Book Club Questions for Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

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Book club questions for Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister takes a closer look at this engaging murder mystery. There will be spoilers so for more context about the story, check out my spoiler-free review first.

I overall liked this novel! But I did think it was a slow start. The first part felt mundane.

To me, it really took off at the halfway point and then I was fully engaged. Let me know your thoughts below!

The Synopsis

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 . . .

Book Club Questions for Wrong Place, Wrong Time

1. Why do you think the title is Wrong Place, Wrong Time? How does it relate to the actions in the novel?
2. Let’s talk about the night Jen witnesses Todd murder a stranger. What were your thoughts as this unfolded?
3. Jen wakes up to the day before the murder. And then the day before that. How would you have reacted if you were Jen?
4. When did you start to suspect that the police offer Ryan was more connected to the mystery than it seemed? Were you surprised when it turned out that Ryan was in fact, Jen’s husband Kelly?
5. Why did Kelly hide the truth from Jen all this time? How would have things turned out differently if he would have been forthcoming?
6. As Jen travels back in time, she’s able to view her relationship with Todd in a new light. She at first blames herself—wondering if she worked too hard and wasn’t present enough for Todd. What was the wake up call that showed her that wasn’t the case and it wasn’t her fault what happened?
7. Jen also revisits her relationship with her deceased father. What was your impression of those scenes and the reveal that her father was working with the criminal Joseph (the person Todd killed in the present timeline)?
8. Eventually, Jen goes to 20 years in the past. Let’s talk about the climax when Jen is able to stop the accidental kidnapping of Eve.
9. What did you think about the ending overall and everything that changed as a result of Jen going back in time?
10. Due to Jen changing the timeline, her friend Pauline is now in the time loop in order to stop her son Connor from becoming a criminal. What do you think will happen there?
11. Did you feel the author fully explained the reasons that brought Todd to murder Joseph? Or did you think that needed more context?
12. We never get the full reason why Jen was able to travel back in time—it seems like a vague ‘mothers intuition’. It also implies that this might happen often but then the person forgets once everything has been reset. Did you want more explanation about why this occurred or do you think that description is plenty? What are your feelings overall about these Groundhog Day-type stories?

Additional Recommendations

Hope you enjoyed book club questions for Wrong Place, Wrong Time! Here are some more recommendations along with links to book club questions.

April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder.

You can order the book on Amazon here. Check out my book club questions here.

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.

You can order the book on Amazon here. Check out my book club questions here.

Happy reading!