The year is 1989, and journalist Allie Burns isn’t enjoying life. She’s moved from Scotland to Manchester with her girlfriend and fellow journalist Rona. The newspaper she works for has been bought by a media magnate named Ace Lockhart (named in the novel as Rupert Murdoch’s main competitor but for all intents and purposes, he is Rupert Murdoch), which means than rather than write the well-researched think pieces Allie used to do, she is now chasing juicy athlete divorce stories and covering disasters like the Lockerbie plane crash or the Hillsborough disaster, something that weighs increasingly heavy on her. But then, she stumbles upon a story that involves illegal drug tests, which sends her to East Berlin and its ruthless Stasi officers.
I read the previous Allie Burns novel, predictably called 1979, a few months ago and I remember quite liking it. This one, less so, particularly because the plot is just a convoluted mess.
There are a couple of things the novel has going for it. It’s a very interesting time period, with Gorbachov’s glasnost and perestroika heralding the end of Stalinism, Thatcherite Britain slowly coming to an end, the impending collapse of the Soviet Union. Interesting characters such as Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa are frequently name-dropped. A lot was going on in 1989, more than in 1979, which makes the setting more compelling. Unfortunately so much was happening that the author never really seems to know what to do with it; it’s neither just an interesting background feature – which would have been fine – nor an integral part of the story.
Take Allie’s trip to Berlin. A lot is made in the blurb of her imprisonment and questioning by Stasi officers, but the whole thing takes up only a chapter or two and ends with a dud when it could easily have been the most interesting part of the novel. Sure, that would require a significant change in direction of the plot, but if you’re going to underutlise it to this degree then why include it at all? Berlin’s a pretty fascinating town even without the Stasi. The same can be said for the inclusion of the Lockerbie bombing and the Hillsborough crush: both of these had consequences that reverberated through society but here, they simply distract from the plot.
The characters are also somewhat unconvincing. I liked Allie in the previous novel, while she was still finding her way around the masculine world of journalism. Here, though, she falls flat, as does her partner Rona. I will say that it’s nice to have a relationship where both partners communicate and respect each other; when Rona gets a new job, the first thing she does is go home and talk to Allie about in a way that makes clear that they can work something out together. Allie being gay in a time period when this was less than acceptable is interesting (and it leads her to the main story of the novel inasmuch as it has one), particularly the part where Allie quits her job in spectacular fashion and verbally tears her boss a new one when he suggests that what she really needs is for a man to rape her. Allie isn’t superhuman, but she is driven, competent and brave, which makes it all the more weird to see her do some of the insanely dumb things she does.
Other characters are even less compelling. Ace Lockhart is no more than a mean 80s yuppie greed businessman. His daughter Genevieve is all over the place; her character is garbled and makes no sense whatsoever. Rona, while supportive, is little more than a sound board for Allie to voice her ideas and to help her along when she gets stuck. The plot itself simply tries to do too much and fails to tie it all together in a satisfying manner; when I got to the end I barely cared about the whodunnit and, frankly, I forgot all about that aspect of the story.
I recently went to Berlin and on the way back, I watched Atomic Blonde. I was reminded of that when I read this novel. Not that it’s an apt comparison; Atomic Blonde is a lot more fun. For one, it’s a lot better at using the setting (1989 Berlin) to further the story, but it also highlights trendy West Berlin vs drab East Berlin, capitalism vs communism. It’s a fascinating place in a fascinating era, and one of the reasons I picked up this book. McDermid is usually a fairly reliable pick. Unfortunately, this fell flat for me.
Pictured: a cocktail with 1 part Tanqueray blueberry gin, 3 parts Fentimans sparkling rose lemonade, a dash of pink pepper, fresh mint and sliced strawberries. Unlike the book I wholeheartedly recommend it.