Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Hostage by Clare Mackintosh

12 reviews

cbthebooktrotter's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Violence

irene_g08's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I think this book will be getting a rating of 3.5/5 stars from me. It first put me in a reading slump for two weeks but then I finally forced myself to pick it back up. And I am so glad I did. The book picked up the pace and from there it was a page-turner. There were constant plot twists and the end of every chapter was a cliffhanger. After picking the book back up again I finished it in three days.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Death

Moderate: Gaslighting, Gore, and Hate crime

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Abandonment

ceejay's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Addiction

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault

Minor: Fatphobia, Islamophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

rachaelreads92's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oh my lord, the tension in this novel made my heart pound! 

I knew very little about Hostage before diving in. I have read one other Clare Mackintosh novel, Let Me Lie, which I very much enjoyed. This was very different in terms of plot, but similar in structure.

In both novels I loved the writing structure, how there are multiple POVs and how this helps to build tension. I also enjoy not knowing how all of characters/ POVs are connected, but trying to figure it out along the way. 

I do think what Clare Mackintosh does very well is create relatable, flawed, and vulnerable characters. Both Mina and Adam, in this novel are far from perfect, but I found I could relate to their issues and mistakes well.

Some of the plot is far fetched, how much can possibly go wrong for one family in the space of a day? However, that did not detract from the story for me.

Looking forward the reading more by this author soon! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, Infertility, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, and Confinement

beckyremillard's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Mina is a flight attendant on an inaugural 20 hour flight from London to Sydney. While in the air, she’s given the choice to follow instructions that could risk the plane or risk her daughter’s life. 

The primary perspectives are from Mina and her husband, Adam. We also hear a bit from some of the passengers on the plane regarding their lives and backstory. 

The beginning part of the book felt just okay. It wasn’t anything exciting, it was just some basic life issues and nothing that captivated my attention. It definitely picks up when Mina has to make the all important choice to follow instructions or save her daughter’s life. 

The book is obviously about terrorism. The chapters from the unnamed passenger/the leader are disturbing but well written. There were a lot of darker themes here that could have been too much but went together well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Violence, Sexual harassment, Murder, Blood, Racism, Abandonment, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Terrorism

sinilukee's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy

Minor: Racism, Islamophobia, Infertility, Abandonment, and Child abuse

blujade's review

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved it until the very last part. But definitely worth reading. The audiobook was ok. I wish they used a male and female narrator or at least the narrator changed voice pitch during the male characters parts. It was sometimes hard to follow who was speaking because they all sound pretty much the same. There are many different characters so this was important.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Death

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Domestic abuse

shreeyab's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Racism, Murder, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

mossybooks's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity, Medical content, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Infertility

sarasm's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual harassment