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1979

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1979

By: Val McDermid
Narrated by: Katie Leung
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About this listen

The first in a thrilling new series from the queen of crime and an instant Sunday Times best seller narrated by acclaimed Scottish actress and Harry Potter star Katie Leung.

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.

©2021 Val McDermid (P)2021 W F Howe Crime Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction Historical Mystery Psychological Thriller Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Exciting Suspense

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Critic reviews

“McDermid is at her considerable best.” (Guardian)

"No one can plot or tell a story like she can." (Daily Express)

"One of today's most accomplished crime writers." (Literary Review)

"'As good a psychological thriller as it is possible to get." (Sunday Express)
All stars
Most relevant
As ever, a brilliant story from Val! Unfortunately the narration didn't quite do it justice. At times a characterless delivery with some very frustrating mispronounciations (e.g. quay, epitome).

Excellent storyline!

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I was so looking forward to this release as really enjoy Val McDermid’s work but have had to stop listening by chapter 11 due to the narration. The narrator has long pauses all the time which breaks up the flow and are not in the correct place. She is monotone and the intonation is wrong. I’m just going to read this one I think. Enjoying the story so far but it’s being lost through the poor narration.

Having to stop listening due to narration

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Excellent story but I was irritated by the consistent mispronunciation of the common enough Scottish name 'Farquhar' as 'Farkwar'. It astonishes me that Audible don't make more of an effort to check pronunciations, even by running the recording past the author before publishing it. Sorry, Val, but this is a regular feature of your audiobooks that needs improving.

Great story, irritating narration

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I found it hard to enjoy the story because the narration was so disappointing - Monotonous, irritating inflection, mispronunciations. Find it hard to judge the novel because of this. Nice sense of the period but quite slow and not gripping in the way Val McD can achieve.

Narration ruins it

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Great story first I've listened to one of Vals works I definitely will be reading and listening to more

Brilliant

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