About The Book
Book: Caller Unknown
Author: Gillian McAllister
Standalone or Series: Standalone
Publisher: Penguin Michael Joseph
Publication Date (UK): 9th April 2026
My Review
Simone, a successful chef and restaurant owner, has flown to the USA to be reunited with her daughter. Lucy has been taking part in camp over there before undertaking the life changing milestone of starting university. Together, Simone and Lucy plan to go on a camping trip.However, their adventure is soon on ice as Simone awakes the next morning to find Lucy gone. As she searches their cabin for traces of Lucy, she uncovers a phone she doesn’t recognise. It’s not long before it’s displaying a call from an unknown number. Answering, Simone receives instructions from a kidnapper who is distorting their voice. Giving us ‘Taken’ mixed with ‘The Bear’!
However, their adventure is soon on ice as Simone awakes the next morning to find Lucy gone. As she searches their cabin for traces of Lucy, she uncovers a phone she doesn’t recognise. It’s not long before it’s displaying a call from an unknown number. Answering, Simone receives instructions from a kidnapper who is distorting their voice. Giving us Taken mixed with The Bear!
What follows is a high stakes journey as Simone traverses a landscape as savage as the choices she must make. This is an incredibly tense psychological thriller that explores the fierce bond between a mother and daughter. Just what lengths will Simone go to in order to get Lucy back?I did read this feeling a little intimidated by Simone. Her love and motherly instincts appear so flawless, it’s hard not to compare to your own* but I loved this grounding quote too when things aren’t quite so perfect, “Simone no longer feels shame about this. These facets of being human that most people experience. The only thing is, most people don’t tell each other about them. That’s all. But they’re still happening”
I did read this feeling a little intimidated by Simone. Her love and motherly instincts appear so flawless, it’s hard not to compare to your own* but I loved this grounding quote too when things aren’t quite so perfect, “Simone no longer feels shame about this. These facets of being human that most people experience. The only thing is, most people don’t tell each other about them. That’s all. But they’re still happening“
Caller Unknown gets a big “yes chef!” From me.
* My mum did have her own semi-Simone moment when she climbed up the rear of our house, onto the porch roof below and in through the bathroom window whilst armed with a screwdriver to free me when a lock snapped on me when I was younger!
Thank you to Penguin Michael Joseph and NetGalley for the ARC.
Beth Reads Crime 
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