When a book is off to as exciting of a start as this one, is it realistic to expect the rest of the book to match or even exceed that? Hmm, that's a question I'm still pondering.

Cam drops off her baby girl at daycare for the first time and returns to work. But before she does, she woke up to an empty spot next to her and a cryptic note from her husband that morning. And now, the police are at her workplace insisting that Luke is in a hostage situation, not as a victim, but as the perpetrator. But Cam knows Luke, and surely he could not possibly have done what the police are saying. Could he?

You guys, this has got to be the most electrifying start to a thriller I've ever come across. The first 100 pages just grabbed me by the throat. I've read a lot of thrillers, but I've never had one that held me in its thralls so swiftly and so surely. The premise is both outrageous and also surprisingly relatable, making it easy to put oneself in Cam's shoes and slip into her suddenly insane world.

Cam's point of view has additional poignancy because she's a new mother, and I remember being in that phase not so long ago myself. Gillian McAllister sprinkled in such insightful commentary about new motherhood that it felt like she really understood, and of course, after reading the Acknowledgements, it totally made sense because she had a baby in the midst of writing this book.

Then we come to the point of view of Niall, the hostage negotiator. It's such a unique perspective, and there were all kinds of interesting tidbits in there about what one would do in an actual hostage situation, things I've never thought about but found utterly fascinating. The juxtaposition of his and Cam's views really upped the tension to a whole other level previously unseen in thrillers, if I may say so.

But then we reach Act II, and the pace slows way down. After the adrenaline rush that was Act I, the pacing of Act II was almost a shock. Instead of action, we have now reached introspection. And we stay in this slow moving haze almost all the way until the very end.

Because this whole section was so slow and there was so much rumination on the part of the characters, it also gave me the reader room to think as well. And when that happens, you know I'm going to figure out something or other, and therefore ruin the surprises for myself. And the way this story slowly proceeded, there was really only one way it could've all gone down.

Please don't get me wrong. It's not that I didn't like Act II or found it boring. It's more that the beginning of the book set up certain expectations, ones where I can't help but anticipate and then feel a little let down by the way it all turned out. To be fair, it's not entirely the fault of the book. This happens often with me and thrillers, and unless aliens or ghosts show up—in which case, we'd be in a completely different genre altogether—I don't really see how they could've met my lofty expectations.

Still, all my grousing aside, I did have a lot of fun with this book. The first 100 pages in particular were so stellar, I feel like they carried the rest of the book for me. At this point, Gillian McAllister has really shown herself to be a writer of thrillers with the most unusual and intriguing premises, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars