Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllisterMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - 1 day
Pages - 352
Publisher - MichaelJoseph
Source - Arc Netgalley
Blurb from Goodreads
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.
My Review
Mother and daughter are back together after Lucy (daughter) has been away to a wee retreat style and now mum and daughter are doing a cabin/camping trip together before she heads to university. The trip is in USA, Texas and they are from the UK, after travel they finally meet and get to the cabin have a snack and go to bed. When Simone wakes it doesn't take long to notice Lucy is missing and a phone starts ringing, it isn't hers, it isn't Lucy's and Simone's world falls apart. Someone has kidnapped Lucy and Simone will do whatever it takes to get her back and the kidnapper has indeed offered a way to get her daughter back.
Oooft - it kicks off quite quickly and Simone is just a normal mum, maybe a bit more distrust of authority due to her upbringing with an addict parent and social work involvement. Her husband wants to go to the police, he is a lawyer and fixer but Simone will take no chances with her daughters life and is going to do exactly what she is told.
The book is kinda in two halves, the kidnap and Simone trying to follow the kidnappers instructions and what happens when she gets to the "end game" and everything that follows thereafter. There are a few scenes that are really tense and you totally feel for Simone. Some of her behaviours/attitudes and Lucy's did irritate and or annoy me but it is a highly charged sleep deprived state and trauma responses so you need to give a bit of leeway but still.
It has tense moments, some moments you are like oh no why why why and others I was like really?!?!?!? It absolutely kept me engaged and I wanted to know how it was all going to play out, I read it in one day which considering how my readers block has been is no mean feat, 4/5.
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