How far would you go to rescue your child? A mother races against the clock—and finds herself on the wrong side of the law—in a desperate fight to save her teenage daughter in this pulse-pounding thriller from the author of Reese’s Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time.
There is nothing that Simone won’t do for her daughter, Lucy. The two have always been close, and with Lucy about to leave home for university, they depart the UK for a vacation to Texas to spend some quality time together. But when Simone awakens on their first morning in the desert, Lucy is gone, missing from their rental cabin. In her place is a cell phone, and a voice on the other line issues a shocking ransom demand. Don’t tell the police. Come to this location. And be prepared to do a deal…
Though Simone’s husband urges her to bring in the authorities for help, she knows she can’t take any chances. The kidnappers might kill Lucy if she tells anyone. No mother would take that risk. Instead, that night, she drives to the isolated meet-up.
What she finds there changes everything. The mysterious kidnapper doesn’t want money. They want Simone to do something. The unthinkable.
A catastrophic chain of events is set in motion, with chilling consequences that extend beyond Simone and her family. What follows is a heart-pounding journey through the small towns and punishing deserts of remote Texas, in which Simone’s courage—and morality—is pushed to the brink as she discovers what it truly means to be a mother.
There is nothing that Simone won’t do for her daughter, Lucy. The two have always been close, and with Lucy about to leave home for university, they depart the UK for a vacation to Texas to spend some quality time together. But when Simone awakens on their first morning in the desert, Lucy is gone, missing from their rental cabin. In her place is a cell phone, and a voice on the other line issues a shocking ransom demand. Don’t tell the police. Come to this location. And be prepared to do a deal…
Though Simone’s husband urges her to bring in the authorities for help, she knows she can’t take any chances. The kidnappers might kill Lucy if she tells anyone. No mother would take that risk. Instead, that night, she drives to the isolated meet-up.
What she finds there changes everything. The mysterious kidnapper doesn’t want money. They want Simone to do something. The unthinkable.
A catastrophic chain of events is set in motion, with chilling consequences that extend beyond Simone and her family. What follows is a heart-pounding journey through the small towns and punishing deserts of remote Texas, in which Simone’s courage—and morality—is pushed to the brink as she discovers what it truly means to be a mother.
Title: Caller Unknown
Author: Gillian McAllister
Publisher:
Expected Publication Date: May 5, 2026
Review:
Thank you to William Marrow and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
This is my first book by this author. My expectations were pretty high after seeing so many people post about her previous books and how good they are. I should honestly know better than to follow along after high praise for a book. Although, it seems this book may not be her typical type of story so perhaps there's is something to be said there.
I wanted mystery and suspense. Maybe a little thrill. What I got was a little bit of mystery and just family drama. Not what I was expecting at all. The overall plot is the FMC's daughter being kidnapped and her adventure to get her back. The book started out promising, though I wasn't a huge fan of the narration technique of the author. There was A LOT of telling in this book. The narrator told us all about her family and what she felt she was going through but the author never really showed me any of this. Add to that the mystery of the kidnap being solved pretty quickly and the rest of the book the characters searching for said kidnappers and it just wasn't the mystery I was expecting.
The book is told in alternating POVs from the main character, Sophie, and the kidnapper. At first, I thought this might prove interesting. But really there was almost no need for the second POV. I'm not really sure what it added to the story. We could have easily seen the situation through the FMC's POV. Though the kidnapper is not who you think it is at all, so that was a surprise.
The pacing of this book was SO slow. I had to push so hard to get through the story. I kept waiting for things to happen but nothing ever really did. It mad it so hard to stay engaged with the story. I had no desire to really keep picking it up but I did because I thought maybe the mystery would turn out to be something mind blowing. Hint: It wasn't. Plus all the side stories the main character was telling really didn't lend much to the overall story. They did give some background to the characters but it wasn't anything that really made me like the story or characters more.
Add to this that I had no connection at all with the characters nor did I even care about them and the story was just a flop for me. I just could not suspend my disbelief enough to really see the story as being true. Everything that happens with the police, the FBI, the lawyer, jail, it just made no sense to me at all.
The was a pretty fast read with short chapters but overall I just wasn't impressed. It didn't make me wan to run and read other books by this author at all. I'm not sure if I will take a leap to try another book by this author.
Author:
As you find me, it's autumn 2025 and my latest novel is Famous Last Words, a thriller with a marriage at its centre. It asks the question: what would you do if your husband is caught up in a siege in central London? Only, the police tell you he isn't one of the hostages: he is the gunman... I hope you like the answer!
Upcoming in spring 2026 is Caller Unknown, a thriller about a woman whose teenage daughter is kidnapped, and she decides to pay the ransom, meet the kidnappers direct, and not tell the police.
Upcoming in spring 2026 is Caller Unknown, a thriller about a woman whose teenage daughter is kidnapped, and she decides to pay the ransom, meet the kidnappers direct, and not tell the police.
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