Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister
William Morrow/May 5, 2026
Gillian McAllister’s works often explore the relationship between mother and child, and Caller Unknown is no different. In this thriller involving a kidnapping ransom drop gone horribly wrong, McAllister delves into a myriad of issues only a mother can understand. How far will we go to protect or babies, even if they are adults? How do we let go? McAllister’s honest and emotional examination of such questions and her stellar writing elevates Caller Unknown from what otherwise might be an unremarkable kidnapping story.
While Simone Seaborn’s daughter Lucy is attending camp in Texas, Simone flies out from the U.K. to see her for a mother-daughter vacation, renting a car and a cabin. That same night, however, Lucy is abducted from her bed, with the kidnapper leaving behind a burner phone. Soon Simone receives instructions–she is to travel across the border, to Mexico, to retrieve a bag. In return for handing over the bag, she will be reunited with Lucy. She is to tell no one.
Simone immediately calls her husband, Damien, who is holding down the fort at their restaurant overseas. She and Damien argue over the right course of action. Damien wants her to call the police; Simone has never been one to trust law enforcement, especially based on her childhood experiences with the foster care system. Knowing Damien will disapprove, she elects to do what the kidnapper has instructed and retrieve what turns out to be a duffel bag full of drugs in an abandoned building in Mexico. Risks to herself aside, she surmises this is her best chance of getting Lucy back.
When Simone meets up for the exchange, it all goes horribly wrong. Some of the drugs are missing, and the handler refuses to release Lucy. To save her daughter, Simone kills the man. When another car appears, Lucy shoots at the driver and they flee. En route to the airport, where they’d planned to fly home as if nothing had happened, they receive the shocking and devastating news that they are both wanted criminals. All evidence points to the murder as being a drug deal gone wrong, with no evidence to support that Lucy was kidnapped.
The waking nightmare that unspools is one bad development after another. When their car is identified, they’re forced to travel across the desert to their destination of a tiny Texas town. They have no assets, and it appears that Damien has denounced Simone’s actions. They find an attorney, but they worry he’ll turn them in. There’s seemingly no escape or salvation from what it appears they have done. They are greeted with a brick wall at every movement, and it’s only a matter of time before they find themselves completely boxed in.
As Simone tries to navigate their escape, her only concern is Lucy. Saving Lucy, protecting Lucy, absolving Lucy. Whatever happens, Simone will sacrifice herself for Lucy; and as the two continue their desperate run from the authorities, the book shifts into a character story of a mother’s love for her daughter and how not letting go can be harmful. This creates some issues with pacing given how the beginning of the book delivers a straight-up kidnapping plot without deep pontification.
The ending is also abrupt. While it operates as a sharp twist–with Freda McFadden’s seamless executions coming to mind–after such a huge hole is dug for Simone, the resolution may strike a reader as too simple. Still, at each turn, Simone’s actions are understandable and the story believable. Overall, Caller Unknown is a fine book from an even better writer, raising issues deeper than ones usually found in thrillers of this nature. It’s about much more than a kidnapping gone wrong.
About the reviewer: A writer of dark comedy thrillers, Sarah Reida is currently seeking representation for her sophomore novel, Murder Boat. Her debut, Neighborhood Watch, received a Kirkus Star and was honored as an Amazon editorial pick as one of the Best Books of the Year So Far 2024. Join Sarah’s elite group of Instagram followers here.
