Thank you to William Morrow Books and Netgalley for my digital ARC! I enjoyed this unique and engaging thriller with a love story in between. I’m not sappy at all which is why thrillers are usually my go-to, but I appreciated the love story within this one. It humanizes the story as a whole and makes the reader care about the characters. It is a bit slow-paced, but it makes up for it in a thoughtful way that ends on a nice note. I may have generally guessed the twists, but I liked where it all went and how it ended up. Gillian McAllister is one of my favorites and this is yet another winner!

What a ride! This was a fun, twisty, totally original story. My first by this author personally, but they fly off of our shelves so quickly I figured I’d better see why. Now I do! This will be a fantastic add to our catalogue.

4.25/5.0 stars.

A wildly thrilling premise about a woman returning to work after a maternity leave only to learn her husband is identified as the suspect in a hostage situation.

What a ride this book was! It was thrilling, twisty and dark.

The book takes place in London with a married couple Camilla and Luke and their seemingly normal marriage. Camilla is coming off of maternity leave and heading back to work dropping off baby Polly for her first day of nursery school. Typical start to the day until Cam sees her husband on tv holding 3 people hostage. Two end up dead, as Cam begins helping hostage coordinator, Niall to and get Luke to give himself up. 7 years ago by without Luke and clues begin to pop up…..

I enjoyed the pace of this book and the topics of relationships, trust and underlying secrets. The storyline of Niall was also really interesting and a nice addition to the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Gillian McAllister has done it again and wow what a wild ride it was !!This book was so hard to put down and the writing sucks you completely into the story. Lots of twist and turns and a great ending ! I highly recommend giving this one a read if you enjoy a good thriller/suspense novel.


Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I really enjoyed the story of this and wasn’t sure where it was going. Cam and Niall were excellent narrators and I liked both their characters. What I didn’t like is that the pacing seemed a big long. I felt like I just kept reading and reading and nothing was really happening.

I am really enjoying author Gillian McAllister's books lately, and her latest, "Famous Last Words" is yet another winner, winner, chicken dinner, LOL!!! I really got into this story about a Mom (Cam) returning to work after maternity leave, only to find out her hubby is caught up in a hostage situation, but as the bad guy! There was some slowness in the middle, but I just loved how it all came together at the end & nothing was as it seemed. This author really excels at that type of twist! My most sincere thanks to the publisher & Net Galley for my gifted DRC - my pleasure to review it!!

In Famous Last Words, we have Cam, a mother of an infant with a good marriage and steady job. One morning she wakes to find an odd note from her husband, who has already left the house and is not answering his phone. She quickly discovers there is a hostage situation unfolding and to her horror, her husband is the one holding the gun.
The first part of the book details the hostage situation, and Gillian McAllister definitely knows how to write about tense situations. I was on the edge of my seat and this part of the book moved FAST. Niall, the hostage negotiator, is a second POV, and it was interesting to see his side of things as well.
After the hostage situation unfolds, we jump seven years after the incident, and this part was quite a bit slower paced. Towards the end of the book, however, the pace sped up again and everything came together with quite a few twists and turns.
Most of the book kept me thoroughly intrigued, but I would rate it 4 stars instead of 5 because there were some side stories that I just didn’t think were necessary, and I have a pretty big question about the ending- but can’t state it here because it’s a spoiler.
I do recommend it, though, and look forward to reading McAllister’s future books!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing an advance copy and allowing me to share my opinion!

Thanks Netgalley for the free arc! In my opinion, the storyline was a bit lacking. It started out interesting, but became mundane with not much thrill. I read 74% of the novel before I gave up because I didn’t care what the resolution was anymore. I was giving a free ARC to review; and I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

William Morrow, THANK YOU SO MUCH for granting me access to Gillian McAllister's upcoming novel, Famous Last Words. I kept seeing this one on my Bookstagram Feed and I must admit, I had FOMO. So I took a chance and requested it on NetGalley and much to my surprise, I was granted access!

I devoured this book! I had to know what happened. From the dual perspectives of Cam, a literary agent returning to work from her materinity leave, and Niall a hostage negotiatior, I was intrigued from the start about how these two connect. I didn't have to wait long to find out!

At times, the book was too slow for me. It mostly happened during Niall's chapters, because I just adored Cam from the start. However, this book is one you have to read with your full attention. There is so much happening over quite a significant span of time.

I know I loved this one, because I kept telling my boyfriend about it every chance I got. I think he's just as bummed as I am that it's over!

Bang. Bang.

Two Shots.

Two shots changed Camilla's life forever. On the day she is scheduled to return to work after maternity leave, Cam wakes like any other day. She gets herself and her infant daughter ready for the dreaded first day drop off at daycare. Her loving husband has already left for work, leaving her alone to deal with the guilt of having to go back to work. She's just getting settled back into work when she learns her husband is involved in a hostage situation. From there, her life is never the same.

The beginning pacing of this book took off. You follow Cam as she works with the police and hostage negotiator to get to the bottom of the situation and how her husband is involved. However, after the first act, the second slows down quite a bit with the time hop. I felt the middle drug on a little bit in places, building a bit too much on how reluctant Cam is to move on from the beginning's events. The reveal of what really happened felt a little forced and far-fetched that she was able to figure out the truth about her husband from an anonymous book submittal. Besides that this was more of popcorn thriller for me. It didn't require a lot of thought to read and was fairly entertaining.

Cam is going back to work after maternity leave. Her husband isn’t there the morning of her return to work. He did leave a cryptic note. Cam receives a call from the police saying her husband is involved in a hostage situation, but her husband is the one holding others hostage. Cam goes through this ordeal trying to understand if her husband is the person she thinks he is all the while finding it hard to believe her husband would do something like this.

This book had a great premise, but it didn’t land for me. I couldn’t get into it or make myself care about the characters. There were some okay twists, but nothing too groundbreaking. It was still a fun read, but it won’t be one I’ll think about much in the future.

Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for allowing me to read this book early. The opinion in this review is my own.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this arc.
I struggled so much with this book and it took me forever to finish, because honestly I never wanted to pick it back up. The whole plot of the story was so far fetched with a lot of unnecessary scenes. The writing felt off and weird. I think the word CCTV was mentioned million times. Huge chunk of the book is inner dialogue from the main character and hostage negotiator that dragged. As a huge thriller reader, sadly this did not work for me. My review is posted on Goodreads @JR

This was well written, and had a great premise; I unfortunately just never felt invested in the story.
While predictable, it was never boring; and even though it wasn’t boring it just felt like it lacked a “spark” to really pull me in.

This is a fantastic book. I couldn't stop reading it. The title itself has nothing to do with the book but I wonder if that is the marketing department adding their spin. Either way, wonderful book - propulsively readable and with twists galore. I will read anything Gillian McAllister writes.

Gillian McAllister's best book yet! When new mother Camilla wakes up on the day she's dropping her baby daughter off at daycare for the first time, her husband is nowhere to be found. Camilla is getting more and more annoyed at not being able to reach him when the police show up at her office to her inform her that her husband is involved in a hostage situation. The twist is, that this ordinary husband and father is the hostage taker! (not a spoiler). After the hostage situation ends badly, Camilla refuses to believe the worst of her husband, and we follow along on her efforts to get to the truth. The story is also told from the perspective of the hostage negotiator, whose life also changed dramatically that day.

My favorite part of this book was Camilla. I felt like I was in her shoes the entire way--refusing to believe the worst about the man she loved. A really powerful story with amazing characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A favorite thriller-lite author has a new book coming! Was pleased to get an advance copy via Netgalley because after some heavier reading I just needed something page-turningly satisfying. While not quite up to the level of Wrong Place, Wrong Time (which is SO good, so hard to top), I was pleased with how Gillian McAllister again pulled off thriller-lite in a creative, non-run-of-the-mill way. Camilla is at her first day back to work after maternity leave when she is pulled out of her office by police officers who show her livestream security camera footage of her husband, who has apparently taken multiple people hostage in a warehouse. She cannot believe this possible of him - surely he was coerced or something? - but as the situation develops it seems it must be true. Cut to 7 years later, her husband disappeared, and Cam trying to figure out how to go on as a single mother with no answers to how/why the person she loved and trusted and believed to be thoroughly good could have done such a thing. But then some clues start popping up... I really loved how Wrong Place, Wrong Time used a creatively formatted page-turner to also explore motherhood and marriage, especially delving into what lengths a mother might go to for her child. This new book explores marriage a bit more than motherhood, particularly around the themes of doubt/faith in the foundation of a marriage and the person you've trusted your spouse is; it didn't feel like the themes were covered quite as in depth as in Wrong Place, Wrong Time - which really made me think about my own life more - but made it a more interesting read all the same. Emily Henry's take is she's “the best at putting her characters in impossible situations and making her readers not only contemplate but feel what it would be like to find themselves in those situations" and that's the perfect description of why I love her stuff. I thought it was interesting that Camilla's chapters alternated with the perspective of the hostage negotiator involved in the situation, as a I like a procedural/investigative side included in any domestics-type thriller. Also loved that Camilla was a literary agent, as I'm a sucker for publishing-world settings. Both job stuff sometimes got a little in the weeds/sidetrack-y at times though. And I did kind of guess the ending, which I never do, so maybe a tad less satisfying in that I saw some things coming, but I enjoyed the twists and turns all the same.

Motherhood is hard enough but when you do not know your own partner, the stakes are even higher. On her first day back from maternity leave and her daughter’s first day in daycare, Camilla is faced with a worst nightmare beyond her imagination when a hostage situation unfolds near her husband’s work…and he is the suspect. Gillian McAllister has written a suspenseful and gripping tale that really strikes a relatable chord with readers. Famous Last Words unravels a whole truth so complex that it leaves the reader on the edge of their seat the whole book!

I had a hard time getting into this book. While the premise is interesting, I was never hooked. Sometimes a book can redeem itself if the twist at the end is good enough but this fell flat. The aha moment didn’t feel like a revelation but a confirmation, which wasn’t satisfying. The ending was wrapped up too nicely, too quickly, without addressing quite a few plot holes.

If mystery/thrillers are your cup of tea, this might be worth a read. If it’s not your usual genre, I’d recommend to keep browsing.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC!

After reading and loving Gillian McAllisters two previous books I was excited to see she has a new thriller coming soon!

Unfortunately this wasn’t a fan favorite for me. While the premise sounded interesting I felt that it moved slowly and could have done without some chapters entirely. Finding out your husband is the gunman in a hostage situation would be horrific. Cam’s reaction didn’t make me feel that way. Why did she want to hide things from the police instead of trying to help her husband and find out why this was happening? The hostage situation was referred to as a “siege” which to me seemed a bit much. There were some good twists which you may get a little feeling like you know what’s coming, yet still satisfying. The ending was a bit rushed and I was looking for more of what happened after when the story jumped ahead in time and I was left with questions.

If you are a fan of Gillian McAllister or of thrillers in general, definitely give Famous Last Words a chance. I will be looking forward to her next book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.