Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister #bookreview

On my blog today, I’m sharing my thoughts on the stunning new novel by Gillian McAllister, Wrong Place Wrong Time.

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It’s every parent’s nightmare.

Your happy, funny, innocent son commits a terrible crime: murdering a complete stranger.

You don’t know who.
You don’t know why.
You only know your teenage boy is in custody – and his future lost.

Somewhere in the past lie the answers, and you don’t have a choice but to find them . . .

MY THOUGHTS

I’ve been excited to read Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister for such a long time now, so when my copy arrived, I jumped to read it straight away. I’ve been a fan of Gillian’s books ever since I read her debut, and her latest book is definitely, in my opinion, her best yet. I love the idea she explores here which makes this novel so different and so compelling. I was so eager to find out what was going to happen and I flew through it in just a couple of sittings.

We meet Jen, who witnesses something so unimaginable; she can’t even begin to comprehend it. Her son has killed someone, right in front of her. Now she has to face the chaotic fallout. But after the night her son becomes a killer, something unusual happens, Jen wakes up the next morning, only it’s the day before the incident has taken place. Has she imagined the whole scenario? But each morning following, when she wakes up, she begins to realise that she is living her life backwards, each day, she is travelling further and further backwards in time. But why is this happening? How can this be happening? Is there a higher purpose here? Does she have the opportunity now to prevent her son from carrying out such an awful crime?

Jen felt very real as I was reading this book. You can feel her anguish as she realises what her son has done. As she begins to realise that she is travelling backwards in time, you can see just how scared and frustrated she feels. Jen has no idea why this is happening. Like Jen, I wanted to know what was happening to her, and I wanted to see if there was any way she could prevent what was going to happen to her son in the future.

We also hear from the point of view of a person called Ryan. It isn’t quite clear how Ryan fits into the story, but Gillian McAllister reveals why he is there in such a clever way. I thought the chapters told from his point of view were very intriguing. I have to say there is a jaw dropping moment as the final truths come to light.

I’m certain Wrong Place Wrong Time will be in my top ten reads of the year. It is such a clever, original novel and I highly, highly recommend it.

Publisher: Michael Joseph

Publication date: 12th May 2022

Print length: 416 pages

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister is available to buy:

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That Night by Gillian McAllister #bookreview

On my blog today, I’m sharing my thoughts on the gripping new novel by Gillian McAlllister, That Night.

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What would you do to protect your family?

ANYTHING.

During a family holiday in Italy, you get an urgent call from your sister.

There’s been an accident: she hit a man with her car and he’s dead. She asks for your help.

She’d cover for you, so will you do the same for her?

But when the police come calling, the lies start . . .

And you each begin to doubt one another.

What really happened that night?

Who is lying to who?

MY THOUGHTS

I’m a huge fan of Gillian McAllister’s books, and I think her latest, That Night, is her darkest and most chilling story yet. I was gripped from the first page and I did not want to put it down. It examines just how far a person will go to protect someone who they love.

Gillian McAllister opens her latest book with a shocking opening, when Frannie hits a man with her car and kills him while on holiday in Italy. Right from the get-go the tension is there as Frannie struggles to come to terms with what has happened, and when she contacts her family for help, they face an impossible choice. I had to know if her brother and sister would help her cover up what had happened, and what this would do to their relationship.

I loved the way how Gillian McAllister drew us into her character’s lives. They are all well rounded, and the moral dilemma at the heart of this story adds real tension between them. There is a lot of emotion in this book as well, as they come to terms with what they have done, and they are constantly living in fear of their crime being discovered. It did make me wonder how they could go on to try and live a normal life after disposing of a body, while knowing, that out in the world somewhere, there would be people looking for that person.

This novel did make me wonder what I would do if I was in Joe, Frannie and Cathy’s situation. I’m sure many readers will be thinking the same. I don’t think I, personally, would be very comfortable with making the decision that Frannie’s siblings did.  

As she has done expertly in all of her books, Gillian McAllister delves into the lives of her characters and she brings them to life on the page. She really explores well how much of an impact the decision they made on the night of the accident has on them. It was really interesting to see how things would proceed for them all, and whose conscience would weigh the heaviest.

If you love character driven psychological thrillers, then I highly recommend That Night. Gillian McAllister is such a good writer, and you definitely need to read her books if you haven’t done so yet already.

Publisher: Penguin

Publication date: 8th July 2021

Print length: 448 pages

That Night is available to buy:

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How To Disappear by Gillian McAllister #bookreview

I’m delighted to be sharing my thoughts on How To Disappear by Gillian McAllister on my blog today.

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You can run, you can hide, but can you disappear for good?

Lauren’s daughter Zara witnessed a terrible crime. But speaking up comes with a price, and when Zara’s identity is revealed online, it puts a target on her back.

The only choice is to disappear.

To keep Zara safe, Lauren will give up everything and everyone she loves, even her husband.

There will be no goodbyes. Their pasts will be rewritten. New names, new home, new lives.

The rules are strict for a reason. They are being hunted. One mistake – a text, an Instagram like – could bring their old lives crashing into the new.

They can never assume someone isn’t watching, waiting.

As Lauren will learn, disappearing is easy. Staying hidden is harder . . .

MY THOUGHTS

Wow! This book! I still can’t believe that ending. Gillian McAllister has become one of my go-to authors; I don’t even have to read the blurb before I click that pre-order button. How To Disappear is her best book to date. This book will take you on a whirlwind of emotions, and I don’t think I’ll be forgetting about it any time soon. I think this is one of those books where you will want to talk to someone else who has read it straight away; it’ll make the perfect book club read.

Zara is fourteen when she witnesses the horrific attack on a homeless man. But her life and the lives of her family members are changed dramatically when she is placed in witness protection. A group of dangerous men are determined to silence Zara, and when her identity is released online, it puts her in immediate danger. But this group will stop at nothing to track her down, which means that Zara is constantly on the lookout and tensions are always running high.

I can’t imagine what it must be like for people who have to go into witness protection. Just imagine having to give up everything you know; your family; your friends; your identity, it must be soul-destroying. But this is only the beginning. You have to keep up the pretence. One slip up could prove deadly.

Gillian McAllister explores how people in this position must feel in Zara and her mum Lauren. She also explores this with the family who are left behind. You can really see how this has had an effect on them and on how scared they are all the time. You can see how hard it is for them to begin a new life without talking about anything in their past. Lauran and Zara find this incredibly difficult and they are burning to speak to someone about their troubles.

Lauren and Zara’s desire to talk about what they are going through is what keeps the tension in this book, turning up a notch. I was flying through the pages as I kept expecting any moment for either of them to slip up and mention something to someone. Also, I couldn’t trust the people who they were becoming friends with. Gillian McAllister kept me wondering if these people were working with those who were trying to track Zara down and cause her harm, and they were some nasty individuals.

As I said earlier, How To Disappear will take you on a whirlwind of a ride. This is Gillian McAllister’s best book to date, and I can’t wait to read what she writes next!

Publisher: Penguin

Publication date: 9th July 2020

Print length: 480 pages

How To Disappear is available to buy:

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The Evidence Against You by Gillian McAllister #bookreview blog tour @GillianMAuthor @Livvii

I’m delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for The Evidence Against You by Gillian McAllister. I’ve been a huge fan of Gillian’s work since I read her debut and her books just keep getting better and better.

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It’s the day Izzy’s father will be released from jail.

She has every reason to feel conflicted – he’s the man who gave her a childhood filled with happy memories.

But he has also just served seventeen years for the murder of her mother.

Now, Izzy’s father sends her a letter. He wants to talk, to defend himself against each piece of evidence from his trial.

But should she give him the benefit of the doubt?

Or is her father guilty as charged, and luring her into a trap?

MY THOUGHTS

Gillian McAllister knows how to write a gripping novel. Whenever she has a new book out it always go straight to the top of my reading pile, she is one of the best writers of psychological thrillers out there at the moment. Her latest The Evidence Against You is another absolutely compelling read that will keep you turning the pages.

Twenty years ago, Izzy’s mother was murdered and her body left in the woods. Izzy’s father was later found guilty of killing her. Now he has finally been released from prison and is keen to make amends with Izzy, but she soon realises that he means to try and convince her of his innocence. Izzy carefully begins to unpick the evidence that lead to her father’s trial and conviction and startling revelations begin to come to light. Could her father be telling the truth? Was someone else responsible for her mother’s murder?

One thing that Gillian McAllister really writes well in her novels is the relationships that her characters have, and in this book, this was especially the case with Izzy and her husband, Nick. I loved the way how Gillian fleshed out their marriage, and they really become real people, who you could just imagine being a couple that you know.

Izzy was a character who I could root for all the way through. She is someone who has gone through unimaginable turmoil, losing one parent to a heinous act and then to find out that it was her other parent who committed it. It must be very hard even to begin to imagine what that does to a person. Gillian kept me asking questions about Izzy’s dad, was he innocent or was he guilty? I was never sure if he was simply toying with her and I couldn’t help but feel for her as she attempted to try and make sense out of everything that was happening, especially when she was being told repeatedly that there was no mistake in the original conviction. It seemed impossible at times to think that she would ever get to the real truth, as so much time had passed since her mother’s death.

This is another brilliant book from Gillian McAllister that I was very excited to read and it did not disappoint. She is proving to be a psychological thriller writer who is at the top of her game. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

Publisher: Penguin

Publication date: 18th April 2019

Print length: 448 pages

If you would like to purchase The Evidence Against You, you can do so by clicking on one of the following links below.

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No Further Questions by Gillian McAllister Book Review @GillianMAuthor

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The police say she’s guilty.

She insists she’s innocent.

She’s your sister.

You love her.

You trust her.

But they say she killed the person you care about most.

MY THOUGHTS

I was a big fan of Gillian McAllister’s first two novels, Everything but the Truth and Anything You Do Say so I was looking forward to starting her third. No Further Questions is an intense courtroom drama that peels back the layers of a shocking, tragic event, and it has a devastating twist. I was utterly gripped from the first page. Gillian’s books keep getting better and better.

We are introduced to Becky and Martha who are sisters. Martha is a compassionate individual and has recently set up her own charity, based in Kos, Greece to help refugees. After having her daughter, Layla, Martha asks Becky to look after her so she can carry on her important work, and after leaving the country, things soon begin to take its toll on Becky. And it isn’t long before Martha has to rush back to the UK after her daughter is found dead; Becky is on trial for her murder. Martha can’t bring herself to think of the possibility that Martha killed Layla. But as the evidence is stripped away, she realises that she may soon have to accept this as reality.

Gillian McAllister writes her characters so well. Although I could see why Martha wanted to go to Kos and help the refuges, I was shocked that she chose to leave her newly born daughter behind in the UK, and I felt for Becky who already has a young son, Xander to look after. There are lots of emotions that run through this book, and this comes across so well in Gillian’s writing. We are taken into the heart of the action. The case of Layla’s death has already been brought to trial, and we see all the intensity of preceding events unfold, as it is re-lived through the minds of people directly involved in the crime and the witnesses. I could never quite be sure how everything was going to come together at the end. Would Becky be found guilty? This was the question that kept me turning the pages.

The drama in the courtroom comes across very well on the page. I loved that we got to see past events through the minds of different witnesses, who all add something new to the case, and they did get me thinking as I tried to examine the evidence that Gillian put forward as well. This is what made this book so absorbing. What I thought was also interesting, was that parts of the book are told from the viewpoint of the judge. Often, when a trial is taking place, I don’t think of the judge who has to pass sentence, I only really think about the people involved in the case, the police and witnesses, and the jury who have to come to a decision. So it was fascinating to see the case from his perspective as well.

If you enjoy reading novels that will make you think, then I definitely recommend this book. It is a powerful and emotive read that I think will stay with me and in the minds of many readers for a while.

Publisher: Penguin

Publication date: 2nd July 2018

Print length: 421 pages

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