Famous Last Words

A fun, twisty suspense novel in which a woman is shocked to learn her writer husband has taken hostages in a warehouse in London. Some of the details beggared belief, but that is sort of par for the course with this kind of book. What made it worthwhile were the strong writing and characterization. I would definitely read more from McAllister when I want some good old fashioned, page-turning entertainment.

3.75 stars

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 show more 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. show less

Gillian McAllister is one of my few suspense/thriller auto-read authors. Her engaging FMCs behave like real people, not pawns that are moved around a chessboard to maximize unnecessarily complex twists. My heart was in my mouth for the book's first 100 pages as Camilla's perfectly normal life turned into a surreal nightmare, one part of her going through the motions and the other part slowly realizing that nothing would ever be the same again. I was less enamored with the other POV character, Niall the hostage negotiator, because police, but his personal arc had a pleasantly surprising conclusion. It's a testament to McAllister's skill that I truly cared what happened to these people, and I could have read another 100 pages about their show more lives after the excitement was over.

Highly recommended, along with 2022's [b:Wrong Place Wrong Time|59947696|Wrong Place Wrong Time|Gillian McAllister|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1659457434l/59947696._SY75_.jpg|91884344]. show less

My third McAllister on audio starts in the author's usual manner, with a couple in love who runs into major trouble, and a secondary character with issues of his own. Camilla, a book agent, awakens one morning to find her husband Luke gone, and within hours is summoned to a London warehouse where Luke is holding three people captive. Hostage negotiator Niall is confident in his ability to make the right decisions, and when he decides, based on his training and experience, that Luke won't kill the hostages, he turns out to be both wrong and right. Camilla and Niall tell the story of the aftermath and of their marriages. This author is known for dropping major bombs on her readers, and with an audio book, you can't really go back and find show more out where McAllister has hidden her tipoffs, so you wait and see what will explode. Here, I saw one coming and didn't see another. I started my McAllister journey with Wrong Place Wrong Time, which out of the three I've read was the most thrilling, so maybe I'm getting used to her SoP, but this one is still a very enjoyable listen, and the narrators with Brit accents get me every time. I also enjoy the author's consistent focus on women of intelligence as her main characters. show less

Not as good as Wrong Place, Wrong Time, but that’s not a problem. Gillian McAllister does a great job blending plot and suspense with heart. Her characters are much more developed than is common in similar books. She occasionally bogged down in this one with the main character ruminating about her grief, but her grief was touching and exploring it as part of the story was worth the occasional slow paragraph. The general outline of what drove the husband to his crime was not particularly surprising to me, but filling in the details and confirming my hunches was still enough keep the book enjoyable and compelling.

Well, this was a twisty, can't put down thriller! Camilla wakes up to a crytic note from her husband. She's been home on maternity leave for nine months and today is her infant daughter's first day at daycare. Her husband, Luke is supposed to go with her. She gets to work at her job as a literary agent and the breaking news starts. There's a hostage situation in London. The police arrive at her job and tell her that her husband is involved...and he's not a hostage. He's the gunman. Read this straight through except when I had to put down to catch my breath...I definitely have to check out Gillian McAllister other books!

Quick read. Interesting plot line. Enjoyed its twists and turns and the interactions among the characters. Wrapped up quickly in the end.
Kirkus: When her husband is accused—and seems guilty—of committing a violent crime, Camilla Deschamps must decide whether she truly believes in his goodness and innocence.

In the sweet—and sometimes challenging—blur of her first nine months of motherhood, bookworm Cam has found domestic joy with her daughter, Polly, and her husband, Luke, as well as enough downtime to do some pleasure reading, so she’s nervous about returning to her job at a London literary agency. Her first day back certainly doesn’t turn out as she imagines: Unable to find Luke, she drops Polly off at day care and goes to show more work. When Luke doesn’t answer her texts for hours, she starts to worry. Then, on a television in her office, she sees live footage of an ongoing siege at a nearby warehouse—and realizes her husband seems to have taken three people hostage. Several hours later, despite the intervention of Niall Thompson, a trained police hostage negotiator, two of those three people will be dead, and Luke will be in the wind. Seven years pass, and while both Cam and Niall seem to have moved on in various ways, they’re both tethered to the memories and pain of that June afternoon. Niall’s wife left him that same day, and ever since he’s been troubled with dreams of the gunshots that destroyed not only the lives of the hostages, but also his career. Cam finds joy in Polly’s growth, but she can’t let go of her love for her husband—and her deep-rooted belief that he must still be out there, and may have an explanation for everything. Cam’s fierce love for Luke is admirable, but it also feels somewhat naïve, even as she and Niall begin to uncover discrepancies and coincidences about that day and the weeks leading up to it, many of which seem like quite a narrative stretch. The sweet mundanity of Cam and Luke’s “before” relationship is the true treasure of the book, as is the tension of the early chapters. McAllister asks us to consider whether blind faith in those we love is always justified—and worth the cost.

Shines most when asking complicated questions; as a thriller, it’s a little too neat. show less