Reviews with content warning for Murder - Just Another Missing Person

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister

11 reviews

lynnmiy's review against another edition

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medium-paced

4.0

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notlikethebeer's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

My first Gillian McAllister! What probably stood out to me most from this was the setting: we love a bit of West Country representation! It was definitely gripping, from start to finish I'd completed it in a day, and it was the kind of book that I took a lunch break at work for. I found Julia really interesting as a character, and it was interesting to think what I might have done in her situation. Very very twisty, to the point of being a bit 'trippy', I definitely found myself confused but did work it out in the end.

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kcrockford's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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cc_shelflove's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was straight fire. 🔥 Right off the bat, I knew it was going to be good after reading McAllister’s dedication to a former police officer who she consulted in writing this book. She is clearly a woman who wanted to do her story right, and she succeeded! McAllister offers multiple points of view. We follow three adults who all have one thing in common: the absolute desire to protect their children from harm, no matter the cost. I am not a mother, but it was so easy to imagine and feel a mother’s love inside of me while reading this book. That is some spectacular writing, and what’s more is that her acknowledgments share the following: “This year, I write them at thirty-seven weeks pregnant, about to find out whether this parenthood business I’ve been writing about for so long is all I thought it would be.” Like me, she must have already had some dogs she loved more than life or something, because I felt it! McAllister also served up a few unique twists, including two that I did not guess and which were entirely believable. This is not a thriller that will have you rolling your eyes; it is one that you will have you scared of the people around you. 🤣 Well done. Let’s go read her backlist now. 🤪

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javafenn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was so fun to listen to! The only reason for the 4 stars is because the end is just a little too unbelievable. I’ll let you listen and figure out if that’s good or bad. It’s a typical suspense novel, a little predictable but dark and mysterious all culminating in flash and a total resolution.

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beckyremillard's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wanted to get into this book but could not.

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soobooksalot's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Liked this even more than Wrong Place Wrong Time! Lots of police procedural but then, the twists!! Don't miss this one.

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jennabeck13's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5/5)

Genre: Thriller

About 375 pages

Hundreds of thousands of people go missing every year. Most are found okay but some may never be found or may be found deceased. When Julia Day gets a call that there is another missing person, Olivia, she assumes it will be simple. Just another missing person to find. However, this case will be anything but simple for two reasons. One, Olivia disappeared into a dead-end alley. Two, Julia is being blackmailed and forced to plant evidence if she wants to protect her own daughter’s secret. As someone who has always put her career first, she is now in quite a predicament as she is forced to choose between her daughter and her professional integrity.

WOW. This is my second Gillian McAllister book and it certainly won’t be my last. This book was a slow burn to start as the case built but the second half picked up FAST. Though I did guess one of the big twists, there were so many others I didn’t see coming. McAllister did a terrific job choosing the narrators and I truly could not put this book down. My only qualm was certain things that were overlooked/missed by the cops, parents, friends, etc. didn’t seem realistic for 2023 and all the technology there is out there. Not a big one but just something that stood out to me. So happy I managed to be at the top of the Libby waitlist for this one and got to read it shortly after it was released!💜

Favorite Quote: “Julia looks into her eyes and thinks that nobody is truly missing, not to themselves. Only to those left behind.”

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alisonannk's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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outsmartyourshelf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

When a 22-year-old woman goes missing, the detective who catches the case is determined to find her. Olivia is captured on CCTV entering a dead-end alley & after that she seemingly disappears into thin air. This is the second case of a missing young woman that Julia has worked on recently, but the first woman, Sadie, was never found. Julia feels guilty over this as she knows her eye wasn't on the ball due to an incident involving her daughter, Genevieve & she vows to do better with Olivia's case. As she heads out to go to the house where Olivia had recently moved to, she is panicked to find a masked man sat in the back of her car. He hands her a bag containing a cigarette butt & a glass & tells her that if she wants her (& Genevieve's) secrets kept under wraps, she needs to frame someone called Matthew James for Olivia's murder. Can Julia find out what happened to Olivia & prevent a possibly innocent man from being blamed without endangering herself & her daughter?

I really enjoyed the author's "Wrong Place Wrong Time" so requesting this ARC was a no-brainer. The first half was a bit slow & I didn't really enjoy it much due to the main character. This is a police detective of experience & yet when she is being blackmailed & forced to frame Matthew James, Julia immediately starts 1) trying to get CPS to charge him for murder with no body found, 2) missing vital avenues of evidence, 3) accessing online records & recordings & leaving a digital trace of what she was doing - in short, acting so squirrely that all her colleagues notice there is something not quite right. Surely the opposite of what she would have wanted when trying to protect her daughter.

It also bothered me that the evidence against Matthew was basically a cigarette butt & fingerprints on a glass - both found in the missing girl's room. Now, maybe I've watched too much CSI, but it struck me as strange that nobody pointed out (even Matthew's solicitor) that the only DNA evidence at the scene was found on portable items & that his fingerprints or DNA (not even a stray hair) were not found anywhere else in the room or indeed the house, & that those items could easily have been planted (which indeed they were). None of the above is a spoiler by the way, it's all laid out very early on.

The second half of the book actually saved it though. There were some good twists & the main plot line itself was very well done. I did find it a bit annoying how easily Julia forgave her husband for cheating with a colleague after the memorable line of (I'm paraphrasing) "I was so drunk, it could have been anyone". Well, I mean, that's ok then?! Verdict: first half slow & MC was difficult to empathise with, but the second half pulled it round with some well-timed twists.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Penguin Random House/Michael Joseph, for the opportunity to read an ARC. I am voluntarily giving an honest review.

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