When Gillian McAllister has a new book out, you know you need to read it. And that was exactly the case when ‘Caller Unknown’ was released in April (I appreciate I am behind on the reviewing front).
I found ‘Caller Unknown’ an interesting read, as it was a thriller, as you would expect from Gillian McAllister, but it was also a fascinating study of relationships. And I think that was more of a focus of the story than the thrills. This is a story about the relationship between a mother and a daughter, and how they handle probably one of the things many of us would fear the most: being kidnapped – in a place you have no local knowledge of or any connection to. And, when each other is the only people you know, and when you are one person down, that isolation and loneliness becomes even worse. I was drawn to how the mother’s love led her to a series of actions, and the team that she and her daughter have to become through the shared traumatic experience.
It is, as I always say, hard to say much about a book that I do not want to spoil for others. But, if you are a fan of Gillian McAllister, you will be a fan of this book. You will be drawn into the story, you will be keen to know what is going to happen next, but this is certainly a little more than just a thriller – this seems more character led than action led. Which possibly led me to read it in a slightly different way than I would a usual, clearly defined thriller.
Although, it has certainly left me dreading those unknown number calls a little more than I did before…