Book: The Hostage

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Author: A.F. Carter

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Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for an advanced audio copy.

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The hostage opens up with an exhilarating scene. Elizabeth is kidnapped and the first chapter is from her point of view while she struggles to assess her situation. Elizabeth is the daughter of a wealthy family but at only age 15 is probably the smartest person in every room. The way she is written you can tell she is not the cliche daughter of a rich family, she is more than that.n

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Captain Delia Merloa has a backlog of work, along with the responsibilities of being a parent when the kidnapping case comes to her. At first, the FBI takes the lead which is a relief to Delia while she focuses on other work and aspects of her life. Delia is a strong and interesting character but when she takes a step back and the FBI takes the lead, I started to lose some focus on the story. The book is called The Hostage, Elizabeth is kidnapped. This should be the focus but sadly some of the other police work and drama overshadow the kidnapping. Especially when we go a few chapters in a row without even mentioning it.

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I really liked both Elizabeth and Delia as characters and I enjoyed the kidnapping story that was here. I almost feel this would be much better off as a short story rather than a novel. The other parts of the story were interesting on their own merits but I just wanted to get back to the real issue, which was the kidnapping. n

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Even with my complaints, the base story, the strong characters, and excellent descriptions make this a book I would recommend.

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Final Score 3/5