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Hostage

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Hostage

By: Clare Mackintosh
Narrated by: Vinette Robinson
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About this listen

The BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick and instant Sunday Times best seller

You can save hundreds of lives.

Or the one that matters most....

The atmosphere on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney is electric. Celebrities are rumoured to be among the passengers in business class, and the world is watching the landmark journey.

Flight attendant Mina is trying to focus on the passengers, instead of her troubled five-year-old daughter back at home - or the cataclysmic problems in her marriage.

But soon after the plane takes off, Mina receives a chilling anonymous note. Someone wants to make sure the plane never reaches its destination. They're demanding her cooperation...and they know exactly how to get it.

It's 20 hours to landing.

A lot can happen in 20 hours....

©2021 Clare Mackintosh (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK Crime Thrillers Psychological Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Fiction Aviation Crime Exciting Scary

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Critic reviews

"No one writes a twist like Clare Mackintosh." (Paula Hawkins)

"Hostage will have you questioning 'what would you do?' at every turn." (Karin Slaughter)

"Hypnotically good." (Lee Child)
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Great story with a double, or even, triple twist at the end. It was very well read but I would have preferred a man to read Adam's story.

Would make a great film

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Fantastic! Really enjoyed this audio book! The ending had me completely gripped! Highly recommended.

Brilliant!

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What an awesome story & amazing twist. Full throttle story. Highly recommended. I didn’t see that coming.

Fabulous read!

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Absolutely fabulous. Another excellent best seller by Clare Mackintosh that keeps you glued and intrigued til the end. Righty a Sunday Times Best Seller. Wonderfully narrated also. Full set of stars from me. A must read/listen for sure. Huw

Huw McKee

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Lulls you in to thinking you know what is going to happen but has a nice twist. Can’t say more without giving it away, but pay attention to who is narrating each chapter & enjoy!

Excellent thriller

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This was a change from the usual thriller with some nice surprising twists. Narration was good but emotions were expressed in too exaggerated a way at times … and there were no variations between the voices of the characters (which is confusing when trying to follow an audiobook). I will now be reading other titles from this author.

Nice twisty thriller

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Got straight into this Audible book..having read Clare’s other books I knew it would be riveting, but the performance had me breathless with anticipation at times! And the ending? I had to listen to it twice…just to be sure. Absolutely brilliant, literally couldn’t stop listening…so Thank you Clare for yet another thrilling ride!

Gripping!

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Loved this book, which was the second Clare Macintosh I've read. A very interesting concept to the story, quite gripping once the action gets going. Characters I felt invested in, although the husband needed get a grip in the early part of the book. As per the last Clare Macintosh book, there was a twist in the tale, with a twist in the tale. Sad to finish this one as it was a great read (listen).

Gripping to the end

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Confusion for the first few chapters. Adam should have been read by a male or accent change at least.
Overall I enjoyed but a few times I had to really think “who is this talking”

Narration good bit different voices / accent needed

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This builds up slowly to the expected situation, with different perspectives from passengers to airline staff adding to the story and (cabin) pressure.

Switching from position to position really aided this narrative. We move from 'after' to 'before' and soon work out that the flight we've just been aboard, is, later in the novel, going to find itself out of control, in one way or another.

We meet a flight attendant, her family, we meet passengers, we slowly build up a picture of the characters involved and find out that it's a hostage situation. But who? Why? And when individuals are faced with impossible choices, what will be the result - on a mid-flight maiden voyage?

I would have liked more of the action to take place on the airplane. While Mina and her family, their history and their own problems were actually rather interesting, I wanted to be back on the flight and find out what was going on up there, it seemed to take an age to get to it. Maybe that was because I listened to the audiobook, and in stages over several days.

I wasn't sure about the voice cast on the audiobook, while she narrated female characters well, when it came to Mina's husband the female voice jarred a little.

I found the ending a little sudden, and the 'twist' of 'who and why' wasn't very satisfying, but I had enjoyed the story as a whole and the set-up and style.

Mina was sympathetic - as a mum myself, her Sophie's Choice was a hard moment. Her home situation was a novel in itself, aside from a hostages-on-plane scenario. Some topics here that don't often come up in thrillers. Refreshing change actually. Both in regard to her husband and their adopted daughter and the trials of parenthood.

So yes. Quite tense, the momentum built didn't really result in a satisfying end for me, but I had enjoyed the (plane) ride.

With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy.

Exciting, tense and fast-moving thriller

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