ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister will be published by Penguin Michael Joseph on 30th January in hardcover, eBook and audiobook. My thanks to the publishers for the proof copy. A new McAllister is always very exciting.

It’s Camilla’s first day back at work, her daughter’s first day at nursery.
But husband Luke is nowhere to be seen. The only trace of him is an unfinished note. Camilla tries to put it out of her mind; there must be a rational explanation.
At work, there are welcomes back, and too many distractions.

Then it starts.

Breaking news: there’s a hostage situation developing in London.
The police arrive: Luke is caught up in it.

But he isn’t a hostage. Luke – doting father, successful writer, enthusiastic runner and eternal optimist – is the gunman.

What Camilla does next is crucial. Because only she knows what the note he left behind says, and the clues it might hold . . .

There are two things I can count on with a Gillian McAllister novel. The first is that it will have at least one (often more) inspired twist, and the second is that there will be a human touch, a love story or a familial relationship at its heart, and it’s the latter that, more than anything, makes her books stand out amongst all the other psychological thrillers out there.

Famous Last Words begins with Camilla about to embark on a normal day, albeit her first day back at work after maternity leave. She’s surprised her husband, Luke, isn’t around to wish her well. It’s out of character for him but she gets on with her day. Only then she hears that there’s a siege and Luke is involved, not, as she would have assumed, as a hostage, but as the hostage-taker.

What a fantastic premise this is and it made me think so much about how we never truly know a person and what they are capable of. Camilla thinks she knows Luke but then there’s this whole other thing going on in his life. The plotting is so tight and I know so much thought must have gone into making it fit together plausibly. There’s a lot of shape-shifting, aspects that I thought I knew and had a handle on then changed, and whilst not every twist was a surprise, there were plenty that were and lots of characters that I felt very suspicious of.

I loved reading Famous Last Words. It got to the point where I just couldn’t put it down, so invested was I in Camilla’s story, both during the siege and in the aftermath. It’s beautifully and thoughtfully written, a love story in the traditional sense and also an ode to parenthood and to family. An exciting and immersive plot and fascinating characters made this such a great read. I loved all the publishing stuff too (Camilla is a literary agent). This is another brilliant book from Gillian McAllister.

Gillian McAllister is the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of nine stand-alone novels. Her books have been selected for the Radio 2 Book Club, Reese’s Book Club and the Richard & Judy Book Club. Her previous novel, Wrong Place Wrong Time, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and was shortlisted for The British Book Awards 2023 Crime & Thriller Book of the Year and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Gillian’s books are published in thirty-eight languages.