I love Claire Mackintosh's books and this read was no exception!

Meet Adam, Mina whose marriage is falling apart due to secrets kept. Their daughter Sophia is why they stay in touch.
When Mina, an air hostess, bags her way on the exciting new non-stop flight to Sydney, Adam is frustrated that she's chosen to go so close to Christmas instead of spending time with their daughter and hopefully repairing their relationship but also annoyed that she arranged for a babysitter to collect their daughter from work.

With loan sharks breathing down Adam's neck causing his secret to come tumbling out, he gets blindsided when the babysitter holds him and Sophia hostage in a basement whilst the non-stop flight is hijacked by the same cause.

What will happen to Sophia and Adam in the basement and what will happen to the flight heading towards Sydney?

A gripping story which was full of surprises until the very end!

Hello and welcome aboard Mackintosh Airlines. Our pilot today is Clare Mackintosh herself and I will be your – still book-hangovered – flight attendant. Fasten your seatbelt, it’s take-off time!

*Clears throat* Alright, now that I had fun with this review, let’s get to the serious bit! I have a list of go-to authors for days when I need extra book love. I keep an auto-buy list of authors I don’t want to miss a novel by. I have a TBR list longer than any airport checklist. Then I have the *highway to my heart* list. This list is so exclusive it only has three names on it. One of those names is Clare Mackintosh. After the End was a revelation. Since then, I have caught up with her books, so I was ecstatic to be offered a ticket to Hostage. Was I hit by the wind of doubt? Would this book be as good as I imagined? I had no fear, and that’s why she is on the list. So, was my instinct right?

It may not be good for the planet (and for that I’m sorry) but flying is my favorite way to travel. I simply love how you set foot in the airport and let yourself be carried by the flow. Look for your luggage check-in. Search your gate. Get a thorough search (I ALWAYS get the search. Always. I feel like I’m in an episode of Custom Borders.) Take a seat. Wait for the call. Smile and show your passport. Get to your seat. Everything is done for you, all you have to do is follow and relax. Also, airports and planes are amazing places to spend hours looking at people and imagining their lives.

Back to the subject… Hostage takes us on a plane with flight attendant Mina, one of the few crow members chosen for the inaugural London to Sidney flight. 20 hours straight. On a plane with strangers. Okay, I said I liked flying but the longest flight I took was 12.5 hours in economy when I came back from Japan and NEVER AGAIN. Anyway. This is an exciting time for the company, most of the passengers, and of course, the crew. Who wouldn’t want to make history?

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.

The book is not contained in a gigantic flying object in the sky. We get to jump from one POV to the other. Adam’s life as a cop and a father, passengers on board sharing their backstories… We get a sense of what is going on up and down, and all sides are equally tense, perfectly written, and absolutely addictive.

Not long after the flight is up and doing its thing above the clouds, Mina finds the first clue that will change the fate of so many people. A threat addressed to her. Comply or… My blood ran cold. Once again, the author pushes you to the edge. Clare Mackintosh has a knack for pouring so much power and feelings into her writing that it is impossible not to get emotionally involved. Her superb understanding of our deepest fears and motivations create the spark that keeps a reader hooked and begging for more.

Do as you are told, and your family will be okay. Don’t and…

The dilemma broke my heart and made my hand tremble. As a cabin crew, you have a responsibility towards the people on board. As a woman, mother, and wife, you have a responsibility towards your family. But can you sacrifice over 300 passengers for the sake of the ones you love? This is an impossible decision. I felt my brain take me to the aisle of the plane, my eyes scanning the faces. Celebrities, journalists, normal people, babies… And on the ground, millions of eyes ready to applaud this new non-stop route to the other side of the world. Clare made sure I could visualize everything so vividly I could not possibly choose. And then, she added beautifully intricate moments, chapter after chapter, making Hostage an emotional thriller masterpiece.

All of us have at least once imagined a plane being hijacked. We try to push it out of our mind but the past has left scars that won’t be forgotten. Far from simply betting on our shared fears, the author crafts a superb and terrible story around a subject we hate to mention. She gives it multiple layers, adds convincing arguments and realistic characters that make it impossible to put everything in black and white.

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!

This exhilarating read is unforgettable, and its intensity shakes you to the core. This 5-star novel should be next on your TBR!

A warning: don't start this book unless you've got a few hours spare. It's one of those novels that gets you very quickly hooked in and that you don't want to put down till you've finished. I loved it. I've read other titles by this author and enjoyed them but this is the best so far in my humble opinion. The story centres around Mina, an air stewardess aboard a non-stop 20 hour flight from London to Sydney. During the flight a passenger gives her a note with a terrifying ultimatum. I won't say more - I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

What a fantastic thriller!
When I started reading, I'm pretty sure I didn't expect to be quite so emotionally affected by the characters' lives. Of course I expected some twists and turns, and hoped they would not seem obvious to me (after reading hundreds of books in this genre I do sometimes expect the unexpected!). But in this book many of the characters are proper people with nuances and layers - something often missing in thrillers and mysteries. This added so much emotional engagement with the story that I was actually crying with their frustrations and tension. And yes, there were certainly angles in the plot I had not foreseen at all!
Although this is a thriller about hostages on a plane, it really is so much more. If you enjoy character-based thrillers please do read it, as I don't think you could be disappointed.
It definitely deserves a full 5 stars, representing the thriller genre at its best.

This is an absolutely brilliant thriller written by Clare Mackintosh. I couldn’t put it down at all. I was a nervous wreck whilst reading it- it was that good! It follows mina- a mother and a member of cabin crew, who has to make a very difficult decision. Not to even mention the twists in this story! It was truly amazing, thank you so much Clare, NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for this ARC.

I have loved all of Clare’s books, but this one didn’t grip me in the same way. I’ve been stuck at 60% for a week now, and I’m finding myself wanting to get to the end not because I want to know what happens but to just finish it. So I think I’m going to leave it on 60% and read something else, life is too short...

Wow! What an absolutely gripping, intriguing and enthralling read Hostage was. It may just be my favourite of Clare Mackintosh’s psychological thrillers now!

The atmosphere on board the inaugural, direct twenty hour flight from London to Sydney is electric. Celebrities are rumoured to be on board in business class and journalists are waiting on the ground to greet the plane when it lands. Mina is one of a hand-picked team of flight attendants chosen to be part of this prestigious journey. It’s hard for Mina to focus on her job and the passengers she is there to look after though, when her thoughts transport her back home to her troubled five year old daughter Sophia, and her husband Mark. The problems in their marriage are also a real source of tension. Only a short while into the flight, Mina sees things which start to make her suspicious and she longs to be back at home with her daughter. She then receives a chilling note from an anonymous passenger. A passenger who is intent on ensuring that the plane never reaches its final destination, and who requires Mina’s assistance to ensure their plan runs smoothly. And they know exactly how to make her comply! Will Mina choose to save the lives of hundreds of passengers on board the plane, or the one that matters most to her back home?

From the opening page and then the prologue, I was hooked and intrigued by this story! Both provided details that I could keep at the back of my mind as I was reading and started me questioning how things may unfold. I really liked how this book was told from alternating chapter perspectives of Mina and her husband Adam in the first person too. It was interesting to see their differing experiences; Mina thousands of feet up in the air, and Adam on the ground looking after their daughter Sophia back at home. They were both intriguing characters and I really enjoyed getting to learn more about them both as the story developed. They each had secrets they were hiding from the other, neither of which I guessed at all.

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.

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 felt bad when certain suspicions I had turned out to be entirely misplaced! The final reveal and the final chapter left me speechless! It was so incredibly clever and I just didn’t see it coming!

I know I am going to be thinking about this incredible book and the ending for a long time to come! I would recommend Hostage to everyone!

I await every new Clare Mackintosh with all the excitement and anticipation of a child on Christmas Eve and this is my favourite of hers to date.
The set up, the twists, the red herrings and the sheer exhilaration make this the kind of book you'll go to any lengths to get through - drop your kids to breakfast club then read in the car park, order a takeaway and read instead of cooking dinner ...... anything!
As always, characterisation is flawless and the procedures are well informed and authentic; the plot is rooted in reality and plausible enough that it will be in my mind the next time I get on a plane. Fast paced, full of suspense and drama and with an ending that left me truly gobsmacked.

Felt as if I had a moment of lotteryesque luck by receiving a copy of Hostage from Netgalley. I won’t be doing any spoilers, but let’s just say I started it last night, and picked it up again after work tonight and have read my socks off until finishing it just now. I have not on the other hand, fed my children (*note: I did get my husband to, I’m not THAT bad), walked my dogs (also made my husband do it) or washed up after the dinner he made me too...

My heart is still in my mouth and I’ve only just managed to put my eyes back in my head. What a read!!!!! Absolute brilliant, heart stopping in places and guaranteed to be a huge hit. Loved every minute. But never flying again. Not without a large gin anyway....

Thank you so much Clare Mackintosh for writing this, and to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I loved it.

This is the best book she’s written by far! Fast paced, well developed characters and full of twists. Highly recommended!

I'm a huge fan of Clare Mackintosh's other books so I was thrilled to get an early copy of her new book Hostage. Mina has been a flight attendant for a long time and boards the plane for a landmark non-stop flight from London-Sydney. Whilst on board, she receives a threatening note from a passenger telling her that she needed to follow the instructions or something would happen to her family back home. Fearing for her young daughter, she has to comply. I thought this was a really interesting concept and I found the book quite gripping and rushed through it in a day. Would thoroughly recommend!

Mina is a flight attendant on a new non stop flight to Sydney, a twenty hour flight that means she will have to leave her five year old daughter at home with a babysitter and her estranged husband.
A rollercoaster ride, adrenaline packed thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat.
I sat up to the small hours reading this because I didn’t want to put it down, the tension escalating with each chapter.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. It was AMAZING. It gripped me from the first page .Adam & Mina are brilliantly written characters & so are the passengers on the plane. This book will demand your attention & is unputdownable. Twists & turns & a brilliant exciting ending.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. Wow this book was absolutely brilliant. The storyline was fantastic, the characters where brilliant too. I think the next time I get on a plane I’ll be watching all that’s going on around me. It makes you wonder what can really happen on a flight you just never know. This story had me sucked in from the first chapter. Each characters POV was great too, you got a glimpse of each characters lives and beliefs. I didn’t expect the twist at the end though. I never would have expected rowan to be the leader. Has rowan the poisonous biscuits, I’m hoping he does. 5 star read.

Wow, my head is still reeling from finishing this book. Such a gripping read. I could not put this down. My heart was pumping so fast at times I could not turn the pages fast enough to find out what was going to happen. I love the way this was told from several perspectives. It gave great insight into what was going on. And the end, we'll say no more other than I did not see that one coming. Such a brilliant book, well done Clare, you have smashed it again!!!!

This has got tv drama or film stamped all over it!
I’m quite accustomed to being blown away by a Clare Mackintosh novel but somehow each new book just has more, delivers more blows, creates more tension and just goes to new heights. I say it every time but I cannot wait to see what comes next.

The latest work by Clare Mackintosh is a must read. Her books always grip and enthral me, and this was no different. Fast-paced, with good plot twists and lots of intrigue throughout.

A must read.

My thanks to NetGalley and Sphere for a copy of “ Hostage “ for an honest review.

What a wonderful read this book is. It was immersive, suspenseful.,thought provoking, yet entertaining!
As along time reader of Clare Mackintosh I was really excited to be invited to read her new book.
It was so well written and felt very current, dealing with the issues of climate change.
I believe , during this pandemic, many have considered whether it is really necessary to take flights abroad..
As a passage in the book states..
“Want and need are very different... You do not need to destroy the planet.It is selfish it is costly and it needs to stop “
Obviously no one could condone the lengths these extremists go to , but Clare Mackintosh has , very cleverly, addressed in her book how we are damaging the planet.
If I was about to take a flight shortly i probably wouldn’t recommend this to take to read on my journey , but for me it’s a definite must read, and cries out for a film version
I can’t wait for her next book !

A group of excited passengers, including some celebrities, travel on the inaugural non-stop flight from London to Sydney. Mina is one of the flight attendants, glad of the distraction from worrying about her troubled five-year old daughter or her marriage problems. Then Mina gets a note from an anonymous passenger demanding her assistance, or else... What should she choose, what is right for her or what is right for everyone on the flight?
What will the next twenty hours bring?

A thrilling and tense story full of twists and turns. I couldn't stop reading until I reached the dramatic and exciting ending. You will be kept guessing until the end. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book in return for my honest feedback.

I am a BIG fan of Clare’s. I’ve loved her previous thrillers and still think about After The End. She’s a go to author for me and I was really looking forward to The Hostage. As ever, the book is well paced, full of twists and a great read. The end twist in particular was brilliant.
4 stars