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

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There is an emotion decision that has to be made, weighing up options as to what she should do and being judged for it and herself feeling guilty for it.

Sacrifice your child to save hundreds or sacrifice hundreds to save your child? Which would you choose? En este caso el argumento me parecía atractivo y le di una oportunidad. Error. Es absurdo lo mucho que se enrolla la autora para ponernos en situación. Páginas y más páginas que hacen que mi interés vaya decayendo. Her daughter has special needs, taking her entire time as her husband keeps big secrets from her: a liar, a cheat. She shouldn’t be on this flight but she needed a break from her problematic life and changed her shift and now somebody in the plane threatens her child’s life and wants her to be accomplice for ensuring the plane never reaches its destination. 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? The options were both straightforward and impossible. Keep Alex alive or let him die. Seeing it like that, written with such starkness, is as horrific as it felt that day. I recall the sensation of the ground shifting beneath my feet, as though some seismic change were taking place. Whatever we decided, life would never be the same again. The consultant was gentle and compassionate. “You need to imagine two futures,” she said. “One with a profoundly disabled son, one without that son at all.”Mina finds a letter that puts her in a difficult position. Should she comply? Or risk losing her daughter. Hostage tells the story of the world’s first direct flight between London and Sydney, 20 hours in the air with no stops and over 350 passengers and crew on board. The flight is being heralded as the first of the future - what could possibly go wrong? Mina is not the only one held hostage in this novel, neither are the passengers, and I felt it applied to so many people that my chest hurt! While I was curious, I wasn’t at the edge of my seat like I had hoped. The book felt too long and drawn out. I found myself skimming the whole way. 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?!

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 loved the multiple POV, starting from Adam the husband at home, to Mina getting ready to fly as well as some of the passengers. There are a variety of settings: Adams work, the journey to school, home and the flight. We gradually learn about the uneasy family dynamics of Adam, Mina and their five year old daughter, Sophia. 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. 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. Special thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS LANDMARK for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

It was also really effective having short chapters interspersed from the perspectives of passengers on the flight. I enjoyed getting to see their differing reasons for being on the flight and the experiences they have each had in their lives. They had such a clever relevance as the story developed too which I loved. I also liked getting to learn about other passengers from Mina’s interactions with them throughout the flight. 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. Hostage took my breath away and is such a compelling, fast-paced read! Put on your seatbelts because it’s a bumpy ride! A nail-biter of a thriller with an unexpected gut-punch at the end-a fantastic read!" - Shari Lapeña 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!