OLIVIA.
22 years old.
Last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley.
And not coming back out again.
Missing for one day and counting . . .

Detective Julia is heading up the case but this missing person case is different. Julia must NOT find out what happened to Olivia and must frame another person for her murder. Otherwise the terrible secret she has been keeping to protect her own daughter will be brought to light. What would you do?

My favourite book of 2022 was Wrong Place Wrong Time so I couldn’t wait to read the latest book by Gillian McAllister.
This was another book I couldn't put down and read in just over a day on holiday. I love Gillian McAllister's detailed and complex writing. This story is written from multiple points of view which gradually pull together as you get further on in the story. There were well developed characters, some great plot twists and a really shocking one half way through that I hadn't predicted!
I love the themes of family and the moral exploration of how far parents would go to protect their children.
This was a brilliant psychological crime thriller. Gillian McAllister is an autobuy author for me now!

DCI Julia Day is leading the case of missing girl Olivia, she is seen entering a dead-end alleyway and not coming back out again. Julia has no idea that this case is going to change her life forever. She is blackmailed to frame a man for Olivia’s murder, Julia has always been by the book but this person knows a secret that threatens her daughter and Julia knows she will do anything to protect her.
Julia is almost working on two cases, where is Olivia and who is this person who knows her darkest secret?
Wow, Gillian McAllister is the Queen of the twists and turns, this book took my breath away on several occasions. I loved the exploration of police corruption and you can see how well this book has been researched. The police procedures are thorough and believable. The technology aspect of this book was very interesting, how evidence can be created or made to disappear, it added another element to the story.
The aspect that made this book stand out for me was the deep dive into being a parent. There are three parents represented in the story and McAllister explores how far each of them will go to protect their child. This lifted the book to a different emotional level for me and I thought it was fantastic.
I cannot recommend this book enough but set some time aside as you won’t be putting this one down.

Just Another Missing Person is a superbly written, intricately woven, minutely detailed thriller, with lots of dark elements for those of us who like a bit of grit.
Julia is a passionate, dedicated and driven DCI who has to make difficult choices between her family and her career. Those choices lead her to some very dark places and dangerous people.
Gillian McAllister delivers an absolute stonker of a plot twist in this one, no spoilers, but it will leave you gasping! Her writing is so well researched and detail- driven, her books are such a joy and pleasure to read that you actually just forget youre reading fiction because you feel.so totally immersed in the world she creates.
I need a lie down now!
One of my top 3 thrillers for 2023.

Another fab Gillian Mcallister book! Always a gripping read that keeps me turning the pages. Storyline mixes themes of police corruption, family loyalties, heartbreak and lines crossed to protect those you love from underground criminal activity. Told from various perspectives of the main characters which draws the story together. Some brilliant twists as well! Definitely recommend!

I've read a few of the Gillian McAllister books over the last couple of years and after a few 3 and 4 star reviews was wow'd by the last one (Wrong place, Wrong time) (5 stars from me). That was really unique and memorable. This one, then, had a lot to live up to.
To cut to the chase, it's a 4 star review from me.
Lots of twists and plenty of characters to keep it interesting and the reader guessing - but don't try and guess as you wont guess the twists before they happen.
Overall I can appreciate the large amount of work that has gone into this book, particularly to set up the twists to maximum effect - that work does really show through as it's certainly a polished article.
It only lacked a little in action for me as there's only briefly any 'live' drama.
Definitely recommended though. Look forward to her next one.

Many thanks for the ARC (again)

Just Another Missing Person is a mystery that started well and had an unexpected twist. Sadly for me there were too many chapters from different points of view that often led to confusion. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an arc.

I absolutely loved ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time’ so I was little apprehensive starting ‘Just Another Missing Person’ as I wasn’t sure it would live up to its predecessor, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. This is a great book that had a twist in the middle that came out of nowhere. Loved it!

Gillian has pulled off another fantastic thriller. For the fans of crime thrillers this is for you. I devoured this over a few hours and really enjoyed it immensely.

Julia is a Detective in Portishead, UK. Her dogged determination and commitment to the job has fractured her marriage and created gaps in her life but she can’t give it up. A young woman goes missing, literally seems to vanish in an alley with no exit. She goes in but doesn’t come back out. As Julia searches for Olivia she uncovers more than she bargained for and it crosses a line into her personal life. Nothing is simple here.

She is challenged as a person and as a professional and the plot that weaves is unlike anything I can recall. The twists and reveals are like “OMG, that makes sense now but WTH!”

The characters are really easy to imagine and each on holds their own. I did not guess the final reveal at all. That’s great writing. When her search for Olivia crosses paths with another missing young woman that Julia never found it gets really interesting. A great read.

The only reason it doesn’t get 5 stars is that I felt it slowed a bit around two~thirds through but quickly picks up again. If you’ve read any of her other books you know she pulls off great fiction. Definitely recommended for past and new fans alike. A solid 4 stars!

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Michael Joseph for approving me for an ARC of this book. I am a huge fan of Gillian McAllister and couldn’t wait to read her latest book.

🕵🏻‍♀️Our protagonist Julia has a lot on her plate. She’s trying to hold an investigation together, ensure her daughter’s safety, figure out what she’s doing about her marriage and keep the illusion that she has it all under control. Is it any wonder that she is on the verge of losing it all completely?

🔎Our story switches between POVs, which definitely helped to keep the pace steady. I kept having different theories and as always, Gillian McAllister threw a few unexpected curveballs my way.

📚 I was glued to the story and kept telling myself “Just one more chapter and then I’ll go to sleep”. Gillian has a way of drawing you into her stories and keeping you hooked until the final page.

⭐Once again I was left entertained and engrossed. This is another superb story filled with tension, twists and revelations!

Gillian McAllister has never let me down, and this is another cleverly written police procedural that will keep you guessing.
Told from many points of view, it was a little confusing at the beginning but as the story unfolds it is easy to follow and turns into a compelling read that was hard to put down.
Highly recommended for readers who love complex police procedurals.

Another of my go-to authors that has absolutely nailed yet another twisted thriller.

My jaw absolutely dropped around halfway through. Talk about shocked! I then questioned everything I had read.

Superbly written with twists galore.

Julia is a detective leading a case of a young missing woman, Olivia. She was last seen entering an alley, but never came back out.

Time is against Julia, especially when someone tells her that he knows her family secret! She is blackmailed to frame somebody else for Olivia's murder or risk the secret coming out. A massive moral dilemma.

Chapters told from multiple points of view, narration and timelines, but all this works so well as the plot is tight.

Absolutely loved it!

This is my top book of 2023.

I loved absolutely everything about this story and no review from me can ever do it justice. 5 Stars seem paltry in comparison to what Gillian McAllister has written.

It is so much more than a story about a missing girl. It is about family and how far you would go to protect your own. How hard would you actually push to get to the truth and, at what point, would you say “enough is enough!

From the very start of this book until the last page, and I include the acknowledgements in that, I was enthralled. I could sense the danger Julia was in, I jumped every time she did! My heart went out to all the parents, and I kept asking myself what would I have done in their situation?

The twist in the middle of the book made me gasp out loud. It is a twist that I can imagine every author out there thinking “I wish I had thought of that one!”

The one person in this book I must mention is Julia’s husband. I just loved how he is portrayed and how he always has his wife’s back. He is not perfect, but I hope all his good points are based on this author’s husband I could sense that the words she wrote came straight from her heart.

I don’t want to divulge anything about the plot because you need to read it yourself. This is one book that will reach number one and if somebody hasn’t already optioned the rights to it, they should because this will make one blockbuster of a film.

What a stunning novel this is! Gillian McAllister revealed her brilliance in the superb Wrong Place Wrong Time but this is even better. The basic premise is intriguing enough as a young woman is seen on CCTV disappearing into an alley and failing to emerge. Looks like a simple missing person case for Julia until a man confronts her with a secret about her and threatens her he will reveal it unless she agrees not to find Olivia...Wonderful writing, great characters, interesting moral issues and a host of twists, turns and revelations. I loved it!

This was the most incredible, jaw dropping story I think I've ever read.
The author has somehow written the equivalent of a kaleidoscope here and with each twist we, the readers, are left looking at a very different picture but one that somehow makes more sense than it did before.
The characters are incredibly well drawn, each with their own quirks and secrets that we discover as we travel along this ride. We are told the story from a few different voices, each with their own importance to the story as a whole and when the last page is read, the whole thing is nicely tied with an incredible final jaw dropping bow!
I was very keen to read this after I had devoured Wrong Place Wrong Time but this one was so much more than that and it's left me feeling that I have to get hold of all of her other books and read them too. This is an incredible author and everyone needs to read this amazing book!

Another brilliant book by one of my favourite authors… Gillian McAllister really is superb!
As always, I loved the characters who are so well developed and interesting. The story is told in such a way that you’re completely hooked, desperate to find out what’s going to happen, whilst simultaneously not wanting the book to end.
Just brilliant.

Well the easy thing to say is I am totally blown away! This book is brilliantly plotted, fast-paced action, tense and a thrilling police procedural with oh so much more added.

I read way into the night to finish this one, devouring it, needing to see what happened! And the twists, well they just keep coming!

Honestly, I felt I was living the plot alongside Julie and it was both exhausting and nerve-wracking. Cleverly, the story is told from several viewpoints and it took me a while to connect who was who and how the stories related, that is part of the joy.

This book was a total joy to read and now, I want to understand how Gillian plotted it all out, as it is some kind of masterpiece, slotting together beautifully for the grand finale!

Gillian McAllister is already one of my ‘must read’ authors, getting even better with each book! I’m saying no more, just read it!

I was eager to read this and it didn’t disappoint. I have loved all of Gillian McAllister’s other books and this one is definitely a great thriller too. I did find I had to concentrate hard to make sure I didn’t get confused as there is a lot of different dialogue and twists, but it is very cleverly written. Thank you to the publisher, author and NetGalley for the advance copy

This is a great psychological thriller.
Julia is investigating the disappearance of Olivia, a young woman who seems to have disappeared after going down an alley. It’s a mystery though as there’s no other way out and the CCTV doesn’t show her coming out the way she went in either.
Julia is then threatened by a man in a balaclava and told to frame a man for her murder, even though there’s no body. He knows Julia’s secret and threatens to reveal it if she doesn’t do as he asks. The secret is linked to her daughter so it’s both their lives that will be ruined if she doesn’t agree.
The story kind of grows arms and legs from here as more people become involved and it does get a bit confusing at times.
I can’t say too much more as there’s lots to this story and I wouldn’t want to spoil it.
A great thriller that I really enjoyed.
Thanks to Michael Joseph books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I really enjoy author Gillian McAllister's novels, I found them engrossing and her story telling is impeccable. I did enjoy Just Another Missing Person, but it did take me quite a while to get into the novel.

We meet main character Julia, DCI in the police and pulled into a case regarding Olivia, she was walking up an alleyway and never came out, Olivia is missing and Julia is blackmailed whilst investigating the matter. Julia's daughter did something and she is now paying for covering the incident up.

Told from Julias' point of view, we are also introduced to Olivia's father and that makes for a scary read as every parents nightmare is actually happening to him.

I enjoyed the twist in this novel, I did find myself re-reading sentences as I felt some did not make sense, but maybe that's because its an uncorrected version.

This novel portrays the strength of a mothers love and what she is willing to do in order to keep her child safe. Very strong lead character and a good read if you stick with it.

Thanks to Netgalley, Gillian McAllister and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

A twisty police procedural, Just Another Missing Person initially had me hooked with its complex plot, engaging investigations, and curious characters. And for the most part, I found this a really gripping thriller that constantly took me by surprise.

However, this is a real trickster of a book. With multiple narrations, unknown timelines, and a constant switch between first and second person, Just Another Missing Person likes to make you think you know what's going on. But around the halfway mark, there's a twist that makes you question everything you've previously read.

Sometimes twists like this really work for me, leaving me gobsmacked. But this time, it hurt my head. It just didn't click for me, and having to go back and figure things out just made me feel more disconnected from the story.

There were also certain things that I didn't find very believable, but what follows did leave me impressed. It is incredibly clever once you have pieced it all together and I really liked the characters so I cared about what was happening to them. But the finger-clicking switch left me dumbfounded rather than in awe and sadly that has tarnished my overall opinion.

But Gillian likes to throw a spanner in the works, and many are sure to love the twistiness of this gripping crime thriller. I'm certain that I'm in the minority here and that this will be another hyped release this year.