HOSTAGE is the story of an unprecedented flight from London to Sydney, and the twenty four hours leading up to and including the journey. This story was told from many points of view, but the bulk of the story revolves around Mina, a flight attendant working the plane. Mina has a lot going on in her personal life - things that lead to her requesting to be on the flight But the flight quickly takes a turn for the worse.
As previously mentioned, this story seems to focus mostly on the aspects of Mina’s life, and that includes her husband, who seems to be full of secrets, and her adopted daughter, who has had a hard time forming attachments. We also got Adam’s perspective in this story, and I will say that the story between him and his daughter was my favorite. I thought his jealousy of their daughter always wanting her mother with him feeling like a bystander and sometimes struggling to find patience was realistic. Even in the short span of time within the book, their relationship grew. I really appreciated the way the difficulties that might follow an adoption were explored. I really felt for Adam in this story, and the issues he was facing. It made me sad that he thought the lie he was living in this book was better than the truth.
We also got the perspective of several of the passengers on the flight via their seat assignments; we never knew who was who, and they all had some stories that were pretty intense. While there were a lot of POVs in this book, I found I was never confused. But it did make it feel like the story was flying by.
I really did enjoy this story, and I did see the final twist coming at the last minute - only to find out it wasn’t the final twist. The shocking moments in this story just kept coming.
I am going to mention the author’s note here; as it was included in the book, I feel it’s fair to address it. There were a lot of politics covered in this book, and I thought the author did such a good job of including it without really feeling like she was pushing anything one way or the other, only to go and ruin it with her author’s note. I don’t care about the author’s political views. If I wanted to know them, I’d follow her on Twitter. And it was this final note that pulled me from the afterglow of a story I so much enjoyed.
But letting go of that and focusing only on the story, HOSTAGE was an exciting thriller full of twists and turns that will keep the reader turning the pages until they’ve reached the last one.
The explosively addictive locked-room thriller from New York Times bestseller Clare Mackintosh!
A claustrophobic thriller set over twenty hours on one airplane flight, with the heart-stopping tension of The Last Flight and the wrenching emotional intensity of Room, Hostage takes us on board the inaugural nonstop flight from London to Sydney.
Mina is trying to focus on her job as a flight attendant, not the problems of her five-year-old daughter back home, or the fissures in her marriage. But the plane has barely taken off when Mina receives a chilling note from an anonymous passenger, someone intent on ensuring the plane never reaches its destination. Someone who needs Mina's assistance and who knows exactly how to make her comply. It's twenty hours to landing. A lot can happen in twenty hours.