Hostage: The emotional 'what would you do?' thriller from the Sunday Times bestseller

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But Mina’s mind is not entirely focused on the tasks at hand as her heart is still firmly on the ground, with her husband, Adam, and daughter. Her marriage is in trouble and Sophia, their daughter, is facing difficulties that make Mina long to be home even before the flight takes off. He’s unlikely to be able to swallow,” she said. Strangely, of all the terrible news delivered in the quiet room, it was this that had the biggest impact on me. “We need you to make a decision about his future.”

Whew! What a roller coaster ride which had me holding on to my arm rest, anxiety riddled and fully entertained. Membery, York (5 May 2019). "Fame and Fortune: I quit the police and found that crime pays". The Times. We meet Mina and her husband Adam when their marriage is falling apart. She is cabin crew and he is a policeman and they are cops renting their daughter Sophia. Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Librarians Group is the official group for requesting additions or updates to the catalog, including: Overall, I enjoyed this book more than I anticipated. If you like a good old-fashioned thriller, but with an emotional concept as well, then this is one you won’t want to pass up!!Celebrating our inspirational female authors - Higher Online". Archived from the original on 4 January 2017. First of all, the characters. I was able to really get to know Mina and her husband Adam. They were having some problems in their marriage. There were trust issues, gambling problems and the challenge of raising their daughter Sophia. Sophia had been adopted at about age 1, she is now 5. She is not an easy child, she had been in foster homes before coming to them and has problems really loving and depending on her parents. The atmosphere on board the inaugural non-stop flight from London to Sydney is electric. Numerous celebrities are rumoured to be among the passengers in business class and journalists will be waiting on the ground to greet the plane.

Hope for the best, they tell you, but prepare for the worst. Stress was a fish bone lodged in my throat and for months I breathed shallow and fearful, as though I might choke. I still get that feeling now, triggered by a photograph, a memory, a hospital corridor. The boys were breathing, feeding, putting on weight. They wouldn’t be home by Christmas, but perhaps soon after What if we don’t agree?” There was the longest pause before the doctor replied. “You have to,” she said, “because the alternative is unthinkable.” It would be to the unthinkable I would return, years later, when I wrote After the End, although it was far from my mind then. Instead I was standing at Frost’s crossroads, trying to see 10 years down each path. Oh.my.goodness.Oh.my.goodness. Oh.my.goodness. This is freaking mind blowing! Breathe in ! Breathe out! This is everything I want from brilliantly delicious, extremely addictive and absolutely smart, twisty, claustrophobic, high tension story with detailed, connectable characterization! Rob and I drove home in silence, trapped in our own nightmares. We talked through the night, falling asleep on the sofa and waking to find our cheeks wet with tears, clinging to each other as though we were drowning.Time apart sounds like the perfect way for both to think about their marriage, but unfortunately, the time they spend away from each other will be filled with each thinking about survival. Some injuries and deaths occur. The terrified passengers become aware of what is unfolding and that they are all doomed. It added a dimension to the story that we got to know some of the individual passengers through their thoughts about their lives and why they took this inaugural flight to Sydney. Secondly, I found it exhausting to live inside Mina’s head with the same thoughts/fears/resolve. Honestly, there were times I wanted to kill her myself just to shut her up. But then I considered how I would feel if I were her, and decided I’d be even more annoying so I forgave her. But why do we readers have to hear about it incessantly? I thought the Hostage did a great job of building suspense! Once Mina is on the plane, she finds a belonging of her daughters, which lends credibility to her daughter being threatened. From that moment on, it was a tense ride to the end of the book waiting to see how everything played out! Each chapter was short and snappy, so once I got going with my reading, I didn’t want to stop! Mina is a flight attendant who deliberately places herself aboard an inaugural non-stop flight from London to Sydney, Australia. This subterfuge, of a sort, is intended to give her a break from her husband, Adam, whom she believes has cheated on her, and her five-year-old, special needs daughter, Sophia.

Mina is a flight attendant with a London-based airline who is launching its inaugural 20-hour, nonstop flight to Sydney, Australia. It’s a high profile event with lots of press attention and public anticipation. Not long after the flight begins, Mina gets a message that threatens her family…her 5-year old daughter Sophia…unless she complies with demands that will certainly mean the takeover of the flight by persons unknown. Will Mina put her daughter before the lives of those on board the plane? This is the 4th book that I’ve read from this author and I have enjoyed them all. There were several things that I really loved about this book. More political than other thrillers Ive read, its not comfortable reading for someone who enjoys a holiday flight every now and again; there's lots to think about and assess in and out of the book The first point of view is that of Mina and what happens aboard the plane.The atmosphere on board is electric and tense, there are many celebrities and politicians and they are already demanding attention. There is an open bar in first class and many are setting a party atmosphere before they have been in the air more than a couple of hours.There were so many brilliant surprises, twists and turns along the way making this a truly unforgettable story. I was constantly evaluating my thoughts on certain characters and fe Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own. 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!

I found the plot and motivations complicated and with misdirections. There is a diabolical twist at the end, which probably no one anticipated. The reader is forced to question what they would do in a similar situation. This is a thriller like none I’ve read before. To be fair that’s probably because this kind of novel wouldn’t be my usual fare but I’ve read everything Clare has written so I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed. Alex had suffered a haemorrhage so extensive that no part of his brain was untouched. In time, the consultant said, he might be able to breathe independently, but it was doubtful he would ever walk or talk. Could she choose between her daughter and the lives of people on the board? What she’s going to do?I liked the narrator’s storytelling skills and her pacing. However, she didn’t provide voice distinctions for the characters, except for Sophia, and I couldn’t always tell whose point of view I was hearing at the time. I’m still glad I chose the audio format as she told the story in a way that made it more exciting. A 20-hour flight. Plenty of time for all hell to break loose in the air...and on the ground, where Mina’s husband, Adam, and their daughter, Sophia, have their own dangerous situation escalating. I wasn't a fan of the author throwing in a few hot button social issues of the day, which did nothing to move the plot forward. I would really urge authors to show restraint and simply focus on telling a good story. Writing After the End was a deeply emotional experience. What happens in the book is Max’s and Pip’s story, not mine, and the filter of fiction finally enabled me to grieve. The story broke my heart all over again, but it mended it, too, and I finally made peace with our decision. None of us can predict the future, but we can shape it as it happens. We can choose to live again. Is it me or did Sophia escape way too easily? When the fire started in the house I had no idea how Adam and Sophia would escape. But it turned out there was an easy way out?! Why on earth did they not get Sophia out earlier?!