How do you stop a murder when it has already happened?
Review: Sharing books I've loved reading with you
My final review of another big reading year. And my last post of the year before going on a short Christmas break. So firstly - happy holidays to all my favourite people!! Thank you for all your support this year. You have been amazing.
I want to finish the year as I plan to start next year - by shouting about amazing books!
How do you stop a murder when it has already happened?
Isn’t this just both a strong and super brilliant hook for a story?
This was chosen by my crime fiction writers book group. We were keen to read this because it sounded so intriguing. Plus this was a Waterstones Book of the Month and Sunday Times Thriller of the Year.
Gillian McAllister is the author of six previous bestselling crime fiction books, but this seems to be the one that has got people talking. And turned out to be one of my favourite books of the year.
Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
The premise is a Groundhog Day kind of plot, but centred on a murder, and solving a mystery, which is a brilliant starting point, plus guaranteed to get me reading. (And probably also wishing I’d had this great idea first!)
A mother witnesses her teenage son knife someone and has no idea what has turned her son into a killer, or who the victim is. But when she wakes the next morning, none of it has happened - and she has a chance to find out why. And if she can, prevent the tragedy.
Now it is always tricky reviewing any crime fiction books without spoilers as the twists and reveals are so much part of the fun. Wrong Place Wrong Time has a truly great premise, but it took off in an unexpected direction. I expected it to be more of a simple repeat of a day. But the story just carries on moving backwards.
The appeal of amateur sleuths and clues
I loved the premise and the plot. Another strength of this story is also that the main character, Jen, is very relatable. She’s very much in the amateur sleuth vein of an ordinary person thrown into extraordinary circumstances. She’s been cushioned in a happy marriage and struggles to deal with the terrible turn of events.
The reader travels with Jen backwards into her life and the roots of problems she never saw coming.
Things feel ordinary. But there are significant clues the reader can pick up that signals the truths that Jen has missed.
I think one of the strengths of the book was the idea about how much we all miss. Don’t we all have disasters in our lives that we wished we could have predicted coming and wonder why we did not see the signs?
There is definitely a large What If question we can all ask about our own lives and the secrets our nearest and dearest might be keeping from us. Things make more sense in hindsight - What If we could go back?
I think this strong theme of the book might explain why it has such wide appeal and is beloved by so many readers.
A question of significant moments that we might miss
We only get to live life forwards and can only tell in hindsight which were the significant moments – the bits where you made decisions that had long-lasting impacts. But Jen gets the chance to do things differently.
A fascinating read. Also, from a crime fiction point of view, it also makes you think about how far you sometimes need to travel back (if you could) to unravel a significant, life-changing event, like a crime.
Where do those seeds get planted that lead to disaster ?
Well written and thought-provoking indeed. I thought the author was very clever at depicting what felt random days and moments at the time they were lived, and how easy it is to miss significance we can only understand later.
Jen ends up questioning some of her decisions, but in truth how can any of us know what will turn out to be important or the fateful choices?
Fantasy mixed with crime fiction
My final couple of thoughts. I really love the idea that fantasy elements are increasingly used to expand the genre of crime fiction. I love also that fantasy itself is growing as a genre in the UK (it has always been much bigger in the US for example). And how many people are now reading crime fiction. And how mainstream crime and fantasy and both are becoming and losing their narrow genre status and readers. I think all of this has paved the way for books like Wrong Place Wrong Time.
A struggle to get published
Finally, I really loved that Gillian also generously shared on Instagram some of her long path to success and some of the many rejections she received for Wrong Place Wrong Time. She has kept snippers where lots of agents wrote back saying they did not feel it would sell and that they didn’t entirely like the premise.
Which is incredible! Because the premise is so brilliant! How did agents not see this??!
So there you go – if you needed one more reason to keep on writing in the face of rejection. You have to be confident. Because it may very well be that you, as an author, know more than a whole lot of agents about what readers enjoy reading.
Food for thought at the end of the year and this was definitely one of my favourite books of 2023.
If you are intrigued enough, and you’d like to read it too, here’s a handy link to buy through Bookshop where I get a small commission for my reviews. But please support your local bookshops and buy from wherever you usually buy.
If you’d like, you can check out my list of other books my crime fiction writers group has been reading and discussing. There will be more in 2024.
The easiest way to support my writing is to upgrade your subscription to paid, but the cheapest way to support my writing is to share and recommend it, so if you’ve enjoyed something I’ve posted please do spread the word.
Thanks for all your support. I really appreciate it.
Here’s links to the three most popular posts I shared on Substack since starting it earlier this year. My experiences of being at the inaugural TikTok Book Awards (and what lessons there might be for children’s books), looking back five years since the Last Chance Hotel was published and my interview with Sisters In Crime.
Warmest wishes for a peaceful festive season and wishing you everything you wish yourself for the new year.
Nicki