I had a moment where all of the books I was reading had some kind of time manipulation element happening. Completely coincidentally. Actually read this a few months ago in February, just catching up on reviews now. This book had me hooked, I needed to know what was going to happen next every chapter. Let’s review.
Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
- Category – Suspense Crime Thriller
- Length – 416 Pages
- Read Time – 1 Day
- GR Rating – 4 Stars
Our main character here is definitely mom, Jen, although son, Todd, & dad, “Kelly” are also vital to the plot, they’re more central to the back story than the current happenings which revolve really around Jen. One night Jen’s son is late coming home, out past his curfew, she stands at the window anxiously waiting to see him coming down the street. Todd is already technically an adult at 18 years old but this is still unusual behavior of him. As she stands at the window filled with anxiety she finally sees him coming up the road but there is also someone else, a stranger, their paths intersecting. Then she watches her son pull a knife from his pocket & kill this stranger. Her son is arrested & after all if said & done for the day Jen ends up back home basically passing out from the exhaustion of the nights events.
“If tomorrow will be yesterday, does anything matter anyway?” – Gillian McAllister
Jen wakes up the following morning in immediate mom crisis mode. Her waking thought being about the fact that she witnessed her son take a life last night. She must get him a good lawyer, talk to her son, find out what happened, figure out who the stranger is, why! But 1st things 1st, getting her son out of police custody, back home where they can figure it out together as a family. Except her son isn’t in police custody & today, what should be the following day, is actually the morning before, & only she remembers the incident witnessed from the window.
“How sinister it is to relive your life backward. To see things you hadn’t at the time. To realize the horrible significance of events you had no idea were playing out around you.” – Gillian McAllister
Every day Jen awakes further in the past, the time having rewound as she slept, starting off 1 day at a time, then a week, then some months & then years. Moving through her own life like a dislodged spirit Jen learns a lot of things, a lot of things that completely upend everything she ever thought of her own family.
“Jen would always have said Kelly was as straight as they come. But don’t all good liars seem that way?” – Gillian McAllister
Thee incident on that cold October evening, witnessed from the window, was set in motion so many years prior, before Todd was even a thought or possibility. I really don’t want to spoil the plot for anyone who hasn’t the read the book, so I’m trying to keep it vague. Suspense is the maze, & the whole fun of a maze is figuring it out along the way, ya know. Anyway, Jen ultimately discovers that her life was built on a deeply interconnected web of secrets. As she is finding out all of these secrets, moments that shaped her life, she is also reshaping her future. She has no way of knowing at the time but the things she’s doing differently in her past with her future knowledge are updating the timeline.
I really enjoyed this book, was on the edge of my seat “watching” the drama unfolding. Happy spooky season reading & as always thank you for joining me for another review.
Hasta la próxima – V
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