Book Review: Wrong Place, Wrong Time
10/02/2022
Book Review | Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
Gillian McAllister is a pretty cool cucumber. I first discovered her on instagram where she has a significant presence now, updating followers on both her daily writing life and the walks she takes with her dog Wendy in the countryside near her home. She talks openly and often about how she left her job as a lawyer to be a full-time writer and outlines in detail how hard she worked to make this a reality. She’s the type of writer who absolutely loves writing - fitting it in to any spare moment she might have, working relentlessly to producing novel and novel. Bestseller after bestseller even! As sometime who spends hours, even days, procrastinating before finally getting into the zone to write, I’m naturally both very jealous and full of admiration.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time is the third book I’ve read by McAllister. The first was How to Disappear which was really good, a novel that combined family drama with crime thriller, with excellent research and a little artistic licence combining to explore the concept of witness protection in a compulsively readable way. I then picked one from her backlist The Evidence Against You, which I also enjoyed though admittedly quite as much as How to Disappear. Both books had a similar twisty-turny vibe and multi-faceted characters, particularly the female protagonists in each, but you could definitely see how McAllister’s consistent writing regimen is paying dividends in improving her work. Particularly in how daring and complex her ideas are becoming. Wrong Place, Wrong Time further proves this point as the concept is her most intriguing and experimental yet.
When Jen sees her son commit a murder right in front of their house, she’s understandably devastated and determined to help him in anyway she can. After a bad night’s sleep she wakes her to find her son back home, rather than at the police station. In fact it’s the day before, the crime hasn’t even happened and he has no idea what she’s talking about. The next day, she’s gone back another day in time. Confused, panicked and still in shock, Jen sets herself the task of discovering the root cause of what went wrong for her son. This, she hopes, will return her to the future and prevent the crime from ever happening.
It’s a fascinating premise, crime thriller melded with time-travel, neither Jen nor the reader ever quite sure where we’re heading or what the end result might be. As Jen travels back further in time, and faster, the concern arises as to not only whether she’ll be able to prevent the crime but also as to the possibility that her life will simply continue rewinding until she’s never even been born. And then what?
I really enjoyed the way McAllister spun the story out, allowing me to gather clues alongside Jen and attempt to slot it all into place while simultaneously trying to remember where on earth we were in the timeline and what events had yet to take place. At the start of the book I felt like I could see where the story was heading but within a few chapters I was completely at sea and unable to guess what might happen next - exactly how I like my thrillers! As always with one of McAllister’s novels, the final twists were marvellous!
Thanks to NetGalley for an advance digital ARC of Wrong Place, Wrong Time.
You can pre-order your own copy at my affiliate link on Bookshop.org or go to your local independent bookstore!