Wrong Place Wrong Time

From UK bestselling author Gillian McAllister comes an astonishing, compulsively twisty psychological thriller about a mother who witnesses her teenage son stab a man and then seizes on an unconventional way to try to save him, deemed "clever, original, and so addictive it should come with a warning" by Alice Feeney, bestselling author of Rock Paper Scissors

Can you stop a murder after it's already happened?

Late October. After midnight. You're waiting up for your eighteen-year-old son. He's past curfew. As you watch from the window, he emerges, and you realize he isn't alone: he's walking toward a man, and he's armed.

You can't believe it when you see him do it: your funny, happy teenage son, he kills a stranger, right there on the street outside your house. You don't know who. You don't know why. You only know your son is now in custody, his future shattered.

That night you fall asleep in despair. All is lost.

Until you wake . . .

. . . and it is yesterday.

And then you wake again . . .

. . . and it is the day before yesterday.

Every morning you wake up a day earlier, another day before the murder. With another chance to stop it. Somewhere in the past lies an answer. The trigger for this crime--and you don't have a choice but to find it . . .

These book club questions were prepared by Bookclubs staff.

Book club questions for Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

The novel uses a “Groundhog Day” type premise but with a twist where instead of waking up each day on the same day, Jen wakes up one day further into the past. What did you think of this unique premise?

Did you find the book’s explanation of why Jen time travels sufficient?

If you were in Jen's position, traveling backward in time, how do you think you'd react emotionally and mentally to the situation? What do you think would be the hardest part?

Discuss this quote: “How sinister it is to relive your life backwards. 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.” Do you agree?

In addition to working on the mystery of the murder, Jen “rights” some other “wrongs” she notices in the past. Do you think she was right to do so, or should she be more wary of unintended consequences in time travel?

Discuss the pacing of the book. Did you feel the first half moved too slowly or was it necessary to establish context? How did the pace change throughout?

What was the most shocking or unexpected twist in the story for you? How did it make you rethink prior events in a new light?

Discuss your opinions on Jen as the main protagonist. Did you empathize with her perspective and actions over the course of the story?

How did your feelings about Todd and his personality change over the course of the book as more details were revealed?

Jen questions at one point whether her actions as a mother somehow led to Todd's crime. What are her perspectives on motherhood? How would you describe Jen and Todd’s mother-son relationship?

Did you have any suspicions about the identity of Todd's victim early on? What clues were provided throughout about this person?

Did you suspect how Ryan would connect into the story ahead of time? If so, what clued you in?

Eventually, Jen travels back 15-20 years in the past. How do you think the author did in capturing the setting and culture of that time period? What details stood out to you?

Did you think the ending provided closure for the major story arcs? Would you have liked to see more of an epilogue?

What do you think the overall message or moral of this story was? What did it make you think about?

Did this story make you reflect at all on details you might miss or overlook as you live your own life moving forward chronologically?

Knowing the ending and all of the reveals, would you want to reread this book to see what you might have missed during the first read-through?

If this book were adapted into a movie, who would you cast in some of the main roles like Jen, Todd, and Kelly?

Wrong Place Wrong Time Book Club Questions PDF

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