Book review – #Hostage by @claremackint0sh @PartyReading

A couple of weeks ago, I took part in another Reading Party event, this time for Hostage by Clare Mackintosh. It was great to hear the opening two chapters and get a flavour for the story. It was even better when my signed copy appeared from Bert’s Books, beautifully wrapped. Before I give you my thoughts, here’s the blurb.

The Blurb

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 twenty hours to landing.
A lot can happen in twenty hours . . .

My Review

Hostage is divided into two parts. Part one is slower as the scene is set and we hear from the different main characters – Mina, an air steward, and Adam, a police officer. Currently separated, they have an adopted five-year-old daughter, called Sophia. It was her voice that captivated me the most when we did the Reading Party. Although autism is never mentioned, there are aspects of her character that suggest it – repetition, the need to know things in advance, knowing the route to school inside out and back to front etc. These are things I know all too well with family members. So for me, right from the beginning, this was a huge draw into the rest of the story.

Once everything is in place, then part two starts and it really is a case of buckle up your seat belt and get ready for the ride! I don’t want to give any spoilers but the way things are revealed and played out in part two is masterful. I almost feel there are parts I need to re-read to fully grasp it all.

There are a few themes going on in this novel, especially environmental ones, which gave food for thought. But the main question throughout the book is – do you save hundreds of lives or the one person you care most about in the world?

Clare Mackintosh is known as the queen of twists and once more, she keeps this going until the very end. If you’re staying home this summer, then this is a great book to read. If you’re flying off somewhere – maybe wait until you’re back home, safe and sound.

My copy of Hostage came from Bert’s Books but it’s available pretty much everywhere!

The Author

With over 2 million copies of her books sold worldwide, number one bestseller Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of I Let You Go, which was a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller and the fastest-selling title by a new crime writer in 2015. It also won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year in 2016. Both Clare’s second and third novels, I See You and Let Me Lie, were number one Sunday Times bestsellers. All three of her thrillers were selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club, and together have been translated into forty languages. After the End was published in 2019 and became an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Together, her books have spent more than sixty weeks in The Sunday Times bestseller lists.

Clare is patron of the Silver Star Society, a charity based at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, which supports parents experiencing high-risk or difficult pregnancies. She lives in North Wales with her husband and their three children.

Book Review – #TheForevers by Chris Whitaker @WhittyAuthor @HotKeyBooksYA

Thank you to Hot Key Books for allowing me to read an advance copy of The Forevers via NetGalley. Before I give you my thoughts, here’s the blurb.

The Blurb

They knew the end was coming. They saw it ten years back, when it was far enough away in space and time and meaning.
The changes were gradual, and then sudden.

For Mae and her friends, it means navigating a life where action and consequence are no longer related. Where the popular are both trophies and targets. And where petty grudges turn deadlier with each passing day. So, did Abi Manton jump off the cliff or was she pushed? Her death is just the beginning of the end.

With teachers losing control of their students and themselves, and the end rushing toward all of them, it leaves everyone facing the answer to one, simple question…

What would you do if you could get away with anything?

My Review

It’s quite tricky to review The Forevers. I’ve read all of Chris Whitaker’s books and it would be so easy to review this book in that vein. Except this is a YA novel, which will hopefully give him a new generation of readers. So, I’m going to try and steer away from his previous books and just look solely at this one.

For the last ten years, an asteroid has been hurtling through space on a collision course with the Earth. Despite many attempts, nothing has stopped it or veered it off course. It’s now only a month away from impact. With a premise like that, you’d think this was a sci-fi book set in the distant future. Instead, it’s near future and feels very like life now. Needless to say, with only a month to live, people are behaving erratically and some are taking their own lives rather than wait for the inevitable. Abi Manton is one such person. Abi had been Mae’s best friend until she joined the main clique at school. Mae find’s it hard to come to terms with her friend’s death and decides to find out why Abi choose to die. In doing so, Mae discovers a whole host of secrets and with the end of the world nigh, tensions reach boiling point.

This book is set in the costal town of West but I struggled to place which country it was meant to be in. Although London was mentioned a couple of times, it felt more American than British. It was the same with the characters. That may have more to do with Chris Whitaker’s style of writing though.

The characters are dealing with a whole range of issues – suicide, abuse, self-harm, eating disorders, homosexuality – to name just a few. This is a group of older teens (17-18) who don’t have time for counselling – they need to live their lives while they still can. There’s a big cast of characters, perhaps even too many, but if you look at them all, it would be impossible to extract any of them from the plot. Like a game of Kerplunk, pull out the wrong character and everything falls apart. So get ready to remember their names! As the countdown continues, people’s lives become more manic and messy. Not exactly anarchy but people taking matters into their own hands.

Overall, this is a thought-provoking and tense read aimed at YA readers rather than this oldie reviewer. I think the main question is whether or not I’d be happy for my older teens to read it and the answer is yes. In his last three books, Chris Whitaker has written amazing teenage characters. Now, he’s written an amazing book for teenagers.

If you’d like to buy a copy of The Forevers then click here or head down to your local independent bookshop.

The Author

Chris Whitaker is the award-winning author of Tall Oaks, All the Wicked Girls and We Begin at the End. All three books were published to widespread critical acclaim, with Tall Oaks going on to win the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award.
An instant New York Times bestseller and the #1 Indie Next Pick, We Begin at the End was also a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, a Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick and a Good Morning America Buzz Pick. It has just won the CWA Gold Dagger Award, and is shortlisted for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year.
When not writing, Chris works at his local library, where he gets to surround himself with books.
Chris lives in the UK with his wife and three children.