Member Reviews
NetGalley ARC (2025 Release)
The story begins with a young family…loving husband, new mom and their 9 month old baby…and it’s mom’s first day back to work. A crazy anxious morning trying to get everyone ready and out the door…but they do it! Little did they know that just a few hours later a hostage situation changes everything! This is a well written thriller that takes you through multiple story lines…current day and seven years later. You’ll follow the family, the hostages, the police, the criminal, the hostage negotiator…and the impact this action has on everyone involved….but you never lose focus on the main activity. You’ll follow along as the mystery unfolds and discover all the tangled tales of the characters…and how their relationships change over time. It will pull you in and you will not put down as the pages turn themselves….each chapter revealing another ‘WHAT??!!’ moment! An excellent, well-scripted story of love in the midst of chaos. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🤗. Thank you NetGalley and Gillian McAllister!!
A mystery-thriller with time jumps that will constantly keep you guessing!! Be pulled through, desperate to know what will happen next in the next mystery from Gillian McAllister
“Famous Last Words,” has a very interesting premise.
I can’t say this is my favorite by Gillian McAllister, but it was a solid and twisty read. The topic of Hostage Negotiations was handled well in this novel. In addition, the novel poses the question, how well do you really know someone?
McAllister, again drives the story with a well executed plot, and great character development. The twists are done sparingly, but with impact.
If you like thrillers, domestic suspense, and good writing, pick up a copy.
Thank You NetGalley and the Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
“Motherhood, for introverts, is a special kind of difficult, the usual escape routes not available, a thought Cam regularly feels guilty about, but is nevertheless true.”
Gillian McAllister is back with an edge of your seat thriller. The way she can draw such deep characters is truly remarkable, especially in a thriller which are much more plot driven than character driven.
I was pleased with myself for being able to guess one of the twists, but there were plenty others I didn’t see coming. My only criticism were the amount of F-bombs dropped. Had it not been for those, it would have been a five star read for me. For those who aren’t bothered by language, this will be a very fun reading experience.
Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Read if you like:
Character-rich thrillers
The Last Thing He Told Me
Getting in the mind of a hostage negotiator
Gilliam McAllister is back with another heart-pounding mystery spanning years that fans of her previous work will enjoy.
Camilla wakes up one morning to find out her husband Luke is the main suspect in an ongoing hostage situation: he is holding up three victims with a gun in a warehouse. He escapes, and his whereabouts become unknown. Camilla attempts to move on with her life, but is haunted by her husband's crimes and the possibility he may still be at large. Seven years after the events, the lead hostage negotiator Niall is still turning over stones to resolve the case. He crosses paths with Camilla and together they begin to piece together clues. With new information in hand, they realize they were completely wrong about what happened on that fateful day and that someone in their orbit may have instigated Luke's actions.
I really enjoyed the structure of this book: it is told in 4 acts, each separated by 2 to 7 years. Niall's investigative efforts bring in a bit of police procedural work, and Camilla's inner torment over her husband's actions are worthy of the best kind of family drama novel. The plot moves fast, and the big reveal at the end did its job: it caught me by surprise and I was bummed out I didn't think of it myself. There are a few details that didn't quite check out or make sense to me (the ending was tied up maybe a bit too neatly) but these are the kinds of things a reader must accept when reading popular fiction. It succeeds perfectly well in being an entertaining thriller with a clever bent.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!
Thank you, NetGalley, for this e-ARC! Gillian McAllister is a great thriller writer, and I was excited to read this. This book revolves around a hostage situation that will affect those involved for years to come. Camilla, fresh off maternity leave, drops her child off and is heading to her job. Not long after, police go to her work to inform her of a hostage situation taking place in London...and her husband is involved. To her shock, her husband is the "bad guy" in this situation, and she may be the only one who knows why. The story takes place in the current, future, and then 7 years after. Telling the hostage negotiators' side of the day and how Camilla is dealing with the fallout of that day. This book felt fast-paced and kept you guessing.
Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!
When Camilla had to drop her child off at daycare for the first time after her maternity leave, she was so anxious! Little did she know that that would be the least of her worries on that day. While at her first day back at work, police enter her building and she had a gut feeling it was for her. A hostage situation, unable to get in contact with her husband, who would pick up her daughter? So many questions spinned around her mind! We follow the siege then 7 years later and how Camilla still focuses on that day and where her husband is. Some great twists along the way!
Loved it! This book was a fun read with a lot of suspense and purposefully misdirection! I don't want to give any spoilers but there was one major twist I saw coming but another I did not.
Famous Last Words has a very interesting premise about a hostage negotiation situation gone wrong and the fallout afterwards. The first part of this book flew by for me; however, the pace slows way down during the second part. I found that certain parts of Cam’s story felt superfluous, but I loved Niall’s POV and wished more chapters were written from his perspective. I had a few guesses for what the twist was going to be and I found myself pleased when the twist was revealed. The writing is strong and the pacing picks back up in the third and fourth parts. I thought the exploration of the different types of grief and how the characters handle it was interesting and felt realistic. I’d recommend this book for fans of thrillers and mysteries that don’t mind things getting a little emotional. (4/5)
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**
On June 21st, the longest day of the year, Camilla's life is about to change. After spending months on maternity leave, she is ready to return to her job as a literary agent. Today, she will drop her infant daughter off at daycare for the first time.
However, when Camilla wakes up, she finds that her husband, Luke, is not home. Instead, she finds a strange note that worries her. Before she can think about what the note means, she hears urgent news: there is a hostage situation in London. The police come to her house and tell her that Luke is involved. Shockingly, he is not a hostage; her husband, who is a loving father and always optimistic, is the gunman.
Camilla realizes that what she does next is very important. She is the only one who knows what the note says and could help in understanding why Luke acted this way.
This book follows Camilla’s struggle to understand the events of June 21st. It also includes the story of the hostage negotiator and how the day affects his life. With many twists and turns, it explores love and the bonds of family. From the first line, this book captured my attention. Gillian has proven herself to be a fantastic mystery writer, and I enjoyed reading this book.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this advance reader copy (ARC).
I am so in outlier islands, but I just couldn’t get it. It took me a long time to get familiar with her writing style and then it was kind of too late for me. So I called it quits after the halfway mark, which is disappointing. Still, I think this book will have its niche and be really popular.
I loved the premise of this story from the very beginning. Camila looks to have everything, a new baby, a caring husband and a great job but one fateful day her whole life is upended. A hostage in taking place and as her and her coworkers watch with a curiosity that soon turns to horror when Camila learns her husband is a part of the hostage siege. As events unfold we learn her is not the hostage but the hostage taker and the perspective changes from Camila to Nial the hostage negotiator who has his own demons. The book is in a 3 sections of now, 7 years later and a wrap up 7 years after that and this interesting time shift keeps the book fast paced and exciting. Is Luke the criminal or the victim and how well do we really know anyone else??
Another fantastic thriller by Gillian McAllister!! I was so hooked throughout this entire book! I really enjoyed the multiple perspectives and how the story follows characters across time. There were so many shocking twists that made me audibly gasp!!
I was enjoying Famous Last Words right along, but I found it too predictable at the end, and what’s with the repetitious references to Cam as an introvert? There will be plenty of fans of this book, but it’s just a 3 on a 5 point scale for me.
**Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow Publishing for approving me to read and review an advance copy of this novel, due for release February 25, 2025.**
Another thriller from Gilliam McAllister? Yes I will take this one too. This story works very well in the terms of dual POV, great pacing, realistic characters that are easy to relate to and great writing. You start to question the motives and whether everything is as it seems.
The ending overall for me was a little bit weaker and could have been a bit stronger, but overall this was a great story and I will still give it 5 stars
Famous Last Words is a thriller that keeps you guessing all the way through it.
Cam think life is decently normal adjusting to having a baby in the house and continuing to work until one morning her husband, Luke appears to be holding three people hostage . She leaves the baby with her sister Lucy as she tries to figure out what is happening as she feels there is no way her husband would do such a thing. The hostage situation goes bad and her husband disappears leaving her to raise her baby alone.
Seven years later with the help of the hostage negotiator she figures out things weren’t how they appeared.
Gillian McAllister does a great job keeping you on the edge of your seat. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy for my opinion.
I could not get enough of this book! I loved that we got to be on the other side of the story. Typically we always hear from the classic victim, but this time we're hearing from the killer's wife and the law enforcement on the case. I thought I had it figured out but then the time skip took me by surprise and threw me for another exciting loop. Easy to read in one day because you simply will not want to put it down. Highly recommend!
I really enjoyed this book. Great characters, the story moved along well and the twists worked. I liked the jump in time. There was something about the ending that felt a little rushed, but overall I really liked the way it wrapped up.
I have read a handful of Gillian McAllister books. She is one of my go to authors. While this one is not a favorite of mine. It was well written with likeable characters. Unfortunately, for me personally was slow paced.
(3.5) This was an entertaining book, but it was definitely slower than I expected. The beginning was quick and exciting, but the middle portion dragged a bit for me. The ending got more interesting although I have some unresolved questions about why certain things happened. Overall I enjoyed my time reading this, but it’s my least favorite by the author so far. Recommend for people who like slower paced thrillers or big fans of the author!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.