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

Hostage is a book I've had on my radar for quite some time. No pun intended ... I have to be honest, I'm not a fan of flying at the best of times but the idea of a non-stop flight from London to Sydney just leaves me cold. And that's before you add in the terrorism factor and all of the other deliciously twisted aspects of this novel that Clare Mackintosh used to such perfect effect to keep me completely engrossed in the story from start to finish. Secrets, lies, deception and idealism with extremely deadly consequences, all surrounded by delightfully diverse and unexpected characters made this a book that was right up my street. Or should that be runway?

I don't think there can be anyone who lived through and witness the atrocities of 11th September, 2001 and didn't take a moment to wonder just what would you do if faced with similar circumstances? When you're stuck 30,000 ft up in the air with no-one to turn to, it's an almost impossible decision. That is exactly the position flight attendant Mina finds herself in on the inaugural non-stop flight to Australia when an unknown entity makes a direct threat against her daughter Sophia, issuing Mina with an ultimatum. Let one of the passengers into the flight deck, or allow your daughter to die. Stuck in mid-flight with no way of contacting your family, and powerless to help them even if you could, waht decision should, could , you make? Risk every one of the 300+ passengers on board the flight, or risk losing your daughter. Either way, it's a lose-lose kind of deal.I love how Clare Mackintosh set up the premise of this one. She allowed us time to get to know Mina, husband Adam and daughter Sophia before the fateful flight takes off. We get a glimpse into their lives and it is safe to say that the flight is not the only area of conflict in Mina's life. I'll admit, I didn't entirely warm to her as a character, as much as I could sympathise with her plight. At times she felt like a really strong character, but then she would be prone to some wobble that would make her appear a little flaky and frustrated me. And yet I was compelled by her story. She was fiercely protective of her daughter, a child who has troubles of her own. And as for Mina and Adam, it's not all peace and love on that front either, and for reasons that might surprise. They certainly add a layer of jeopardy to the story, fuelling the conflict in more ways than one.

The story is told largely from Mina’s perspective but there are some scenes from Adam's point of view too. He again is not an entirely sympathetic character, but the more I got to know of him, the more I warmed to him. He is flawed, in a very clear way, but he does love his family, even if he cannot always show it. Sophia was a wonderful character, quite delightful and clearly on the spectrum but there are sides to her that really did make me smile. She has a strength of spirit that belies her age and she turns out to be quite the revelation. With some scenes told from the passengers point of view, and that of the 'terrorist', you really do start to build a clear picture of all the main players in this very tense game and I found myself fascinated by each of them in turn.

This is a high stakes situation, sometimes edging towards the unbelievable, but the very nature of the choices facing Mina felt very authentic. There is a very socio-political aspect to the novel as you might expect. People rarely engage in an act of terrorism on a whim - there is always a cause. And the way in which suspicion is cast upon the obvious ethnic passengers, the fear and anger that flies around the almost the suddenly claustrophobic cabin all had an air of authenticity. The author maintains the suspense right to the end, hiding the perpetrator in plain sight - literally in this case. There is a finite list of suspects, as well as a very finite pool of potential victims, some far more sympathetic than others. 

The pacing is quite fast, the story switching between the flight and the action back home as Adam and Sophia face an entirely different kind of threat. Despite the fact that nothing much happens on the flight until they are over half way to Australia, you still get that ongoing sense of threat, that undulating tension which prevents any chance of being overcome by a literary jet-lag. It certainly kept me focused on the page. And after that ending, I'm certainly not going to be looking at flowers in quite the same way again ... Recommended.

It's the ultimate dilemma, do you follow a demand that threatens the lives of many to save the life of the person you love the most? That's the ethical choice that Mina, a cabin crew attendant, has to make mid flight when she receives a threatening note telling her that her daughter Sophia will die unless she helps an as yet unknown hostile get into the cockpit of the plane with knowing the likely threat that this action entails. Unable to contact home to check she cannot take the chance that this is a hoax but at the same time, can she really do what they are asking?When we first meet Mina it's clear that her life as she knew it was already at breaking point as her husband Adam had recently moved out. As a means of escape and a way to think things through she offers to swap with a colleague for a place on a groundbreaking non-stop flight from London to Sydney. But it's a choice that she will soon come to regret as lives are put at risk both in the air and at home.The inaugral non-stop flight is filled with paying customers, journalists and celebrities but amongst them are a handful who have an ulterior motive. No sooner does the flight take off then a series of incidents occur which sets in motion the situation that Mina finds herself in.The narrative alternates between Mina, Adam and a few passengers who are identified only through their seat numbers. Each of the passengers are telling their own stories and as the story progresses we get a picture as to what is actually going on and the motive behind the takeover of the flight.My mind was constantly working overtime trying to figure out which of the characters were red herrings that I could eliminate from my list of potential suspects and which were the bad guys. And I will admit that there were a couple that I kept changing my mind about and it's only in the final moments that I was proved right in my suspicions about one of the 'good guys' and loved how it all played out in the epilogue.Hostage is a tense and addictive read that will have you on the edge of your seat. I'm definitely glad that I'm not planning an air trip anytime soon!