I've read and loved all of Gillian McAllister's novels and I'm so happy to say that this one is no exception! Famous Last Words gets off to such a thrilling start with Camilla wondering why her husband isn't responding to her calls, and on the other side of town Niall is called in to deal with a hostage situation. It's clear very quickly that these two situations are linked and what follows is an intense, thrilling and mysterious story. We slowly get to see what happened that day in the warehouse and how Camilla is left to pick up the pieces of her broken life, whilst also left with so many unanswered questions. There are still strange things happening around her as the years go by and she always wonders if it's connected to her husband. I spotted some of the reveals ahead of time but most of this novel completely blindsided me and I loved that! I read this book in just a couple of sittings because I just had to know what was going to happen next and how it was all going to end. This is such a compulsive thriller and I highly recommend it!

I absolutely loved this book! It was gripping and addictive, I just couldn't put it down! There were so many twists and turns and they all tied back in well! Although I guessed some bits, I was very wrong with others, which I loved! Just when you think you have it all solved - NO!

It's Camilla's first day back at work after maternity leave and her usually attentive husband is nowhere to be seen but then she sees a hostage situation being shown live on the news and then the police turn up to her place of work.

The story is told from several POV's, mainly Camilla's and the hostage negotiator, Niall. There are also some short chapters from a mystery person, It took me a while to realise who it was and why. As Camilla works for a book publisher, we also get snippets from a book that has just been sent to her!

This was very cleverly written and I was really rooting for Camilla and Niall to get the answers they so desperately needed.

Thank you to netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advance copy to read.

I absolutely loved this from start to finish. The story and the writing had me gripped and I needed to know what was happening. I loved the dual POVs and the change in time as the book progressed.

If you are looking for a great psychological thriller then look no further. I really liked Niall as a character and found myself rooting for him as he tried to follow the truth. I didn't actually care too much for Cam but I didn't dislike her either.

Famous Last Words follows Cam whose husband Luke, is responsible for a dramatic hostage situation in London where three people are being held in a warehouse.

Why did her husband do what he did? How did she not see it coming? What does she do now?

What follows is a story told through Cam’s perspective, the hostage negotiator’s perspective and a mysterious third POV.

I was completely captivated straight away which is so vital for me with thrillers, a slow start can often throw the book off course and cause me to lose interest quickly.

It’s hard to review a book like this without giving anything away so all i’ll say is that it was full of twists and just when I thought i’d had it all figured out it threw me through another loop. This was fast paced thriller writing at its absolute best and I devoured the entire book in one evening.

5* Famous Last Words - Gillian McAllister. AMAZING. Gillian McAllister, the queen of the intricate and compelling plot has outdone her brilliant back catalogue with Famous Last Words.

Camilla wakes to her first day post maternity leave. She's surprised to find her husband gone, leaving only a cryptic note behind. Shortly after she gets to work, there is breaking news of a siege on TV and then the Police show up and turn Camilla's life upside down.

Every element of this book is superb. I loved the characters, particularly Cam and the hostage negotiator Niall, along with their wider families and problems. The plot is sufficiently complex but not overdone. The pacing keeps you hooked but it isn't a constant 4th gear hang-on-for dear-life ride, it's more nuanced. And the twists will keep you on tenterhooks the whole way through.

I utterly adored this book and I'm now in that awful limbo of knowing it very unlikely that I'll read anything this good for quite some time.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

Gillian McAllister is an absolute genius! This fast paced thriller follows the life of Cam- whose husband appeared to take two hostages and then murder them. But things are never as they seem, and Gillian is the absolute queen of twists! I couldn’t put it down, I was constantly trying to second guess what was going to happen next. Awesome read- thank you Netballey for the chance to read it ☺️

I was super excited to receive Gillian McAllister's latest novel as any book of hers is always on my must-read list!

I was hooked from the first page.
I loved the characters and was really rooting for Cam. As well as being a fast paced, thriller, this is also a story of true love.

Highly recommended to all thriller readers.

Really good. Great premise. Had me hooked very early on. Full of intrigue amd clever twists amd turns. Definitely one to read!

I really enjoy this author's work and was delighted to receive this as an arc to review. I really felt for Camilla who was returning to work after maternity leave. The day she returns to work, her usually supportive husband Luke disappears. I could sense Camilla's growing feeling of fear throughout the day. The siege situation comes right out of the blue and no-one can believe Luke is responsible.
Very cleverly written I really enjoyed this book.

Gillian McAllister has done it again! Famous Last Words has it all — a pacy plot, twisty twists, a compelling and real voice in Camilla, a love story and heart pounding suspense-filled moments. Main character — and literary agent — Cam often makes reference to becoming lost in the world of the book she is reading so that the real world no longer exists and that’s exactly what Famous Last Words has achieved. I raced through it in a couple of days. Another winner from this author!!

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister

You will know from my previous reviews I’m a huge fan of Gillian McAllisters books, no one writes plot twists quite like her and her upcoming book Famous Last Words doesn’t disappoint.
The book if full of plot twists and need to find out more moments which makes it very hard to put the book down!
Not coming out until January 2025 it’s very hard not to give spoilers away but I loved the way it was written between Cam and Niall and the way it was written just had you feel connected to both characters and on the edge of your chair. So as not to give anything away here is the book synopsis and I hope you all give it a read on 30 January 2025 when it’s published.
Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read this amazing book early.

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 . . .

This one I have to admit was a bit of an enigma for me. It is almost a book of two halves and two mini stories.
It starts out really well with the plot that a gunman is holding hostages at a warehouse in London. Then the main person in this book, Camilla discovers that the gunman turns out to be her normally placid husband which is a shock in itself but then it develops. Camilla gets the police arriving to interview her as it's a hostage situation and what does she know? Then she is dragged down there to possibly help with talking down her hubby. They hear gunshots and there are two hostages killed and so the police storm the building.....
All good so far and a great start that captivates you and gets you reading wanting to know what is going to happen but all that for me changes in the second part.

When they storm the building it appears that the gunman, said husband, has vanished but where. They look but can't find and they we cut to 7 years later. Camila is trying to move on with a new boyfriend and their daughter is older and at school but how far can you move on from being the wife of a murderer. Also the hostage negotiator from the warehouse situation believes hubby is still alive and wants to find him so they are watching and surveilling Camilla for hopefully contact from him. Even though it has been all quiet and nothing from the missing husband.

Spoiler Alert: I fully expect the second part to be more of a edge of your seat, where is the guy? and tracking him down etc. and certainly more of a page turner than it was. Instead we get a much slower pace mainly around Camilla and it peters to a love story kind of ending that makes you think what a load of rubbish. Seven years to discover what they should have, in fact could have, discovered 7 years before. A complete let down and waste.

While Camilla does get a text which could be from hubby that gets the ball rolling a bit the story for me just is not the pace of the first part. Is too slow and concentrates too much on Camilla rather than the hunt for missing murderer and husband. To make matters worse the ending is poor for me and dragged along to the end for that ruined the book for me and dropped it from being a really good and possible 5 star read to just a 3 and then only because of the start. If the second part was all the book I'd say it was in the wrong genre and it would have got a 1 or 2 stars at best.

What an amazing rollercoaster of a read!

Cam is a literary agent, returning to work for the first time after maternity leave. When she gets up, though, her husband Luke is nowhere to be seen and she hears nothing until she discovers there is a siege taking place nearby and Luke is the hostage taker. Also on the scene is Niall, a negotiator with the police, and the book from there on tells the story of both of them through the siege and over the following years.

Once I began this, I just couldn’t put it down. The writing is superb, not only with the plot that twists and turns all over the place, but also with the effect the situation is having on these two different people. We really get a look beyond the surface story at their lives, their personalities and their reactions and all of it is believable, which is very often not the case in this kind of book.
This is the first book I’ve read from this author but it certainly won’t be the last.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

This author is so consistent in writing cracking books, you cant help but get excited when a new release lands on your kindle. This book was no exception and I cant praise it highly enough.
If you want action, mystery and danger then seriously... read it. It has each in spades!
Can it get more thrilling than opening with an armed siege? I didn't think so.. but then we have that gorgeous tension throughout the unravelling of the characters lives, the creeping danger and the threats to characters, that are so realistic and beautifully formed, we really become invested in their safety and the outcome.
As always, what you see is absolutely not what you get. I have quickly learned Gillian McAllister is the absolute queen of a curve ball and I'm truly grateful for the clever mind that produces these books for us to devour!
I'm already anticipating the next release, although how she will match this, I don't quite know.. it was an absolute belter!

I've read and enjoyed almost all of Gillian McAllister’s novels now and I was so excited to have the opportunity to read this one. From the beginning, I knew I was in for a wild ride, as Famous Last Words begins with one of the most tense opening sections I have ever read, and never truly let's go. My heart rate was racing from the first page to the last.

Famous Last Words is mostly narrated by Cam, a literary agent, and Niall, a negotiatior with the police. I loved the way that this allowed the reader to see quite deeply into both their lives. In these protagonists, Gillian McAllister has created two characters for whom I had sympathy and I hoped they would find the answers they needed as the story progressed. I love the way the author uses vocabulary that pinpoints the character's emotions so precisely that it is impossible not to feel the emotional connection with them.

It's quite difficult to say a lot about the plot without spoilers, but once again, I am in awe of Gillian McAllister’s ability to conceive and execute such complex and intriguing plots. The idea for Famous Last Words is incredibly clever and I loved the way it all comes together and the journey to get there. As you would expect, it is full of twists, and I found some of them literally jaw dropping.

I can't wait to see what the author does next!

Another great thriller from Gillian McAllister, though this time quite an unusual one based around a London siege. The story is told from the perspective of the wife of one of the protagonists, and becomes more involved as details about the background and the crime are revealed. An absorbing and surprising read which has a cracking pace and never fails to grip the reader.

Like each of Gillian McAllister's books that I have read previously, this is a satisfyingly deep psychological thriller. There are plenty of books I've read about wives who are shocked by their husband committing unspeakable crimes without them having any idea - the plot isn't unusual, but it still feels like a story I haven't read before because of the way it's woven in with well rounded characters with history and relationships with other characters, and baggage. I also liked that the story was split between the perspective of the investigating police officer and the perpetrator's wife. The book has emotional weight to go along with the drama of uncovering what happened on the day of the siege, and it's satisfying for the reader that they can probably work out for themselves what happened as the story goes along since it all pieces together nicely with no suspension of disbelief required, and leaves the reader to think "of course!" rather than "wow I never could've seen that coming". It was a really good read, highly recommended.

Absolutely devoured this. I like this writer and I’d recommend all of her books. I liked the characters which is unusual as I find writers sometimes try too hard to make their ‘good’ characters too good which never works. This had a level of realism and I was rooting for them all. Great ending. Great author. Another string 5/5.

Absolutely brilliant! Another 5 star hit from Gillian McAllister. Packed full of suspense, I read this in 24 hours I just couldn’t put it down!!

This is a gripping thriller and I read this very quickly. I think fabs of the author will love this one! Full of little twists and turns through out and well written.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this arc.