if McDermid is writing a gay character for representation but without any depth. It seems odd to say that, given McDermid is gay herself, but I find Allie and her partner Rona cliched and underdone and that's super disappointing. Their relationship is well...a bit boring, not because they are a lesbian couple, but because they're just not very interesting to read about. The series seems like a missed opportunity to write good lesbian characters.

1989 | Published August 2022 | Read October 2023

The novel set in 1989 is trying to do way too much, just like 1979 tried to do. It feels as if McDermid wanted to pack a whole bunch of historical events of note into the one story and the plot suffers as a result. It's unbelievable that a journalist like Allie would be involved in all the events mentioned in the book. Some of them are so peripheral to the story that the history lessons are lost, too. All these stories made the book feel muddled and distracting.

There's way too much in the first part of the novel on the AIDS crisis, not because I don't want to read about it nor is it unimportant, but because this part of the novel doesn't connect closely enough to the second part of the story so it goes nowhere. The AIDS crisis could have been the sole topic of 1989.

I liked the second part of the novel better as the Second World War, the Cold War and life in East Berlin between 1961 and 1989 are subjects that interest me. Again, they could have been the sole topics of the novel with just a little backstory around the AIDS pharmaceutical trials angle. This part of the book had so much potential to be interesting and intriguing, but it wasn't. Allie discovered the truth in a rush of the final pages of the book and - incredibly for a Val McDermid novel - there was little suspense to the investigation. It was all just rather neatly tied up.

Overall I found all the characters cliched and without nuance. Again, this is very unusual for Val McDermid's characters. I also found her attempts to write about the time period forced and cliched. I realise McDermid is writing in retrospect, but I don't think she took a clever and subtle approach to orienting the reader in late 1980s. This might be because I was a young adult in 1989 and I remember the events McDermid is highlighting in the book. It just seemed to me as if McDermid was writing for a clueless audience that had to have things spelled out, rather than organically painting a picture of the period. Sue Grafton does a much better job of recreating the 1980s in her alphabet series even though I acknowledge that she was writing the first part of the series closer to the time period.

I'm not sure if I will read 1999, 2009 and 2019 when they are released. (I understand there are three more novels planned for the series.) I want to as I love McDermid's work, but I'd prefer to wait for a new Karen Pirie or Tony Hill/Carole Jordan book. It's disappointing, as lately a few of the authors I have read for years and loved have produced books not up to their usual standard. (See my posts on the latest Nicci French, Lee Child, and Kathy Reichs books.)

Rating: ⭐⭐