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1979

Hardcover / ISBN-13: 9780751583090

Price: £20

ON SALE: 19th August 2021

Genre: Fiction & Related Items / Crime & Mystery

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THE FIRST IN A THRILLING NEW SERIES FROM THE QUEEN OF CRIME, AND AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

McDermid is at her considerable best’ GUARDIAN

‘An irresistible and palpable journey’ PATRICIA CORNWELL

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.

THE NEXT ALLIE BURNS THRILLER, 1989, IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW
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‘A brilliant novel by a supremo of the genre at the height of her powers. A cast of engaging new characters promise to make this an unmissable new seriesPETER JAMES

Remarkable and compelling . . . the Queen of Crime has delivered another masterpieceDAVID BALDACCI

‘Val McDermid is the absolute QUEEN. Allie is a fabulous character, I’ll go wherever she takes me and I’m dying to see what she does nextMARIAN KEYES

‘Packed full of Val McDermid’s trademark brilliance, 1979 is a thrilling snapshot of a fascinating era’ JANE HARPER

Unrivalled. Unmissable. Unforgettable. 1979 is Val McDermid at her nail-biting, heart-rending bestCHRIS WHITAKER

‘McDermid was a newshound at the time and it shows . . . Her best book in yearsTHE TIMES, BOOK OF THE MONTH

‘Allie Burns is off to a flying start, and well worth following down the decadesTHE SCOTSMAN

‘A brilliant thriller, as well as a perfect snapshot of the social and political issues of the time’ LINWOOD BARCLAY

‘A new series from Val McDermid promises to be an event – and 1979 delivers. Full of wit, thrills and incisive social observation and features a marvellous new character to follow through the years to come’ MICK HERRON

Absolutely fantastic. I have been reading Val McDermid for twenty-five years, so I am really saying something when I tell you I enjoyed this novel the mostCHRIS BROOKMYRE

‘The good news is that this excellent novel marks the start of a new seriesGUARDIAN

Brilliant characters, masterful plotting and a pitch-perfect evocation of the heyday of newspapers. I loved itCHRIS HAMMER

‘McDermid can do edge-of-seat suspense better than most novelists . . . An excellent opener to what promises to be an outstanding seriesSPECTATOR

‘A gratifyingly multi-faceted characterFINANCIAL TIMES

‘The work of a writer at the peak of her powersHERALD

‘The fast-paced storytelling flows irresistiblyIRISH TIMES

A pacey read DAILY EXPRESS

‘A sensational novel. A surefire bestseller from one of Britain’s most accomplished writersSUNDAY EXPRESS

‘A nail-biting new series’ OBSERVER

The Crime Queen has done it again and created a character we will all come to know and love. A masterpieceDAILY RECORD

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Reviews

A brilliant thriller, as well as a perfect snapshot of the social and political issues of the time. If there's a novel that better captures what working on a newspaper was like back in the day, I can't think of it
Linwood Barclay
Val McDermid is the absolute QUEEN. It's great that this is the first of a new series. Allie is a fabulous character, I'll go wherever she takes me and I'm dying to see what she does next
Marian Keyes
Packed full of Val McDermid's trademark brilliance, 1979 is a thrilling snapshot of a fascinating era
Jane Harper
Praise for 1979
-
A new series from Val McDermid promises to be an event - and 1979 delivers. It's full of wit, thrills and incisive social observation, and features, in Allie Burns, a marvellous new character to follow through the years to come
Mick Herron
Unrivalled. Unmissable. Unforgettable. 1979 is Val McDermid at her nail-biting, heart-rending best
Chris Whitaker
Absolutely fantastic. I have been reading Val McDermid for twenty-five years, so I am really saying something when I tell you I enjoyed this novel the most. Immersive in its authenticity and pungently atmospheric . . . For someone who remembers the print newsrooms in their heyday, it was a trip into the past so realistic I could smell the fag smoke on my clothes
Chris Brookmyre
A brilliant novel by a supremo of the genre at the height of her powers. A cast of engaging new characters promise to make this an unmissable new series and a thrilling addition to the genre
Peter James
Allie is a gratifyingly multi-faceted character, and the sociopolitical elements here add a frisson
Financial Times
Val McDermid was a newshound at the time and it shows . . . This is her best book in years
The Times, Book of the Month
Brilliant characters, masterful plotting and a pitch-perfect evocation of the heyday of newspapers. I loved it
Chris Hammer
A fast-paced triple whammy of a thriller, with all three plots, each credible, running simultaneously. It uses all the crime-writing skills she has honed over the years, and adds something else - a pin-sharp portrait of tabloid journalism in its messy, misogynistic 1970s heyday. Allie Burns is off to a flying start, and well worth following down the decades
The Scotsman
A fast-paced triple whammy of a thriller, with all three plots, each credible, running simultaneously. It uses all the crime-writing skills she has honed over the years, and adds something else - a pin-sharp portrait of tabloid journalism in its messy, misogynistic 1970s heyday. Allie Burns is off to a flying start, and well worth following down the decades
The Scotsman
Captures the bleakness and misery of the era with pitch-perfect accuracy
Irish Independent
The work of a writer at the peak of her powers
Herald
Her evocation of the Winter of Discontent is spare and skilful . . . allowing the characters, not the period, to take centre stage
Scotland on Sunday
A tour-de-force by the amazing McDermid. From the very first pages she effortlessly transports us back in time . . . The plot and characters are remarkable and compelling. Hopefully, we will see the crackerjack Allie Burns back on the pages. The Queen of Crime has delivered another masterpiece
David Baldacci
The fast-paced storytelling flows irresistibly, and McDermid marshals a wide-ranging cast of characters with aplomb
Irish Times
McDermid can do edge-of-seat suspense better than most novelists . . . An excellent opener to what promises to be an outstanding series
Spectator
A superb evocation of the humiliations and triumphs of being a junior reporter, set against the backdrop of the broken Britain of 1979 . . . Riveting
Daily Express
McDermid is at her considerable best here . . . The good news is that this excellent novel marks the start of a new series
Guardian
While "gripping" is an adjective over-used in book reviews, it's a fitting description of a sensational novel. A surefire bestseller from one of Britain's most accomplished writers
Sunday Express
A novel as touching as it is gripping
Big Issue
A nail-biting new series
Observer
There are all sorts of reasons to love this book, from the unvarnished truth about newsrooms in the late 70s, to glimpses into social history . . . Engrossing
The i
An engrossing read
Sunday Post
The Queen of Crime has done it again, this time with Allie Burns, a relentless investigative journalist who birddogs crime and terror back in the days of typewriters and smoke-filled newsrooms. Masterfully set in Edinburgh, 1979 transports us from the first page. Val McDermid's latest is more than just a compelling story. It's an irresistible and palpable journey that's especially gratifying in today's remote world
Patricia Cornwell
A delightful throwback . . . McDermid looks back in anger - and with some measure of affection - at the vexed era she lived through that gave rise to her socially engaged mysteries
Washington Post
The Crime Queen has done it again and created a character we will all come to know and love. A masterpiece
Daily Record
A pacey read
Daily Express