I’m grateful for this oasis of sobriety as the rest of the cabin gets progressively merry. I have a sudden yearning to be at home, cuddled with Sophia on the sofa, watching Peppa Pig. When I’m away travelling, I remember all the good bits. Isn’t that always the way? I even remember the good bits about me and Adam – the laughter, the closeness, the feeling of his arms around me.
A hum of noise comes from the bar, and I go to see if they need help. It’s heaving, conversation rising in volume as more business-class passengers join the throng. Several customers are in their pyjamas, the novelty still amusing them, hours into the flight. a couple stand at the bar, their body language flirtatious.
‘Have you seen the corkscrew?’ the barman – Hassan – looks harassed.
Hostage
Mina is about to board a non-stop flight from London to Sydney. It is the first of its kind and the journey is set to be a special one with celebrities and journalists on board. Mina is part of the cabin crew assigned to look after business class, but she wasn’t even meant to be on this flight. So that she could escape her home-life for a few days, she swapped shifts with a colleague . At home, her marriage to Adam is failing after discovering that he had an affair with the au pair who looked after their daughter, Sophia. Sophia is herself a challenging child as she was adopted by Mina and Adam after social services took her away from her biological mother at a few months old; an experience that has traumatised her and left her with a severe fear of abandonment.
As the flight takes off, Mina is going over everything in her head when she notices that some of Sophia’s belongings, including her epi-pen, have ended up in her handbag. When a passenger becomes ill and Mina discovers a photo of Sophia in his wallet, she begins to realise that someone on the plane means to do her harm. Soon she receives a message instructing her to co-operate with the hijackers on board in order to save Sophia; leaving Mina with the choice of saving her daughter’s life or the lives of over two hundred passengers.
Clare Mackintosh is one of those writers you can always depend on to write a good thriller. Every one of her books drips with tension as she raises the pressure and slowly reveals the plot bit by bit. Full of twists and re-herrings, I love her stories because I know she will keep surprising me right to the very last page.
The other thing I find interesting about her books is that I never particularly like her main characters – they are always flawed, battling their own demons and sometimes say disagreeable things, but I am still so drawn in by their stories. Hostage is split into two narratives: that of Mina and Adam. It told over the twenty hours it takes to fly from London to Sydney, and also includes accounts from some of the passengers in business class explaining how they ended up on that flight. We learn that both Mina and Adam have been keeping secrets from each other that threaten to put their family at risk. So much is revealed as the story goes on, and all of it is unpredictable and just a thrill to read.
This book is hard to put down so be careful what time of the day you start it! Best enjoyed with a packet of peanuts and miniature wine.
Luggage & Scribble 