This is a suspenseful emotional thriller that follows a mother and daughter from the UK to Texas. The beginning starts pulling at your emotions when a mother, Simone, and her teenage daughter Lucy meet up before Lucy starts college. After struggling with a newly faulty door Simone wakes to find her daughter missing. No clues in sight except Lucy's cell phone. An unknown caller, the kidnapper, challenges Simone morally in exchange for the return of her daughter. No police, no help, in complete isolation this mother is challenged to get her daughter safely returned. This book pulls you in and keeps you wanting more. It's hard to predict what will happen next.

Simone visits her daughter Lucy in America. They meet up at an isolated cabin. As they get reacquainted and prepare for some bonding time.. tragedy strikes. The next morning Simone wakes up to Lucy gone. She heard something during the middle of the night and the door to the cabin was broken but Lucy is gone and Simone gets contact from the kidnapper to follow instructions and go to Mexico on a task…. And don’t tell the police. What ensures is a wild run across the border, drugs, bad guys, murder, and Simone on the run. I won’t ruin the mystery since I love a missing person story and don’t want to give it away but Simone goes on the run and more cat and mouse ensues. I enjoyed the grilling on the edge of your seat wondering what was going to happen nature of the book. I really was pulling for everyone involved and couldn’t wait until I could get to the end. Definitely a great read.

My mom loves me, and I love her, but if she ever thought about me "Swimming inside her, in the amniotic fluid" I would first need to get a court ordered restraining order and then be so creeped out. I don't have children, but I would love to know if any mothers out there ever contemplated their children swimming in the amniotic fluid? But ironically as I type this, my mom actually probably did think about me in the amniotic fluid because I literally did have Meconium Fluid--(Your welcome mommy) So Meconium mom's aside....you never reflect on that.
That demonstrates how weird and offputting the main character Simone is in this book. She was just flying that freak flag high. How's this for further proof: Daughter is kidnapped at 4 am (Don't forget that...o wait you can because that time is mentioned 22 times-) and SHE DOESN'T CALL THE POLICE!!! Her husband a continent away begs...she doesn't call the police because she is trying to be super mom-WHAT? Call the police!! I just couldn't get past it.
As the plot progresses(very slowly at that) we are in addition reminded of her crazy weird obsession with her daughter-who is really not that special....I mean...she was a C+ child at best-McAllister throws in all these food descriptions, in case you forget Simon is a chef--totally pointless except she made an enourmous amount of recipes with eggs in this book.

Okay I will back of Simone, let's talk plot. BORING.
Very slow moving, and the ending was so sudden. The ending felt like it was thrown up against the wall and so ridiculous.
The literary device she pulls at the end was so cheap, like really? That is what you are going to do Gillian?? You can do better.

The underlying message here is mothers have a fierce and intense love....but I am sorry I am not buying it. Not in the way it was shown in this book, especially the last few chapters.

Hoping for better in the future......

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to review this advanced copy of Caller Unknown. I was not paid for this honest review.

This book I really wanted to love but the odd and drawn out story of looking for her daughter I didn’t really enjoy. I know it’s not a published piece but the writing is also a bit confusing at times considering the faulty grammar. Hopefully that will get fixed.

Gillian McAllister did an incredible job of displaying the true nature of motherhood and unique bond between mother and child. This mother / daughter trip turns into a nightmare when her daughter is kidnapped, and the events that transpire afterwards will leave you desperate for the next chapter. Although a novel, I felt this could’ve honestly been viewed as more of a screenplay, and it reminded me of the movie “Taken” with Liam Neeson.

This book had a good premise, but was unfortunately not executed well. The writing was very clunky and awkward at the beginning. I actually searched how many times the main characters name was used (1,507 times in a 336 page book 🤯) because Simone was used in about every other sentence. Every time something interesting was happening, the mother started reminiscing on the past which ruined any kind of suspense. All of the characters made painfully stupid decisions that made little sense. The police procedural aspect was incredibly lacking and unrealistic. And the mother's obsession with her daughter was excessive. The ending was lacking and anticlimactic, though I did really enjoy the twist at the end.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book hooked me from the very first page and kept me completely engrossed as I tried to piece everything together. I never saw the ending coming, and the reveal of the culprit left me genuinely surprised. I will say for me the ending needed more punch to it, but it is a well written and delivered story.

I truly enjoyed how well the author thought outside the box when creating the unexpected twist!

I am unfortunately disappointed in this one. What I expected the book to be was over in the first part. +1 star for the twist because all though it wasn’t revolutionary I didn’t expect it when I reached that part of the book. It didn’t feel like a thriller, just a novel with a twist.

She always does this she engage you. She makes you follow the story. Think that you know what’s gonna happen and then suspense, thrilling confusion. All of this emotions in one drop she created this book in a very thrilling but definitely great for this spooky season. I know it doesn’t come up until next year but still it will be a fantastic rate for your next fall read.

Ok this book was a bit longer than I would have liked. Definitely felt at times it was dragging and just info filling in the pages.
The characters were pretty good and the storyline was great.
I actually kept thinking all along that this was some plan by Lucy. I was very relieved to find out it wasn’t.
Overall everything was good just very drawn out

Thanks to NetGalley for the copy

This book was not for me. I had a very hard time getting into it. It took me over 2 weeks to read because it was just unrealistic and kind of boring.

I usually enjoy McAllister's writing. I was thoroughly hooked on this one at the beginning, and really drawn into the drama of it all - even though I've read a number of the "what would you be willing to do to save your child" books before... But about a quarter of the way in things started to roll right off the rails, and unfortunately never found their way back for me. The decisions got spotty and the circumstances even more credibility-straining than these books typically require, and that's saying something.

I also found myself surprisingly unsympathetic for the mom here - which is not my usual response. She just didn't generate any strong feelings in me at all; I found her uninteresting and pretty selfish (which made me feel bad, given her backstory, but I couldn't shift that perception) and she just rubbed me the wrong way. That, combined with the bizarre set of circumstances (again, even considering the trope here these felt out there), meant that I struggled to connect to the story from that point out. This was NOT my favorite Gillian McAllister...

This book grips you from the start. A mother and daughter reunite and then the daughter is missing. Unknown caller starts calling for ransom but not money. The mother has to commit crimes herself to get her daughter back. Does she do it? Where is the line drawn between motherhood and morality?
I enjoyed it from start to finish. The characters were likable and developed well.

I was hoping for more excitement in this one. The suspense was there, but there weren’t any shocking twists or turns. Even with a kidnapping and ransom, the plot was still quite boring.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC.

I feel like the premise of this book was so good but it was not excuted well. The book would get really exciting and then it would go back to talking about her cooking in the restuarant.. we get it you're a cook. I was not a fan of the fmc's daughter she just seemed like a spoiled brat and the mom had a weird obsession with her. The book was just to slow for me personally regarding everything that was going on that by the end of the book I didnt even care what happened.

Thank you NetGalley & William Morrow for this copy!
I loved this book! It’s fast-paced, addictive, and I read it over the weekend without wanting to put it down.

At first glance, this is a high-stakes thriller about a kidnapping, but it goes so much deeper. It really explores motherhood and just how far you’d be willing to go to protect your child. Simone’s love for her daughter and the choices she’s forced to make kept me glued to the pages. Every twist had me holding my breath, and the Texas setting added so much atmosphere to the story.

Tense, emotional, and unputdownable, this was such a gripping read and one I’ll be recommending to fellow thriller fans!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC of Caller Unknown.

I like to try to find something positive to say even about books I didn't care for, but I'm really struggling to find anything here. The book felt less like a thriller and more like a cheesy action movie. On top of that the characters were flat, not particularly likeable, and all of the decisions they made were illogical and idiotic. I've never given a Gillian McAllister book a rating over 3 stars and I think Caller Unknown confirms my suspicion that she isn't an author for me.

2.5 stars rounded down.

Gillian McAllister delivers another tense, high-stakes thriller in Caller Unknown, a story that blends maternal instinct, moral dilemmas, and nonstop suspense. The premise hooked me immediately—a mother waking up to find her daughter missing and a kidnapper demanding the unthinkable instead of money. The Texas desert setting added atmosphere and grit, and I found myself racing through chapters to see what Simone would do next.

That said, while the pacing kept me engaged, some twists felt a little over the top, and a few plot threads wrapped up too neatly for my taste. Simone was a compelling character, but at times her choices stretched believability, even within the heightened stakes of the story.

Overall, this is a gripping, emotional thriller that asks how far a parent will go when everything is on the line. Fans of McAllister’s previous books will find plenty to love here, even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of Wrong Place Wrong Time.

Book started out strong and captivating. The middle seemed to drag a bit. I definitely was surprised by the ending!

this was a strong psychological thriller novel, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from this type of book. I thought the use of the ransom and how desperate the mother was in this. The characters were everything that I wanted in this and had that element that worked in this universe. It was a strong psychological element that I wanted and was engaged with the suspenseful atmosphere that I was hoping for. Gillian McAllister wrote this well and was glad I got to read this.