Famous Last Words

 Hello everyone!

For our April Mystery Book Club we read:

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister. I haven't read a novel by this author before, and had wanted our book club to read Wrong Place Wrong Time when it came out in 2022 but while there were several copies in the library system, there was a really long hold list for over a year. Then this latest novel came out and it worked out.

About: "It is June 21st, the longest day of the year, and new mother Camilla’s life is about to change forever. After months of maternity leave, she will drop her infant daughter off at daycare for the first time and return to her job as a literary agent. Finally. But, when she wakes, her husband Luke isn’t there, and in his place is a cryptic note.

Then it starts. Breaking news: there's a hostage situation developing in London. The police arrive, and tell her Luke is involved. But he isn't a hostage. Her husband—doting father, eternal optimist—is the gunman.

What she does next is crucial. Because only she knows what the note he left behind that morning says..."

Well, the consensus was that it was a pretty good read. The story starts off right away with Camilla thinking something is wrong, where is Luke, not like him etc. The story move quickly and held everyone's attention. We were all fooled in wondering who the MAIN bad people were, but there were other bad people and we all guessed one of the players. 

The story timeline moves from the main event to seven years later. Most of us wondered why a person, i.e. Camilla, would not have moved on. Hence the big twist at the end.

I liked it well enough to read another of her books. They are all stand alones. I am still interested in Wrong Place Wrong Time.

Here is a bit about the author from Wiki;

Gillian McAllister (born 28 February 1985) is a British author, known for seven novels, all which have been bestsellers. Her works have been translated into 40 languages. Several of her novels have been optioned for television and film. Her works include Everything But The Truth (2017), Anything You Do Say (published as The Choice in North America), No Further Questions (published as The Good Sister in North America), The Evidence Against You, How To Disappear, and That Night which was a Richard & Judy book club pick and Wrong Place Wrong Time which was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, Sunday Times Bestseller and New York Times bestseller.

"McAllister was born in Sutton Coldfield and raised in Tamworth. After attending Belgrave High School in Tamworth (now known as Tamworth Enterprise College) and receiving A-Levels, McAllister read English at the University of Birmingham, receiving a 2:1 BA Hons.^{[citation needed]} She then converted to law, studying the GDL and receiving a commendation. McAllister received a distinction in her Legal Practice Course (LPC) from The College of Law, before working as a solicitor in two Birmingham-based legal practises.^{[citation needed]}

McAllister wrote fiction in her spare time throughout adulthood, often writing in the evenings and commutes to and from work.^[1] She finished her first full (unpublished) novel while suffering from glandular fever^[2] for two years. Her debut published novel, Everything But The Truth, was published by Michael Joseph,^[3] an imprint of Penguin Random House UK,.^[4] In its first week, Everything But The Truth reached number six in the Sunday Times Bestseller List. 

She also hosts The Honest Authors Podcast with fellow author Holly Seddon.^[8]"