This investigative novel was well paced, with multiple POVs and so many layers to the story. It was enjoyable and a great book to discuss with its many layers and depth.

I solemnly swear I will read all of Gillian McAllister's backlist as soon as possible, but in the meantime, I am sure having a lot of fun reading her new releases! Famous Last Words was just as impactful on me as Wrong Place Wrong Time was, though I don’t think anything will ever top that book for me. I loved the setup of the storyline broken up from the siege and what comes next, and it takes place over the course of several years. We also have flashbacks as Camilla reflects on her husband Luke’s behavior in the weeks leading up to the siege and we get a better look at their marriage through that as well as a whole lotta questions and doubt. Another main POV we have is Niall, who is the hostage negotiator involved in the siege. I loved the juxtaposition of the two viewpoints, though at a certain point their main goals start to coincide.

Emilia Fox provided an excellent listening experience for the audiobook, but a part of me wishes there had been another narrator for Niall. Honestly, there could have been 1 more narrator on top of that, and I did think there was a bit of a missed opportunity there. That being said, the audiobook was still fantastic, and Fox’s narration was expressive and flawless. Also, holy twists Batman!!! I actually had to listen to a couple parts multiple times just to make sure I understood what I was hearing. One reason I love McAllister so much is she has the most unique and clever plots that never cease to blow my mind. Famous Last Words made me feel a lot of things and I really appreciated that Cam was dealing with new motherhood at the same time which is what the author was experiencing as she wrote this. All the stars from me!!!

Read this if you are looking for a gripping plot, bookish books, and a story that will make you clear your schedule!

Audiobook Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

Ooh, Gillian McAllister played the long game on this mystery. I love how we follow Camilla as she tries to move on with her life and figure out what happened to her husband that day. I loved the ending; I wasn't expecting it to end that way.

Emilia Fox did a great job narrating this story. I look forward to listening to more of their work in the future.

Solid 4 Star Review

After having read and loved McAllister's previous novel (Wrong Place, Wrong Time), I was so excited to dive into this one.
I was hooked right away and could hardly put the book down for the first half of the story.

The one and only downfall was that it was way too slow to unfold, and once I go to the point where I had a really good idea of how the story was going to go, there was still 20% of the book left.
I did do the audiobook for this one, which had excellent narration, but I maybe it would've felt faster if I had been reading.

I appreciated the fresh story premise and relatable characters, and found myself genuinely rooting for the main character. The plot twists were a little too predictable for my taste, and there were a few too many "hurry up and tell us what happens!" moments, but overall this was a gripping thriller and I"d still recommend it to friends.

Not as good as the last novel I read by her, but still very much worth my time.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Famous Last Words written by Gillian McAllister and narrated by Emilia Fox was a tale of love, loss, heartbreak, and countless twists and turns. The characters and relationships were extremely relatable. The character of Camilla was a normal woman who had was doing her best to deal with the cards she’d been dealt. There was no outrageous personality or luck on the side of the FMC which was refreshing. Emilia Fox is a spectacular narrator.

"Famous Last Words" by Gillian McAllister is an entertaining thriller. I enjoyed this book. It has a good plot and well written descriptive prose. The first part of the book is the most exciting. In the middle, the action really slows down a lot. Secrets are slowly revealed, and the ending gets exciting again. There is also a love story in here, actually two.

The book is told from two points of view: Camilla aka Cam and Niall. Cam is a mother with a 9 month old baby, Polly. She's a literary agent who loves to sink into a good book and escape. She is happily married to Luke Deschamps. Niall is with the police and he is an expert hostage negotiator. The book starts with a hostage situation.

The narrator Amelia Fox did a good job with this one. The audiobook is almost 13 hours long.

Characters - 5/5
Writing - 5/5
Plot - 5/5
Pacing - 3/5
Unputdownability - 3/5
Enjoyment - 4/5
Narration - 5/5
Cover - 4/5
Overall - 34/8 = 4 2/8 rounded to 4 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Audio, and Gillian McAllister for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Hold on tight! This novel will take you on a roller coaster of suspense, mystery and emotions. Filled with twists in turns after each chapter. I couldn't stop listening to the audiobook, it was so good! Thank you NetGalley. I loved the two points of views. My heart ached for both main characters in their emotional struggles as they coped with their love for their spouses. I will definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants an excellent page turner.

What a compelling read! This thrilling book was utterly impossible to put down and as the conclusion reached a crescendo.
Such a well paced and suspenseful book! The twists were believable and not predictable.
It had excellent writing and a fascinating plot.
Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister is a book which kept me thoroughly engaged from beginning to end.

Thank you HarperAudio Adult for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Summary: On the morning Camilla returns to work from maternity leave, her world shatters when she learns her husband isn’t just involved in a London hostage crisis—he’s the gunman, leaving her with a cryptic note and an impossible choice.

My review: Famous Last Words is a gripping, emotionally charged thriller that takes Camilla’s seemingly ordinary life and turns it into a nightmare filled with tension, fear, and unexpected twists. Told from the perspectives of Cam and hostage negotiator Niall, both narratives are equally compelling, adding depth to the unfolding crisis. Well-paced and unpredictable, this was my favorite read from McAllister so far—I never saw the twists coming and was completely hooked until the very end.

Genres/Themes: Fiction / Thrillers - Suspense / Thrillers - Domestic / Women

[Title] is scheduled for publication on February 25 2025, by HarperAudio Adult.

Gillian McAllister does it again!!!! She delivers a mystery that keeps the reader guessing the whole time. This book made me think a lot, what would I do if it were the main character's situation? Could I forgive someone after all that time? Could I give up hope that someone is actually innocent? This suspense thrillers throws readers into a wild ride from the beginning of the book. New mother Camilla finds out that her husband is involved in a hostage situation. But it gets worse when they claim that her husband is the one that has taken and killed two hostages. This is a journey of the 7 years after this event and finally getting some answers about what really happened that day and what really happened to her husband.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC opportunity!

This was so good. Every detail was accounted for. And even though a couple of things fell into place for me, i was still left surprised by most of it.

The POV from the negotiator and wife was so well done. It gave two very different angles with the same end goal.

This was my first by this author and wont be my last!

I am a big fan of Gillian McAllister's writing, and Famous Last Words was great! Every time I thought I had the mystery solved I was wrong. It's a great mystery and I look forward to her next novel!

I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this novel in exchange for an honest review.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS by Gillian McAllister

Thank you @harperaudio for my #gifted copy

Listening to Famous Last Words felt like putting together a complicated puzzle, with each chapter adding a new piece. Just when I thought I had the full picture, McAllister flipped everything upside down! This slow-burn psychological thriller follows Camilla, a woman whose husband vanishes, only for her to discover he’s the gunman in a shocking hostage situation. As she searches for answers, the truth unravels in unexpected ways.

The full-cast audiobook narration was engaging and packed with emotion. I was especially impressed with narrator Emilia Fox, who perfectly captured Camilla’s growing desperation. The structure of the story, with its layered reveals, worked so well in audio format!

While this one doesn't quite compare to McAllister's debut Wrong Place, Wrong Time (which remains one of my all-time favorite thrillers), it was still an intelligent, intricately-plotted, and surprisingly touching story. Well worth the read!

📌 Out now!

Gillian Mcallister is one of our new queens of mystery and I'm here for it. She has weaved another tale of mystery and suspense that will leave readers on the edge of their seat.

Thanks to HarperAudio & NetGalley for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I started off with the digital ARC but couldn't get into it; switched to the audio and Emilia Fox really made the book come alive for me (I had heard her in another performance that was also excellent). She imbues Cam (who is a teensy bit annoying) with emotional relatability.

The plot has some holes and moments where you think, "This could never happen," but I tend to flick those thoughts away and try not to figure out the twist. It's a solid idea, but it does get a little bogged down and repetitive in the middle. In the 3rd act, we're back on track and things get exciting again.

Highlighting the interior life of the hostage negotiator was a choice. It was interesting as well as necessary to advance the plot, but I did not really care about his broken relationship with his wife. I think that was meant to be a mirror to the relationship between Cam and Luke (how Niall would feel if he were in their situation is repeated frequently), but we don't go into enough depth (or maybe their situation is just kinda boring ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) for me to care.

Overall, I enjoyed the book more than I expected to, and would read more by this author, especially with Emilia Fox narrating. 3.5 stars rounded up

This was one of the most exciting audio books I've read in a long time. The narrator helped the story as well. The premise was original and characters were well developed, keeping the reader/listener engaged. Loved it.

I have enjoyed all of the McAllister books I have read and this is no exception. The mid book time jump threw me for a loop a bit, but the pacing picked back up in no time. The narrator was spot on! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.

Woah this book was a wild ride!! It was full of twists and turns I didn’t see coming (even though I was guessing one of the twists). It was SO good. The narration was on point!!

Camilla's maternity leave is over and she has to go back to work, leaving her 9 month old at daycare. Luke, her husband, is already gone having left an odd short note, saying "It's been so lovely with you both," and so Camilla heads off solo to drop the baby at the center and head into her job as book editor/agent. Someone has the news on in the office and a breaking story about a hostage situation is on. In short order, the police arrive at her office to tell her Luke, her husband, is involved. Immediately assuming he is a hostage as his sometime office is in that part of town, Camilla is horrified to learn that he is, in fact, the hostage taker. And he has a gun.

She has no choice but to call her sister to collect her daughter and go with the police. She doesn't like to call her sister to help with baby Polly because of her sister's struggles with infertility. As the standoff continues, Cam is absolutely horrified to learn that her husband killed two hostages. And disappears. Luke has always been the happiest, most settled person Cam knows and she is completely gobsmacked by what has happened.

Camilla tries to put her life back together. Seven years pass and she's still clueless about where Luke is and why he did what he did. Cam is actually dating again and decides to put the house up for sale. She can't do that until Luke is declared dead though and the paperwork for that is overwhelming. But after she starts the process she gets an odd text with a location and time to meet. She thinks maybe Luke is finally contacting her and goes, but he doesn't turn up. What she doesn't know is that the Niall, the police hostage negotiator, hasn't given up and is still monitoring her phone. He intercepts the text and changes the time. When Camilla receives an awaited second book from an author (and thinks it's great), puzzle pieces begin to fit together.

This well-thought out book is a suspenseful read you'll want to race through. If you listen to the audio book read by Emilia Fox, you'll enjoy the listen. Fox frequently narrates thrillers and crime books.

I honestly don't know how Gillian McAllister can keep the twists coming, but she is transcendent in this aspect. In Famous Last Words, we meet Camilla, a new mother (somewhat reluctantly it feels like sometimes) as she is heading back to work for the first day after maternity leave. She is annoyed that her husband Luke is not there to see her off and she finds a weird paper that looks like the start of a note, but is dying to get out of the house and back to work so doesn't pay much attention. Not long into her day, she's confronted by the fact that Luke has taken hostages and her life is thrown for a loop. The first section of this book goes a mile a minute and draws you in immediately as Camilla is brought by the negotiator, Niall, to try and get her husband to give up. The second and third sections deal with the fallout and twists so I won't go into them, but even when you expect twists from her, McAllister always surprises. I both read and listened to this book to preview for my library and would heartily recommend both. Emilia Fox does a great narration and the physical book allows you to better flip back to see how you missed clues. A big thank you to William Morrow, HarperAudio, and NetGalley for the early access in exchange for my honest opinion. 4.5 stars