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!

This is one of the best works from one of my top five favorite thriller authors earned blazing five stars! Definitely well deserved because it ticked all the boxes:

Slow building high tension ✅

Heartbreaking story of a broken marriage and their gifted adopted five years old daughter suffering from hyperlexia ✅

Escalating cabin fever with well constructed mystery around a passenger who might be the hijacker threatening the lives of people on board✅

Action packed, heart throbbing, nail biter, mind bender direction ✅

Lots of twists and sucker punches you never see them coming✅

And that delicious, WTH ending✅ Wow! Just wow!

Summary of plot line: Boarding time for 20 hours nonstop direct flight from London to Sydney is just started! The flight crew are so excited to become a part of history. But 34 years old air hostess Mina barely gathers her thoughts to focus on her job, feeling guilty to leave their five years old kid Sophia behind with her estranged husband.

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.

Could she choose between her daughter and the lives of people on the board? What she’s going to do?

But at least her daughter at home might be safe with her husband Adam. He’s police officer . He does anything he can to protect their child, doesn’t he? But what if he already screwed up and his big secret is about to blow up in his face!

Buckle up! Fasten your seatbelts and start praying! This ride could be wilder than you can imagine!

I loved this smart, mind spinning, heart pounding, crazy, dark, frightening ride so much!

Special thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS LANDMARK for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Clare Mackintosh does it again. This is my 2nd or 3rd tome reading one of her books. I already do not like flying, this book has made me swear off flying. OMG!!! Fast paced and so many twisty turns and it is not predictable. Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Clare Mackintosh, and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 6/22/21

Five stars just doesn't do this novel justice. An unbelievable read with an ending that I sat the very least, totally shocking. I'm still trying to get my head around it. Very very well written, great plot and characters, really I can't give this book more accolades. Utterly fabulous. Highly recommend!

Oooh put this one on your list FOR SURE.

I was feeling pretty meh about the whole book...until I got to the end. The twist there at the end had me hooked and changed a 3.5 star review to a 5 star review. LOVED it and will definitely be recommending it to everyone! Clare Mackintosh scores again!

There’s no way we won’t see this book up on the big screen. The excitement throughout the story is a captivating nail biter .
   At the core is the family of 3. An adopted child with an underlying issues from foster care, her different relationship with each parent and a secret imbedded between the parents that doesn’t arise till midway through the story……and it’s not what you expected.
   Another thought for the reader: how far would you go to keep your child safe. Do you care if someone else gets hurt in the fall out? This mom was singleminded and had repercussions that were deadly.
   Then there is the unfolding of how an extremist is born and nurtured. It makes so much sense as it is doled out to the reader. ….very scary.
   As you read, you can predict how the story will finalize but it’s OK. I still wanted to see it through and unexpected side story in the epilogue provided a few chills.
   A thriller for sure!

This is the first book I've read by Mackintosh, but it likely won't be the last!

I really enjoyed the dual storylines, and the fast pace kept me turning the pages! There are enough twists to keep readers actively engaged. You can't help but wonder how you would handle things if you were in Mina's shoes. I could see this book working well as a movie.

I loved The Hostage. It’s a gripping, fast paced rollercoaster with a great cast of characters. @claremackwrites wrote a unique thriller that you’re going to want to add this to your summer reading list.

This book was so hard to put down. The last half I read in one day because I could not stop reading, I had to know what happened. The story centers around a hijacking situation on the first flight to ever make a non-stop trip from London to Sydney. Mina is a flight attendant who volunteered to work on this long voyage. While at the start it seemed like a normal flight, it turned into something so much more. She is unknowingly dragged into this huge scheme from a group that is determined to send a message about the harm of the aviation industry on our environment. There was a lot going on in this book, from the moment she stepped onto the plane.

In the beginning it felt a bit slow and I was unsure where it was going. Her problems with her husband seemed confusing, and his relationship with their daughter seemed a bit cold. It felt like there was not much of a connection between Sophia and Adam. Once Mina was on the plane everything changed. Adam, who at first was not a very endearing character, suddenly became one. He became a dad you could understand, and a husband who was trying his best. Up until she left you really did not see this side of him.

Her ability to create so many twists and turns without the book becoming overly complicated is amazing. Her characters, especially Mina and Adam, are so relatable. They are real people with problems that most readers will be able to understand and have compassion for. A lot of the story is about her experience on planes, and the world of aviation. I know little about these things, but she was able to explain them in a way that I could understand. She is an amazing thriller author, and you question whether or not you actually know who is behind it up until the very end. The book could have easily finished once the plane was safe, but she continued with her story. I really enjoyed the bit after the plane had landed and things were 'back to normal'. The last page was unexpected, but said so much about the book itself. It was the perfect ending to this mind bending thriller.

I enjoyed this thriller. The plot was intriguing and very suspenseful. It was a bit confusing telling who was who in the hijackers. Other than that, it was an enjoyable read with unpredictable twists.

This was an incredible novel! This is the first novel I have had the opportunity to read by Clare MacIntosh and it will not be my last. It gripped me from the very beginning! The characters were moving and relatable, especially Mina and Adam’s relationship, which was told in alternating perspectives. Even the passenger perspectives were amazing and how they tied into the greater plot of the story. I did not see the greater ending coming. It was that well-written. Cannot wait to pick up more by Clare MacIntosh. So grateful to have received the ARC from #NetGalley! #Hostage

Phenomenal! This explosive locked-room thriller has everything a reader could want in this genre: murder, mystery, morally grey areas, and a very empathetic heroine. Mina is a mother first, but when someone presents her with an anonymous note while on her most recent flight, she’s forced to choose between the passenger’s lives, or the one life that matters most.

Interspersed with chapters from the perspective of various passengers on the plane, you really get a feel for the setting and the characters; I was on the edge of my seat feeling as if I was watching the book on a movie screen.

Riveting and tense, Hostage is an absolute knockout.

This is one of those books that was four stars until the end.

The book is fast moving and fun. It’s very much like one of those airplane disaster movies of the 1970’s – full of drama and peril. What I loved was the way the author told the story. Usually, books with this many points of view (and there were a lot of them!) bother me. In this case, the way the author deftly moved from character to character was inspired – adding to the mystery. I was trying so hard to ferret out exactly which character was responsible for all this – and the answer was a delightful surprise.

But I did not, very much did not, like the end of the book! I thought it was completely unnecessary and a very odd choice. It changed what was for me an extremely satisfying and entertaining read into a…what the heck was that read.

Still a good read. I would just…remove the ending?

*ARC provided via Net Galley

Hostage by Claire Mackintosh is a superb read which will keep you engrossed and turning pages at a rapid rate until the very last one.

Multiple perspectives tell the tale of a marriage in the process of breaking up and a group desperate to make a difference in the world. They come crashing together in a seemingly random incident that is anything but.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

First time reading from her. Will do it again.

Mina is a flight attendant who is pressured into allowing a hijacking of her plane to save her daughter's life. While this sounds like a relatively simple plot, this complex story is anything but. I loved the pacing of the story, the complexity of Mina's feelings of regret and responsibility and one final twist at the end that made me gasp and possibly want to fist bump someone...no spoilers but I'll be recommending Hostage to all of my thriller fans.

I absolutely loved this book! Clare Mackintosh is one of my favorite writers and she doesn't disappoint with Hostage. The story is told from multiple points of view, maintaining the suspense from start to finish. I highly recommend this title! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this digital arc.

Mackintosh is one of my f
Go to authors and this was no exception. It reads like a thriller movie and takes you on gut wrenching twist and turns . Another winner for her .

If you are looking for a chill ride, look no further then this book. This is an edge-of-your seat thriller with enough turbulence to keep you bouncing.

How do you decide for the life of your child or hundreds of passengers under your care on a maiden non-stop flight from London to Sydney? That is the dilemma faced by Mina as terrorists take control of the jet. Back home, her husband and daughter are sucked in to this macabre plan,while the leader hides in plain sight.

Pull those seatbelts tight. This is one landing you don’t want to miss. Plus the aftermath.....you are in for an unexpected surprise.

A roller coaster of fear and suspense. This book was fantastic. The story was so intense and plays on everyone’s worst fear when getting on an airplane. While simultaneously playing on a mother’s worst fear... harm to her child. This book took off running and didn’t slow down for one single moment. The characters were wonderfully thought out. The plot was literally terrifying. The ending has a twist you don’t even see coming. All the elements for a 5 star book!