1989 by Val McDermid

 

Investigative journalist Allie Burns is working in Manchester when she hears about the infux of HIV/AIDS victims from Scotland. Having a nose for a story Allie begins to investigate and is shocked by what she finds is happening in Scotland. Even more shocking is the fact that trials on a drug that may be able to slow down the devastating effects of the virus have been closed down because of the side effects. When she discovers the trials have been moved to East Berlin Allie follows the story and ends up putting her life on the line.

I've always been a fan of Val McDermid, the Tony Hill series is one of my all time favourites. A year ago I read the first book in the Allie Burns series, 1979, and loved it. It was great to immerse yourself in investigative journalism and crime solving in the days before modern technology such as mobile phones and the internet.

The nostalgic aspect continues in the second book in the series, 1989. I enjoyed this book even more than the first one, probably because I was in my mid-twenties at the time the book is set and everything seems very vivid. Many of the stories covered still feel as if they happened only yesterday.

There is a time jump of ten years between the first and second books. This time jump gives us a jaded Allie because of the way in which media tycoons changed the way in which print media and journalists worked. The character of Wallace Lockhart has a fleeting resemblance to Robert Maxwell.

Allie's role has changed drastically. Rather than investigative journalism she's now in charge of news for the north of England, mainly dishing out jobs to freelance journalists. However Allie can never avoid the lure of a possible story and a chance conversation sets her on the path of investigating why AIDS victims are relocating from Edinburgh to Manchester. Over thirty years later it's still shocking to read about the way in which people infected with HIV/AIDs were treated by society.

The AIDS story segue's into the Soviet Union's occupation of East Berlin when Allie discovers that drug trials are being conducted there because the inhabitants are more easily controlled. The thought of Moscow controlling what happens in a European city seemed to be in the dim and distant past, and then events of this year make you realise how drastically things can change.

As Allie follows the trail of breadcrumbs she ends up putting her life on the line but refuses to give up in her search for the truth. A fitting conclusion to a massive story-line but we are left pondering what next for Allie Burns?

At the end of the book Val McDermid shares the forty songs she listened to in order to get her head into the world of 1989. This list is right up my street and added to the nostalgia brought about by the story.