Another entertaining thriller by Gillian McAllister! I enjoyed the plot and the structure of the timelines. I also enjoyed all the characters. The book felt a bit slow-paced at times, but that helped me stay “with” the protagonists with the amount of information they knew over time.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I was so excited for the chance to read the newest Gillian McCallister book!

I found the story immediately compelling and couldn’t put the book down for the first chunk. Unfortunately as soon as the book jumped forward 7 years it struggled with pacing and I found I had to force myself to keep reading. There were multiple storylines like Niall’s therapy and Libby’s infertility that got far too much focus without adding much to the story.

After such a slow middle I felt like everything came together too quickly and was all wrapped up neatly with a bow. I found the ending interesting but I think it would have been much more enjoyable if it had played out in a more consistent pace.

An intriguing yet predictable ride from Gillian McAllister's "Famous Last Words." While the intertwined storylines about marriage and parenting keep you turning pages, seasoned thriller readers might spot the major twists coming. The constant reference to the warehouse hostage scene as a "siege" feels a bit misplaced. That said, McAllister, who wrote this while expecting and delivering a baby, still gives a solid 3.5/5 star read that's worth your time, even if it's not the best out of her more recent novels. It's the kind of book that makes for a satisfying binge, even when you can guess where it's heading.

I was hooked from the start! The author did a great job describing the situation and how the main character felt throughout the whole book. I had some theories of how the main characters husband ended up in the situation but I was wrong. I definitely recommend!

This book opens with a pulse pounding hostage situation; told between the dual POVs of the wife of the hostage taker, and the police hostage negotiator. I was immediately grabbed by how a husband, father to a new baby, and record-free man who lived in the suburbs of London could turn into a hostage taker and murderer! The story flashes forward 7 years, revisiting the wife, Cam, and the hostage negotiator, Niall; both who are still haunted by that tragic day. Cam is attempting to legally declare her missing husband as deceased when a series of strange events have her questioning her husbands’ innocence and her current safety.
After the opening action, the middle part of the book slows down and builds in more context to both Cam and Niall’s lives, but as the danger and clues start increasing in intensity, the book again rushes to a shocking conclusion. This thriller is a great mix of tension and danger, yet wrapped within love stories and includes a focus on ghost writers and the publishing industry. I gobbled it up, staying up late to finish!
Thank you to William and Morrow for my digital ARC on NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
This thriller released 2/25/24!

Camellia is heading off to her first day back at work after maternity leave AND dropping her daughter off for the first time at daycare. It's a day she's been dreading and to make it worse her husband, Luke, is unreachable. She tried calling and texting with no luck. Once she gets to work she can't shake the feeling that something is horribly wrong. Her suspicions are confirmed when breaking news is broadcast on TV of an active hostage situation. When the police pull up outside of her work her suspicions are confirmed but she's shocked to learn Luke isn't a hostage, he's the gunman!

Another fun and gripping tale from McAllister. She did a great job with real characters and raw emotional moments that you can't help but put yourself in their shoes. There is a lot of misdirection and a puzzling narrative that has you questioning if things are truly what they seem. It's a good mystery/thriller with a love story which was a nice addition in a thriller book. It makes you reflect on how your life can change in an instant and one moment can have lasting effects for years.

I recommend! Great for thriller lovers and those who have read her previous novels and enjoyed them.

Thank you to @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for the ARC

This is a must read for thriller and murder mystery lovers. This book hooked me right away and I could not put it down. This book is fast paced but don’t let that full you. There is so much heart in this story. The moral empathy you go through is what made me love this book. The ending is great and different from a lot of mystery thrillers I have read. It is complex just like the plot in this book. Highly recommend.

I think this may be my favorite McAllister read yet. I fell into the suspense from the first page and felt so deeply for the main character. I knew it couldn’t be what it seemed but wanted to keep reading and really felt like I got to know the characters. Highly recommend this one!!

I can't remember the last time I absolutely devoured a thriller the way I did with this one! For the longest time, I was a bit tired of thrillers because they followed the same blueprint of an unreliable female narrator who was on medication that I found to be very tired and kind of careless. Over the last couple of years, however, we have started to see this turn of thrillers that also pack an emotional punch and this book does exactly that.

While I was able to figure out a huge part of the "twist" early on (like before anything really happened), I still could not get enough of this book because of how well Gillian wrote the emotions of both Cam and Niall. Their stories paralleled each other in such interesting ways and I was so invested in both of them getting their happy endings. Polly was also such a bright spot in this book and the way Cam viewed her daughter made me very weepy. Cam is also the bookworm character that everyone loves in books that made me connect with her so much more.

This book has one of the most satisfying endings I have ever read in a thriller and all lose ends were tied up so nicely. I could definitely see this being turned into a movie because the whole thing felt very cinematic.

Gillian McAllister has quickly become one of my favorite suspense writers. Her books completely suck me in to the point that if I'm not reading the book, I'm thinking about it. Famous Last Words grabbed my attention in the first chapter and I devoured this book in 2 days. I thought it was so interesting and, after reading the ending, I feel like I could go back and re-read it and discover more hints and clues along the way.
My only complaint, and it is a small one, is that I felt like the ending was too quick. After being on the edge of my seat for most of the book I wanted to see more of what happens "after"; I had to re-read the last section of the book because I felt like I missed something. This did not take away from my enjoyment of the book and I would highly recommend this to all fans of suspense!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Gillian McAllister: please, write another book SOON.
This book was brilliant. Can you imagine the police calling you because your husband is involved in a hostage incident? Most wives would immediately wonder who had taken him hostage--how shocking to find out that your husband is the hostage taker, the bad guy. This book covers the initial call to Camilla and continues seven years into the future. This book kept me guessing. It kept me reading. It kept me on the edge of seat as I edged ever closer to the conclusion. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the complimentary digital ARC. This review is my own words.

Loved that this gave me a look in to the world of publishing, something I'd never actually considered before with how much I read. The book started off with a bang and keeps you guessing from page one. It all ends up making sense, and I was engrossed from beginning to end!! Gillian McAllister is amazing!

The thing that captivated me most about McAllister's last novel was the nature of the time loop in her story. And though this new book, Famous Last Words, doesn't have a science fiction element to it, I was just as engaged in the story. It's an intricately plotted mystery with relatable characters who often inspired me to wonder "What would I have done in this situation?" A fantastic follow-up and I will definitely be reading more Gillian McAllister.

This is the third book I’ve read by Gillian and I have loved every single one. She writes cliffhangers that leave you on the edge of your seat at the end of chapters. Absolutely loved it!

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC!!

This might be my favorite read of this author’s. More fast paced for sure! I loved the two main POVs for the novel. The third minor POV was so vague that it was a funny mystery.

4/5 stars for me!

I wanted to read this because I loved Wrong Place, Wrong Time, and this totally lived up to expectations. The premise is an interesting set up, and it just got better from there! Gillian McAllister does an excellent job of leading you down the trail of clues to figure out what's happening and it's a satisfying trip. I tried to put myself in Camilla's shoes. How would I react if my husband were the hostage taker? The feeling of betrayal and feeling like the one who should have seen something coming and didn't. I can't imagine. It just got better as it went. If you like a whodunit mystery with all the emotion and intellect, read it.

I went into this book expecting a solid thriller, maybe something typical but still satisfying. But what I got was something so much deeper. Yes, it kicks off with that fast-paced thriller vibe—Camilla finds her husband, Luke, missing, and there's this intense hostage situation in London. But then it starts weaving together two storylines: one about Camilla and Luke, and one about the hostage negotiator working behind the scenes. And at the heart of both stories? It’s really about what it means to love someone and put their well-being above your own.

This book took me on such a surprising emotional journey that, by the end, I was crying in -- something I've never done with a thriller before. It felt like a mix of suspense and a raw, honest look at love and selflessness. If you’re ready for a thriller that’ll leave you thinking long after the last page, Famous Last Words is one I can’t recommend enough.

Rating 4.5, rounding up to 5.

I like to believe many different things in the course of a book for the simple fact that it makes the book hard to put down, and that happened here. I stayed up late on a school night to finish it all in a day. Thanks to Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Two bodies still unidentified seven years after the crime, their hostage taker still in the wind: thus begins Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister due out February 25. Camilla Deschamps has become a single mother of a 9-month-old child with her husband Luke, likely now a murderer and nowhere to be found.

After seven years and no word from Luke—is he dead or alive?—Camilla seeks to have him declared dead so that she and little Polly can leave their house and start life anew in a different place. She has gone back to using her maiden name in her job as a literary agent. Yet, she has not forgotten the love she shared with Luke, keeping his cell phone in service so she can call and hear his voice.

One day she gets a cryptic message with coordinates and a time that takes her to a street in Central London. However, the police, who have been monitoring Cam’s life all this time, have intercepted and altered the message, making her an hour late to the street, while a detective has already been there, evidently scaring away whoever sent the text to Cam.

Cam’s sister Libby has been pushing Cam to move on so she is dating a colleague from work but is he who he says he is? Who is the dark figure caught by her motion detector in the back yard? What is the possibility that it was Luke who sent the coordinates, and he is alive? Why can’t Cam give up on Luke since it seems he became a criminal?

British-born Gillian McAllister has had her seven novels translated into 40 languages with several optioned for television and film. She is also the creator and co-host of the popular Honest Authors podcast. She lives in Birmingham, England.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting November 1, 2023.

I would like to thank William Morrow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

WOW WOW WOW! This thriller was AMAZING. I am such a fan of police procedural novels and a hostage situation adds so much suspense to the story. I was left constantly guessing this entire novel and was captivated by the story, I could not put this book down! The twists were great and I definitely would recommend this book to thriller fans. One of my top reads of the year.