Liverpool is at the heart of a new crime-meets-time travel novel described as "the most talked about thriller of 2022".
Gillian McAllister's Wrong Place Wrong Time tells the story of a woman from Crosby as she wakes up one day further back in time every morning after her "happy, funny, innocent" teenage son murders a "complete stranger". The Sunday Times bestsellers new book, published by Penguin on Thursday, May 12, asks the reader, 'how do you stop a murder that's already happened?'
Six weeks back in time, the lead character is stood on Crosby beach, looking out at the sea in search of answers. She stands beside the statues of Antony Gormley's Another Place, representing "the other hers in this sort of multiverse she finds herself in". It's Gillian's favourite scene in the book, with Merseyside picked as its setting thanks to the Port of Liverpool's role in the story's organised crime element.
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This is the 37-year-old crime writer's seventh book since signing to Penguin while working as a lawyer seven years ago. Originally from Staffordshire and now living in Worcestershire, Gillian visited Liverpool to research her book in April 2021 as lockdown ended. She said "[Google] Street View is a godsend", but talking to people from the area is crucial for nailing the story's setting.
One person crucial to Gillian's research was a former Merseyside police officer who she befriended on Twitter. He pumped the story full of colour and authenticity by sharing details like a fire alarm that kept going off in the station, and the "gallows humour" shared between officers in their as they respond to a call-out. Without him, she'd still be saying 'police' rather than 'bizzies'.
With her first hardback, she takes a leap into what she dubbed 'crime travel', a challenging fusion of genres. Despite the popularity of films like Groundhog Day and series like Russian Doll, "readers are less tolerant of a repeating day" in books, Gillian said. Instead, she opted for a linear path going backwards through time to ask what you would change and what new things you might notice in the seemingly normal days leading up to the murder when you know what is to come.
Gillian, "a fan of a worst case scenario and an existential question", uses Wrong Place Wrong Times to explore the moral dilemmas thrown up by "every parent's nightmare" - their child doing "something completely life-ruining and unforgivable" - and the idea of a butterfly effect - small changes having big, unintended consequences.
Seven years ago as she "queried on the slush pile" trying and failing to sell books to publishers, Gillian had no idea she'd sell nearly half a million copies of her books one day. Who knows what will come if you try to stop a murder that's already happened.
