A thriller or a love story? This is definitely both. It starts with a tension-fuelled set-up that is carefully drip-fed throughout the novel, while the main character, Kate, reflects on what brought her to be in this situation. I loved the dynamic between Kate and Vic, and her love for her family, and also her clever justification for finding herself in the throes of an affair. The ticking clock siege situation is a clever frame for an emotional portrait of a woman who is just trying to do her best. There were a few loose ends that I had hoped would be tied up but actually the fact that they weren’t left me thinking about this book more. In short, an emotionally wrought slow-burn suspense novel that I absolutely could not put down.

I had heard amazing things about Room 706 before I read it and I was not disappointed. As Kate sits and waits with her lover, in a London hotel that’s under siege we hear the story of her marriage to her husband Vic and their life with their two children. The author takes us back to when Kate and Vic meet in Italy and as Kate waits she reflects on their relationship. This is a beautiful love story, told with such warmth and honesty and I loved the characters of Kate and Vic. Kate wonders what she will tell Vic if she escapes, or what Vic will think if she doesn’t. She writes letters to Vic and her children and emails reminders of daily chores. This is all set against the tension of being in a hotel that is under siege by gunmen, with no updates apart from what’s available on social media and the author captures Kate’s fear and the realisation that she knows so little about the man she is with.
Without doubt this is the best book I’ve read so far this year, I was completely immersed in both Kate’s present and past and loved how the author so cleverly combines a thriller with a beautiful love story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.