Published By: Michael Joseph
Pages: 416
Released On: 09/04/2026
They Took Her Daughter. Now She’ll Break Every Rule to Get Her Back.
Simone’s holiday to Texas was meant to be some much needed bonding time with her teenage daughter, Lucy.
On their first night in the desert, Simone wakes to find Lucy missing and a mobile phone in her place. The phone rings: Lucy has been taken and, in order to get her back, Simone must commit a crime.
As Simone prepares to follow the kidnapper’s instructions, she feels certain that there is nothing she wouldn’t do to save Lucy. But becoming a wanted woman is just the start…
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
Is there anything better than a new Gillian McAllister book? This is my fifth of hers.
This might seem a bit bizarre considering one of her books was about literal time travel, but this felt like one of her more unbelievable books. That’s not a negative, let me just say. I mean, you don’t really want to be able to identify with a thriller, I understand that, but some of them you can; this one felt just a smidge out of reach.
I had my suspicions as to what actually happened and I was eager to see if I was right. Well given my track record with failing to work out the ends of thrillers and whodunnits, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that once again, I did not work it out.
It is fast paced and exciting and thrilling, just as I expect from her books. It’s edge-of-your-seat stuff, heart-pounding, clammy hounds. I thought, being over 400 pages, it would take me a while to read it, but I zoomed through it during one day as I just had to know what happened.
It had almost a Thelma and Louise vibe to it at times.
I love how it showed the strength of a mother’s love above everything, even if it means risking the worst punishment.
There are other characters for sure, but this is a woman’s story, a mother’s story, a daughter’s story, and they steal every page.
The pacing feels spot on. It never feels like it’s drawn out but it never feels rushed. Some bits are faster or slower than others, yes, but on the whole it’s pitched just right. The first half is full of action, whereas the middle becomes more of a character exploration.
It isn’t my absolute favourite of her books – that accolades belongs with Wrong Place Wrong Time – but it’s still proof as to why Gillian is such a popular thriller writer.
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