*Review* - Hostage Three by Nick Lake

Hostage Three - Nick Lake

Series : No

Released : 3rd January 2013

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Format : Paperback

Source : Publisher (Thank you!)

Buy : Amazon Paperback (UK/USA)/Book Depository

Overall rating

 .................................... The Blurb  ....................................

It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing: a girl on a yacht with her super-rich banker father; a chance for the family to heal after a turbulent time; the peaceful sea, the warm sun ...But a nightmare is about to explode as a group of Somali pirates seizes the boat and its human cargo - and the family becomes a commodity in a highly sophisticated transaction. Hostage 1 is Dad - the most valuable. Amy is Hostage 3. As she builds a strange bond with one of her captors, it becomes brutally clear that the price of a life and its value are very different things ..

 .................................... My Thoughts   ....................................

In Short

- Nick covers so many different topics and relationships in this book, I was gripped by so many different parts. 

- Hostage Three starts as it means to go on and pretty much throws you into an emotional roller-coaster. 
- I loved that there was the main storyline and then lots of different stories to keep you engrossed.

- The emotions in this book are so raw. 

In Long

I was rather excited when I read the blurb for Hostage Three by Nick Lake for many different reasons. One being that it was by a male author and I really want to read books by male authors. Secondly I am always looking for new, exciting, different books to read and Hostage Three sounded just like that sort of book. Finally and mainly because Hostage Three really touches on some difficult subjects which are rarely touched on when it comes to YA books so for a number of the subjects to be in one book, wow! 

Hostage Three starts where it means to go on and throws you pretty much into an emotional roller-coaster from the beginning. Meeting Amy was like a whirlwind within itself because at such a young age she has so many different things going on in her life which she is having to deal with. I found myself becoming so wrapped up in her life that I was almost feeling the emotions myself and at the least feeling strong empathy for her. I was really able to bond with Amy right from the start, having her as the narrator of the book made everything feel so real because everything was first hand. This made all the emotions and things going on so raw.

The main storyline is about Amy, her dad and step mother being kidnapped by Somali pirates. For me, this storyline has such huge potential and Nick didn't waste that potential. He put SO many twists and turns throughout the whole book I didn't know what was going to happen next. There are so many different emotions throughout the book from love to hate, aghast to courageous, confusion to clarity.

The difficult subjects which Nick touches on within this book, kidnap, forbidden love, depression, there is so many different things going on. I was constantly impressed by how Nick had the main storyline of the kidnapping but also had almost mini storylines going on between Amy and her mum as well as Amy and her dad. I can imagine for a guy to create a relationship between Amy and her dad and understand Amy’s feelings must be difficult but it felt like he did it with ease. Amy’s emotions felt so real and understandable.

Final Thoughts

Hostage Three is a breath taking read which will have you hooked from page one. Don’t expect to be able to forget about this book when you put it down, if you can put it down!