“Stellar sequel . . . McDermid is writing at the top of her game.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Ms. McDermid, a skillful plotter, thus builds the framework for an even more elaborate story. Sharp characterizations and startling revelations mark this outstanding work, which is by turns a murder mystery and a chilling tale of historical retribution.”
—Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal
“McDermid has fired up her time machine again and is taking us back to 1989 . . . A riveting look backward from Scotland’s Queen of Crime.”
—Booklist
"1989 is a great snapshot of a now-bygone era that is still eerily familiar. Allie Burns is a no-nonsense character, in much the same way as her creator, and the book pulls no punches whatsoever."
—Ray Palen, Bookreporter
“Readers are mired with Allie in the late ’80s, when mobile phones were the size of lunchboxes when AIDS was ravaging the U.K., when a jetliner was bombed out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, and when the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse. All in all, not a time to be nostalgic for, and true to form, McDermid spins the tale without a whiff of sentimentality . . . You don’t need to read 1979 to hit the ground running with 1989, but you will want to have Wikipedia open to look up all the fascinating historical and cultural moments McDermid references along the way.”
—BookPage