Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the advance copies--all opinion are my own!

This was beautifully written, as is everything Gillian McAllister writes. I was drawn in right away by the premise, the heart wrenching events of the siege that kick off this story, but I stayed for the moving journeys of Cam and Niall, who both grieve and grow in the wake of the siege that leads their lives to intersect. I read most of this on my kindle and thoroughly enjoyed it in that format, but I finished the story with my ALC (thank you, Libro.fm!) and loved the narration as well.

Thank you Netgalley and William Marrow Books for the ARC Famous Last Words. This is the first book I have read of Gillian McAllister and I need to read more. This plot kept me engaged the entire time I read it.
This book is a must read.

I really enjoyed McAllister’s Wrong Place, Wrong Time so I was excited to read her newest release. The book had a great start and interesting premise. It shows how sometimes you can never really truly know a person, even those that are close to you. The story did lose a little momentum in the middle as far as the suspense goes, but the author delves further into the characters connecting them with the reader, and giving a greater insight into their mindsets. There were several twists throughout the story, which I enjoyed. One I saw coming right away, but thought it was clever nonetheless. Another twist seemed kind of obvious, but I couldn’t tell how all the pieces fit together and I definitely did not see that ending coming. Overall, this was an enjoyable thriller and I would recommend it.

Read if you enjoy:
✔️Crime thrillers
✔️Hostage situations
✔️Dual POV (wife of the perpetrator and the hostage negotiator)
✔️Time jumps

Thank you William morrow books and NetGalley for my ARC!

I am a fan of Gillian McAllister’s work and this book continued her legacy of delivering compelling, thoughtful plots with interesting and relatable characters. As someone who reads a lot in this genre, I found the plot in this book refreshing. Highly recommend this book!!!

Gillian McAllister’s Famous Last Words is an absolutely gripping thriller that had me hooked from page one. I love her writing style—sharp, immersive, and full of tension. This story is told in multiple POVs, but uniquely, it all unfolds on a single timeline, which kept the pacing tight and the stakes high.

The twists in this book just keep coming—some I saw coming, and others completely shocked me. The unraveling of secrets, the emotional weight of the choices made, and the way the story plays with perception all made this a standout read. I also really loved the characters and the intricacies of the plot. Camilla’s journey, in particular, was so compelling, and I found myself completely invested in her struggle to understand the unthinkable situation she’s thrown into.

McAllister proves once again that she’s a master of suspense. If you love thrillers that keep you guessing while delivering an emotional punch, Famous Last Words is a must-read!

loved the twists and turns in this book. loved that they were chatting by Spotify playlists and were able to figure things out on this long day. family was interesting.

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister is a very highly recommended thriller/novel of suspense full of twists and surprises. It is a story about a marriage, a crime, and so many secrets.

Camilla (Cam) is returning to work as a literary agent after nine months of maternity leave. Her husband Luke has already left for the day. He left a note, so she tries to contact him via texts and continues on to drop their daughter Polly off at daycare. While at work the news breaks about a hostage situation in London. The police arrive, and Cam learns Luke is involved. But he isn't a hostage, he is the gunman - and he escapes. This turns her world upside down. How well does she know her husband and was her life built on a lie?

This is a well-written, excellent, and satisfying thriller packed full of twists, clues, and secrets. The narrative is told through three parts, and unfolds through the point-of-view of Cam and Niall, a police detective/hostage negotiator. After a fast-paced start, the middle part slows down the pace a bit, but it also provides all manner of clues and hints to pick up. Then the pace quickly picks up again to a surprising ending. You have to set some disbelief aside while reading, but the twists, secrets, clues, and reveals are worth it.

Cam and Niall are fully realized, believable characters with strengths and flaws. Both are introspective, intelligent, thoughtful characters. The hostage situation affected both Cam and Niall over the years and as the search for Luke continued. Cam's love of reading books will resonate with many as will her devotion to Luke in spite of everything.

Famous Last Words is an excellent, twisty thriller. Thanks to William Morrow for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

I have loved Gillian McAllister's previous two books and was so excited to receive an early copy of this one. I couldn't put it down -- it is such a page turner and I had to find out how it was going to resolve.

I loved Cam's character -- I felt for her as a mother and really enjoyed her as a person, and especially her relationship with her sister. I loved seeing Polly grow up and become a quirky kid as well.

I am sure some people feel this one is unbelievable but those parts didn't bother me -- I really was along for the ride and enjoyed every bit of it. I loved the end and while I saw some of the twists coming, it didn't take away from it for me.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes slightly stressful, fast=paced thrillers!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Famous Last Words had the most compelling opening and premise I've seen in a long time! The first 15 percent gripped me right away. That being said, the middle seemed to drag. Not much was happening plot wise, and I struggled to stay invested. The final 15 percent picked up and held my attention, and I found the ending to be really satisfying.

My first McAllister book, definitely not going to be my last. So many great characters and story telling!

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collin’s

This fast-paced thriller hooks you from the very first page, starting with a tense hostage standoff and unraveling into a story packed with twists, danger, and heart. What begins as a simple night of driving his baby around to sleep turns into a life-changing moment, forcing a father to make an unthinkable choice to protect his family.

The author masterfully creates a vivid atmosphere—you can practically hear the city streets, feel the tension, and sense the weight of every decision. The characters are easy to connect with, making their struggles feel real and urgent. Just when you think you know what happened that night, the story takes another unexpected turn.

It’s an engaging and suspenseful read, perfect for fans of mysteries and detective work, but also those who appreciate deep themes of love, family, and trust—even when the evidence suggests otherwise. A must-read for anyone who loves a thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end!

Just wow. I don’t even know where to begin because this story completely wrecked me—in the best possible way. It was all thriller with soul, and I felt every second of it deep in my bones. It wasn’t just about the tension, the danger, or the unpredictable twists (though those were perfectly executed). It was about the people. They weren’t just characters; they felt real—flawed, human, making mistakes, trying their best, sometimes failing, sometimes surprising me in ways I didn’t see coming.

And that’s what made this so gripping. Both sides—because yes, there were sides—were messy, complicated, neither fully good nor fully bad. That moral gray area? It made everything so much more intense because I cared. I cared so much that my heart was pounding, that I was holding my breath, that I was right there with them, feeling every ounce of fear, hope, regret, and desperation.

And at the end? After all the chaos, all the heart-stopping moments, all the impossible choices—they left me feeling. I was devastated, but my heart was warm, too. Because somehow, despite everything, there was something human in it all. Something real. Something that made every pulse-pounding moment worth it.

This was perfection, not because it was flawless, but because it wasn’t. It had imperfections in all the right places, just like the people in it. Just like real life. And that made it unforgettable.

I love a good thriller, and this delivered for me! I loved wrong place wrong time by this same author, so I was excited to read something new from her. I enjoyed a lot of aspects of this book, including the dual perspective, the plot, and the conclusion. The pacing was definitely heavier on the latter half of the book, I feel like the plot could not even begun to be solved until around 60 percent through, but the beginning of the novel laid the groundwork for the development of the story. I enjoyed how the story was laid out, what hints were given along the way, and ultimately how the story concluded. As a book nerd, I also ended up really enjoying that this had an undertone of publishing and was wrapped up in the publishing industry. Overall, really solid and enjoyable thriller!

Thank you to William Morrow Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received this as an arc from netgalley. This was a book you wanted to continue to read and see what would unfold. A few connections made and realizations that weren’t expected but not surprising. When left with an open mind it was definitely a really good book. If you already went in with a thriller book readers mind then you may have had it figured out. Some parts I did and some I did not. Would definitely recommend reading.

Famous Last Words is the newest thriller by Gillian McAllister. It’s a standalone, but if you enjoy it, you should read her other books too!

Cam is a new mom. On the morning that she is bringing her baby to daycare for the first time, she wakes to find that her husband has already left. Her sense of unease builds through the day until, finally, the police show up. They think her husband is holding hostages in a warehouse.

As the story unfolds, it alternates between Cam’s point of view and that of the hostage negotiator, Niall. It follows the years after the siege as both Cam and Niall try to get to the bottom of what happened on that fateful day.

I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Thanks to the author, published, and Netgalley. If you like a good page-turner, this is the book for you.

Camilla doesn't know what to make of Luke's note that he left her. When a siege takes place in her hometown later that day, Camilla is shocked when the police turn up at her door, telling her that her husband is the gunman.

This book had me hooked right from the first page. It was intense, well written, hard to put down and had twists I didn't see coming. It had everything I love in thrillers and is definitely one of the author's better books. My only downside is that I found the ending to be a little too unrealistic but this seems to be the case in many thrillers so it isn't too big of a negative.

Gillian earned herself an automatic read for me years ago so I went into this book without even knowing what it was about. I expected it to follow her more recent format with backward timelines. Instead, after a slower start, I was greeted with a tale of hostages and murder and unanswered questions.

How does a wife move on without answers? What really happened to her husband and what is going on now? The further into the book I got, the more immersed I became. It was a thrilling race to the truth where love flowed as the undercurrent which was really cool to see in this type of story.

Cam wakes one morning to find her husband is already gone, so she drops their child off at daycare and heads to work; business as usual. Or is it? Cam has this nagging suspicion that something is off...Luke never leaves without saying goodbye and it's her first day back to work after maternity leave. Surely Luke wouldn't skip out on such a big day. Cam's nagging feeling comes to fruition when she learns Luke is part of a hostage situation except he's not a hostage, he's the gunman.

The ending was a bit much and I wasn't a fan of the side romance plots, but overall I enjoyed this!

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for a honest review.

I would like to thank both William Morrow and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review of the book. I will admit that I was all in for this book. Loved Ms. McAliister take on the situation which is one that we often do not hear about. I was disappointed with the ending and lackluster reveal of who knew what, when and why. There were not enough bread crumbs to care about the ending. Her time jump in the final chapter just left me sad. She denied not to write the hard stuff and leaned into the time jump to tie up the loose ends.

Pub day : Feb 25th!

⟡ 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 :
•slow burn suspense
•hostage situations
•crime thrillers
•family drama
•dual POV
•books about authors/literary agents
•twists on twists

Gillian McAllister has done it again!! She has the most amazing way of layering her stories with characters that feel so real, suspenseful drama, twists that are unexpected yet totally believable & endings that are so satisfying.

Famous Last Words is equal parts crime thriller & domestic suspense, told in dual POV between the wife of the perpetrator & the hostage negotiator. Cleverly plotted, suspenseful, & hard to put down - I feel like this story would make an excellent movie!

If you enjoyed her other books Wrong Place Wrong Time & Just Another Missing Person, you should definitely add Famous Last Words to your TBR ◡̈

Thanks to @gillianmauthor, @netgalley + @williammorrowbooks for the opportunity to read this ARC ◡̈