Hostage by Clare Mackintosh 4****

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 368

For once the hype is real! This was a fast-paced thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat, biting your nails and happy that your teacher talked you out of becoming a flight attendant, back in high school.

A mixture between a domestic thriller and a locked-room mystery, you've got to love this adrenaline-pumping story with a clever plot, well-developed characters and a fantastic setting!

Who’s afraid of flying? I definitely wasn’t before reading this book. 😬

Mina, our MC, is a flight attendant and adoptive mother to 5-year-old Sophia. When she boards her inaugural non-stop flight to Sydney with an impending sense of doom, she almost feels guilty for wanting some time off from looking after a troubled, albeit prodigious, child.

Her guilt quickly turns to terror when she receives a handwritten message telling her to follow instructions or her daughter will die! Her whole world is turned upside down when she discovers that communication with the outside world have been cut off and she only has a few minutes to make a decision that could decide the fate of 350 passengers.

From then on you are in the thick of it as we go from what is happening onboard the plane to Adam, Mina's husband at home as he fights for his life and that of his daughter!

The setting was very original and I loved how the ending of each chapter left you craving the next one.

My only reason for not giving 5 stars was that the "cause" was a bit far-fetched, and because I had to suspend my belief while reading the epilogue! 😳