Book Review - Hostage by Clare Mackintosh

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Title: Hostage

Author: Clare Mackintosh

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Sphere

Publication Date: 22nd June 2021

Rating: 5 Stars

You can save hundreds of lives.

Or the one that matters most . . .

The atmosphere on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney is electric. Celebrities are rumoured to be among the passengers in business class, and the world is watching the landmark journey.

Flight attendant Mina is trying to focus on the passengers, instead of her troubled five-year-old daughter back at home - or the cataclysmic problems in her marriage.

But soon after the plane takes off, Mina receives a chilling anonymous note. Someone wants to make sure the plane never reaches its destination. They're demanding her cooperation . . . and they know exactly how to get it.

It's twenty hours to landing.

A lot can happen in twenty hours . . 

Wow, wowzers, wowee! Let me just pause for a sec to try to get my breath back after an exhilarating read, which frankly I can't tell you about without revealing spoilers! 

This is a book crying out to be read in one sitting, and if real life hadn't got in my way I would have done just that.  Normally in those circumstances I'd suggest reading on a plane as well when else you get hours to just sit and read without the rest of the world trying to get your attention.  

However given the nature of this book, if you are of nervous disposition or slightly wary of flying I would go as far to read this when you know you aren't flying anywhere for a good long while, just to recover from the book first.  Of course if you think reading about the unthinkable happening at 35 000 feet in the air, while you are at a similar altitude to enhance the terrifying nature of the plot, then please do be my guest. 

What I do know is that if I am going to Australia at any point in the next few years at the very least I will definitely favour the old fashioned multiple flight approach, as opposed to being in the air for 20 hours straight, which is rather daunting regardless of whether you have just read Hostage or not! 

At the heart of this book there is a very important message, themes that run through it. However again I don't want to give away the motivations of what happens, so can't really give you any sort of clue. 

Mina is faced with a horrible dilemma that is touched on in the blurb, and from the moment she gets to the airport to board the flight to Sydney, there is a sense of foreboding.  

We get chapters from her point of view, from Adam and what he is going through back in England with their daughter Sophia.   And Sophia is a rather special character, only 5 years old but has been through a lot and has a whole array of diagnosis that explain her various behaviours.   There are also inbetween chapters, introductions to various of the passengers on board the plane and their reasons for taking this flight. 

I have a horrible feeling I might not sleep well for a few nights after reading this, and dread to think what my dreams will be having now read this.  But its the mark of a fabulous book that I had to keep reading even though I'd say this is definitely up there in worst nightmare scenarios for me, so horrifying that I've never even considered it could happen.

And I can't believe how the story unfolds over 20 hours and I really wasn't sure which way it would go.  It is clear that the author has done masses of research, and at least in the case of Mina, Adam and Sophia made some characters that I really cared about. 

And those final chapters have completely not only blown me away but frazzled my brain too - I somehow didn't expect that at all, and just shows the shocks keep on coming until the very end. 

I've been addicted to Clare Mackintosh's books since I Let You Go came out, and without a shadow of a doubt an already amazing author has gone up another gear with this book and I really need to read the thesaurus next and then come back when I have learnt a new superlative to describe her writing! 

But since the thesaurus sounds rather boring I'll end as I started - just Wowzers!! Woweeee!! Wow!! 

Thank you to Sphere and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.