ALC Review: Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
Release date: 25 February 2025
Rating: 4/5
Narrator: Emilia Fox
Narration Rating: 5/5
Book Box(es)/Special Editions: BOTM February pick/Waterstones Signed Edition
Synopsis: It is June 21, the longest day of the year, and the life of new mother Camilla is about to change forever. After months of maternity leave, she will drop off her infant daughter 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: A hostage situation is developing in London. The police tell her Luke is involved—but he isn't a hostage. Her husband—doting father, eternal optimist—is the gunman.
Review
McAllister’s 9th(!) thriller, for lack of better words, was fantastic. Thrillers don’t feature heavily on my TBR, but I saw the narrator (Emilia Fox) and automatically hit the heck yes button on Famous Last Words. I feel no regret. The book kept me rapt, and Fox’s narration gave dramatic life to the already action-packed plot. I may or may not continue to pick more thrillers up and branch out of my usual SFF section; and if I do, I’ll go to the McAllister books as some of the first.
McAllister shines through character building. In fact, I think Famous Last Words could have been an absolute snoozefest if the characters didn’t appeal to me so much. Camilla’s struggle to do what she loves professionally and parent her child, whom she loves with even more passion, especially because after a certain point in the story, she must work to provide for her now single-income household. Niall, the featured police officer with extraordinary skill and intuition also shows an exceptional amount of dimension. The two stories share a parallel marriage drama subplot that adds complexity and nuance to the story. How are these characters faring professionally while their lives fall down around them? The dumpster fires burn throughout the whole book; and all the while, even the day-to-day struggles of the characters kept me engrossed as much or more even than the A-story of what happens during the hostage crisis.
As maybe the only drawbacks, I wish the synopsis would have been a bit more cryptic with the details; I think the book would have been an absolute jaw-dropper had readers been surprised about the hostage situation at the start of the novel. While I loved the journey through the story and the tension, the reveal and ending felt a bit of a let down. Of course, that could amount to something as simple as my constant immersion in fantasy and SciFi worlds where every reveal can be far out there. I’m learning to lower some of my expectations for fiction based in the real world gradually. (That doesn’t mean the quality isn’t equal—just that my brain works like Calvin’s from Calvin and Hobbes, and when I come back to reality, stuff seems anticlimactic.)
I’m familiar with Emilia Fox from Merlin back in the good ol’ 2000’s. Fox’s voice perfectly matches the tone for Famous Last Words. Even listening at double speed, the cadence and tone added to the experience of the story. I’m convinced that many times I step out of my genre zone, much of the reason I enjoy IRL fiction stems from listening to a fantastic narrator.
Overall, 4/5 for the story—the reveal at the end felt a bit underwhelming—and 5/5 for the narration. I’ll be visiting the thriller section again due in no small part to McAllister’s newest thriller.
Thanks so much to Libro FM and William Morrow for the ALC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.
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