REVIEW:

Oh how Clare Mackintosh has ruined me.

Her 2014 debut novel, I Let You Go, was packed full of so many great twists that it has ruined my enjoyment of dozens of thrillers since. I hold it in such high esteem that it may actually be the G.O.A.T. of the genre for me. Unfortunately that means Mackintosh’s own follow up books haven’t soared to the heights of this extraordinarily high bar either.

Her latest, Hostage, does differ a bit from her previous three suspense novels in that while those were psychological thrillers, this one veers solidly into adrenaline territory. A flight attendant working an inaugural nonstop trip from London to Sydney is given the choice to cooperate with the terrorists on board or her daughter - back at home with her estranged husband - will die. If this plot sounds familiar, it should. Hijacked airplane stories are very popular this summer!

I found myself accurately predicting much of the action and most of the surprises. I pick up every Clare Mackintosh book wanting to love it, but in the end I just liked Hostage. Its epilogue though? Aces.

For those with the Hoopla library app, the ebook is available for immediate download!

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

You can save hundreds of lives. Or the one that matters most.

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.