Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister

 

Simone is excited to meet up with her daughter, Lucy, who has spent the summer in America. On their first night in Texas, Lucy is abducted, and Simone receives a series of instructions that she must carry out in order to save her daughter.

Gillian McAllister's recent novels have been some of my favourite thrilling reads, so I leapt at the chance to read her next novel, Caller Unknown. The synopsis sounds brilliant, and I enjoy a story that offers moral dilemmas.

From the very beginning, you are able to put yourself in Simone's shoes; her exhaustion from a long-haul flight, the frustration of her bag going missing and no one at the airport who seems to want to help, and her excitement at finally seeing her daughter after months apart. The excitement soon turns to uncertainty, and then horror, when she realises Lucy has been abducted from the Airbnb they have rented.

Left in Lucy's place is a mobile phone on which Simone receives instructions to carry out in order to have Lucy returned. The kidnapper is clear: if Simone tells anyone, including the police, she will never see Lucy again. I love a storyline that questions how far someone will go, the rules they are willing to break, to save someone they love.

Simone confides in the one person she trusts completely, her husband, who is back in London. Going against the advice he offers, Simone ends up following the kidnapper's instructions, and the situation becomes even worse, with Simone on the run, unable to prove that she has been forced to break the law.

As a result of her chaotic upbringing, Simone is extremely independent, able to take care of herself in almost any situation; she trusts no one apart from her immediate family. However, I found the way in which some of the obstacles were overcome a little implausible. Pacing was also a little erratic; there were short bursts of action, raising the tension of the story, followed by lots of navel-gazing. All of this resulted in a conclusion that seemed rushed and improbable.

Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister will be published on 9th April 2026 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for a review copy.

Author Details

Gillian McAllister is the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of nine stand-alone novels. Her books have been selected for the Radio 2 Book Club, Reese's Book Club and the Richard & Judy Book Club. Her previous novel, Wrong Place Wrong Time, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and was shortlisted for The British Book Awards Crime & Thriller Book of the Year and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Gillian's books are published in thirty-eight languages.