Holy Hell Batman, what was that?

I have feverishly obsessed over Gillian McAllister since the release of her debut novel, Everything But The Truth .

My obsession grew with each and every book that followed, Wrong Place, Wrong Time, The Good Sister, and That Night, to name a few.

But

And there is a big BUT....

Then came Just Another Missing Person, and my world literally flipped upside down. How will I ever find a book that will ignite my soul as this one had?

This book sucked on my soul and left me with bubble guts. I will now start out on a search to find a book that will compare to what I have just read. McAllister, set the bar.

This book rains down one heck of an ending and it’s left me grappling with my thoughts in a ball on my floor. I have so many questions and I demand answers!!! I’m shrieking through my tears.

Check on me, I’m not ok.

Teaser :

There’s a man out there. His weapon isn’t a gun, or a knife. It’s a secret.

OLIVIA:

22 years old.

No history of running away.

Last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley.

And not coming back out again.

Missing for one day and counting . . .


JULIA;

The detective heading up the case.

She knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her daughter.

But Julia has no idea how close to home this case is going to get.

Because her family’s safety depends on one thing: Julia must not find out what happened to Olivia and must frame somebody else for her murder . . .

What would you do?

After loving Wrong Place, Wrong Time. I was excited to get an ARC of Gillian McAllister’s new title, Just Another Missing Person.

The plot and characters pulled me right in! Julia Day is a detective put on a missing persons case that is familiar to a case from a year ago…. something seems off, and all sorts of twists and turns start happening to Day along her investigation.

My only complaint, if we even want to call it that really, is similar to Wrong Place , Wrong Time - the actual crime taking place is a bit layered.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher, who granted me a free ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I have read 3 other Gillian McAllister's books. I have loved every other book, so naturally I dropped the other book I was reading and started Just Another Missing Person. This book did not disappoint while begging the question "how far would you go for someone you loved?" It was a slow burn at first but then continued to gain momentum while you drop your jaw at every corner you turn.

Thank you to Netgalley and Just Another Missing Person's publisher for the ARC.

The queen of the plot twist is back and has done it again, but this time the plot twist is a real jaw dropper!

It’s hard to review this book without giving anything away. The book blurb has said said as much as it can really with no spoilers.

What I can say though is how clever and great the entire book honestly is.
Don’t let the title mislead you, yes it is about a missing young woman who suddenly disappears, but it is also so much more than that!

I loved the characters and how they are all so well fleshed out and have their own stories. The lead protagonist, DCI Julia Day, is someone you can’t help but feel fully invested in her story, but for me, my favourite character was Julia’s daughter, Genevieve.
She stole the limelight every time she pops up in the story. Maybe because she reminds me quite a lot of how my daughter was at that age, sharp as a whip at times!

The search for the missing person, Olivia, ramps up the tension as Julia and her favourite detective, Jonathan, head up the case in the Major Crimes Unit. Working around the clock to find her and work out how she just vanished from a dead end alleyway.

Things just keep getting worse for Julia as she gets blackmailed by a stranger, to either plant damming evidence into Olivia’s room or he will go to the police himself and tell everyone the dark secret Julia has been hiding to protect Genevieve, placing her in a moral dilemma. Protect her daughter or becomes something she despises, a corrupt police officer and frame a potentially innocent person.

Brimming with tension, secrets, lies and plot twists this is pretty much going to be a huge bestseller!

Having loved the author's previous book, I was looking forward to this one. I was hoping to love it as well. I found it not quite as compelling. I was slow and plodding in places. The main characters lacking in depth and dimension and depth. The plot twist was more convoluted than it needed to be. It's an ok summer read, but not her best book. Thanks Net Galley for this ARC opportunity.

Gillian McAllister is a maestro at constructing, not just a plot twist, but the literary mindf*ck, and this novel displays her skill at its most brilliant. The reader knows early on that this is not only a police procedural, but a narrative study of the lengths anyone, even a DCI, will go to to protect their family. You spend much of the novel trying to figure out how the missing person case is linked to DCI Julia Day’s own fall from grace. Trust me, you won’t. A brilliant mobius strip of a thriller.

I really wanted to love this but I found it to be slow paced, meandering, drawn out, and never ending. Halfway through there wasn’t an at or any sort of hook and I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. There were way too many characters (some that were introduced halfway through the book) and the shifting chapter perspectives were stunted. Ultimately, this was a lackluster take on our true crime obsessed world.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What if the only way that you could protect a loved one was to violate your own personal boundaries? This novel deals with the moral complexities of that dilemma. Julia, an investigator, gets caught up in such a dilemma during a missing person's investigation. Her choices, the choices of others, and the outcomes of both are surprising.

I loved Wrong Place, Wrong Time, so I'm not surprised at how much I loved Just Another Missing Person! I could not put this down. I loved the characters, the turmoil that Julia feels - a stickler about doing her job well and with integrity, but also needing to protect a loved one because of what happened one night. And the twists! This was an "on the edge of your seat" type of book. I didn't come close to figuring any of it out ahead of time, and I loved every minute of it!

This was a delightful thriller. The twists and turns were a complete surprise. I think I have a new auto buy author!

Just Another Missing Person
By Gillian McAllister
Pub Date: Aug 1, 2023
William Morrow
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
* Thriller, Mystery
One of my new favorite authors. Great writing that kept me interested, I expected a twisty thriller and I got what I wanted. This is a densely plotted thriller and at times I found it difficult to decipher all the pieces.
4 stars

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. I really wanted to like this book, but it was from the point of view of so many different characters that it got confusing. And one of the characters spoke from the second person,while all of the others were first person, so it was even more difficult to follow. The story line was decent with the ending being better than the beginning and middle, but it just didn't do it for me.

Fantastic story! Well-written with well-rounded, believable characters, genuinely tense situations, a quick pace, and a couple twists that will definitely sucker-punch the reader in the best way possible.

I was hooked from beginning to end! Comparing Gillian McAllister's previous book "Wrong Place Wrong Time," this book was just as fabulous. The writing, the character development, the twists and turns, was all so captivating. Already cannot wait for the next one!

Gillian McAllister has become an automatic author for me. A compulsive read, with lots of twists. I really enjoyed this book.

Gillian McAllister is a go-to author for anything psychological and twisty! "Just Another Missing Person" was great!

It was alright, I think certain readers will definitely love this, but the story just wasn't for me. I couldn't get into the plot and I struggled to go back to the book every time I put it down. Still, I'm sure others could find it interesting and worthwhile.

This is another book that I read recently that shocked me by the end. I have this tendency to try to predict how a story is going to end and I love when I can't guess what is going to happen. That's how I feel about this author's books. Lots of twists and turns and beautiful character development. Julia is a cop that is also a mom and a wife, who loves her family. She gets put in a compromising situation and has to decide if she is going to protect her family or stick to her values and integrity. The last chapter is what got me the most though (I won't spoil anything). Seriously so good and highly recommend if you like thrillers and suspense novels.

Entertaining as always. Gillian McAllister is a consistent first purchase for collections where thrillers are popular.

This book starts slowwwww. It was tough for me to push through and get to the good parts in the second half. It felt like the first half was all exposition and setting up the framework for the second half - which should be done outside of the awareness of the reader. Other than pacing, characters were well-written and plot itself was good.