The Long List – Part 8
Val’s 1989 is number 17 of 20 in this year’s long list that I’ve read. I’m not sure I’ll get to 20 by 5PM on Thursday, but I’ll give it a good crack, as I’m already part way through Billingham’s The Murder Book. I only stopped reading it because I didn’t want to spoil it for myself, because I knew it was related to earlier books. Given that I’m now so close to the end of the list, I’m willing to give it a go, as I was enjoying it anyway.
Val’s book, much like most of her books, has a heavy emphasis on social commentary; particularly this book and her earlier one, 1979, as they reflect what happened in those years in her own life as a journalist, taking in the aids epidemic, Hillsborough and the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
With these three elements there is a death and a really complex story available. With a ten year gap between the stories and the use of the same characters, at times it was hard to remember the links between books one and two. I know that once the series is over, I’ll be more than likely to read them again to get the complete context.
I really enjoyed it, although the element of HIV was slightly depressing, although I have seen that story in Channel 4’s It’s a Sin, which was even more dramatic. Although I was only 3 at the time, I’ve only heard about the aids epidemic through music, just like lots of people of my generation. It was really nice to hear of Val’s musical inspirations for the book and I’m really looking forward to 1999, as this will be when I was 14. I wonder what background elements she’ll choose for that and what she’ll make Allie do next, as the arc of her personal life did get more complicated as she transferred into a lesbian relation with her partner, whereas in 1979, it was hidden.
This arc of the story opened really well with someone breaking into a house and leaving dangerous things behind. But what would it lead to and how complicated would Allie’s life get? Going straight into East Germany, looking into aids clinics as well and then the really dramatic, but emotional short depiction of Hillsborough. I’ve watched this on tv many times as a student of criminology, and it was dramatic enough for me looking at it through the prism of the past, but for someone who was there, or a journalist at the time, it must have been really scary.
I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the Theakston’s list and once again it will be really difficult for me to choose my favourite.
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/1989-Audiobook/B09SVML812?ref=a_library_t_c5_libItem_B09SVML812_0&pf_rd_p=7e7340a8-8768-4798-a0ce-83f879c09110&pf_rd_r=0E3PKEMCR6MPY44GM9HA&pageLoadId=vBCRHnQHkI99oBeH&creativeId=14d6a1c2-a3f8-499b-900a-1ae788c317b1
The Murder Book has been possibly the most complicated book for me to read this year. Although there have been other series novels in the list, the vast size of Mark’s catalogue means that the books that are interlinked with this one may be quite a way back. When it comes to others like Elly Griffiths and MW Craven, because they’ve been nominated regularly within the current longlist, I’ve been able to read them in some semblance of order, even if I’ve missed a few out. Although I’ve always been a big fan of Mark’s, with the reviewing, it has always been difficult to read a large catalogue from the beginning, so there were a couple of elements in this story, which although I knew were related to earlier books, I missed out on a few of the nuances, but it doesn’t make the story any less entertaining or any less complicated.
The use of the serial killer obsessive was a really interesting angle, which I’ve read before and Mark even references one of the books in the acknowledgments, by Craig Robertson. Serial killers are a really interesting element of crime fiction, although I’ll always assert that the US makes it easier for serial killers to be more plausible than those in the UK.
The tension that the serial killer creates for fans of crime fiction is an obvious reason why. It’s a method of storytelling within the genre that writers always come back to and somebody that has been reading crime fiction for as long as I have, the first time a serial killer has been involved in multiple books was by Patricia Cornwell, in her Temple Gault mini series. But to have an antagonist running throughout a series is something which keeps fans intrigued. Just look at Rebus with Cafferty.
The number of characters that returned in The Murder Book was one thing which a lot of Billingham fans will be pleased about. There was one new character which I was intrigued by and that was the IT analyst. It’s a shame I’m not so good at using computers, or my hands weren’t so crap, as that could have been me. I really enjoyed this book and now that I have a larger gap in my reading schedule as I have started my own writing, I will be able to get around to reading Mark from the beginning. I already have several of his books in my library waiting for me to do this.
This year’s Theakston’s list has had loads of established names in it and has been perfect for the 20th anniversary. It has made it really difficult to choose who the winner will be, though.
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Murder-Book-Audiobook/B09SJP243M?ref=a_library_t_c5_libItem_B09SJP243M_5&pf_rd_p=7e7340a8-8768-4798-a0ce-83f879c09110&pf_rd_r=ZGRV9N7ZWWJP9SREEKNN&pageLoadId=r9VMxWlN3AgLS6tO&creativeId=14d6a1c2-a3f8-499b-900a-1ae788c317b1
