Claire loves to read!

I'd like to thank the author & publisher for the review copy of Hostages received via Netgalley.
This opening scene of this book is of a group of nineteen people being held hostage at a state department office in Washington D.C. All is going according to the carefully drawn out plan of terrorist leader Andre, when suddenly a doorbell chimes. Outside is pizza delivery boy Tom who is blissfully unaware that his life is just about to change forever.
'Pizza Boy' finds himself thrown into a room with Amado, a translator employed by the state department. We learn that Tom graduated earlier that day and had kindly forsaken three hours of celebration with girlfriend Amy to deliver pizzas as a favour.
Much of the beginning of this story focuses on the opinions and thoughts of terrorist leader Andre and the growing kinship of Tom and Amado.

This book certainly has an interesting plot and is (unusually) told from the point of view of the terrorists as much as those affected by their actions. On the whole this thriller is told well, there is great attention to detail and plenty of descriptive vocabulary. Lead characters are likeable and compelling, there is suspense aplenty and the violent culture clash adds another dimension.

My only criticism is that at certain points in the book there is a distinct lack of punctuation. This is such a shame as it distracted me from the story, but is something that a proofreader could easily have addressed, leading to a continually smooth flowing read.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat, the fast-paced plot and unexpected twists captured my attention and made me want to keep turning the pages towards the brilliant, yet unpredictable, ending. 4/5 stars.