thebi_brarian's reviews
97 reviews

The book was good but suffered from pacing issues that meant the ending was rushed. We never really got to know the characters as the writing was somewhat detached, only giving us a surface level look at their thoughts and feelings.

Nevertheless, the writing was good and it was interesting look at the lives of four women and how the past impacted their present.

You're not going to like this book if you want plot. There really isn't any. And the pace for the first 3/4s is very slow before everything wraps up quickly.

I thought some of the explanations for the why the Montrose women hadn't acted differently a little weak, and they really only came at the end of the book so it felt like the author hadn't really considered them until maybe a beta reader pointed it out.

I did enjoy it though and thought it was a solid debut. I'd read from this author again.

An Unfortunate Christmas Murder by Hannah Hendy

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2.5

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was such a fun ride!

I think its important to begin by saying that Wrong Place, Wrong Time really does require quite the suspension of disbelief; there's a soft sci-fi element that's going to go down better if the reader doesn't scruitinise it too much

(backwards time travel)

. Go with it, don't ask questions and enjoy working out the mystery alongside our protagonist.

What I loved so much about this book is the way that McAllister used such a unique plot device to explore the Butterfly Effect- how seemingly insignificant moments can have a larger effect later on down the line. With each new entry the reader is drip fed more of the mystery and we are able to piece together the 'why' of the inciting event all the way to the conclusion.

Don't go into this book excepting any deep delve into the human psyche; this is a plot driven book with very little focus on the characters as people. I can't say I remember much about the MC or any of the supporting characters but in Wrong Place, Wrong Time, it hardly matters because solving the mystery is really what we're here for.

Now, despite the 5 star rating, I wouldn't call this a perfect book, McAllister went down one or two roads with her plot that I saw coming

(the husband being an undercover cop)

, and there's a "side story" involving a theoretical physicist that had such little influence on the main plot that I would argue it didn't need to be included at all. But neither of these things was much of a concern for me when I was having so much fun with it. In fact, it was quite satisfying to be proven right on the plot elements that I had guessed.

The ending too could be considered a little cheesy- more specifically the "why" that is the cause of the aforementioned soft sci-fi element

(a mother's love being a great enough force to propel a person backwards in time)

but I was spared a groan at this particular decision by the author by the very last part of the book which I loved.

(the reveal that another mother we hear of briefly much earlier in the book is about to go through the same thing)

Overall, I thought this was a unique way to tell this particular story, I had a lot of fun reading it and I would definitely pick up McAllister's next book as a result.

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thebi_brarian's reviews 97 reviews

thebi_brarian's reviews
97 reviews