Twenty floors above the shimmering lights of the Hamburg docks, Public Prosecutor Chastity Riley is celebrating a birthday with friends in a hotel bar when twelve heavily armed men pull out guns and take everyone hostage. Among the hostages is Konrad Hoogsmart, the hotel owner, who is being targeted by a man whose life - and family - have been destroyed by Hoogsmart's actions.
With the police looking on from outside - their colleagues' lives at stake - and Chastity on the inside, increasingly ill from an unexpected case of sepsis, the stage is set for a dramatic confrontation ... and a devastating outcome for the team ... all live streamed in a terrifying bid for revenge.
Crackling with energy and populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, Hotel Cartagena is a searing, stunning thriller that will leave you breathless.
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We drive through the city, black holes open up on every corner, they tug at the sheet metal of the ambulance, Stepanovic is kneeling beside the shitty stretcher I'm lying on, he's holding me, he's holding my hand and he's singing something to me, I like the tune but the words make me want to puke. WAS THAT IT THEN, I ASKED
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(@OrendaBooks, 4 January 2021, 189 pages, ebook, copy from the publisher and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 29 March)
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This is a new author for me. It's the fourth book in a series. I feel a little enjoyment was a lost as I haven't read the other three so I might check them out at some point. The book reminds me a lot of the movie Hotel Artemis for some reason though it's very different. I've no idea why my brain has made that connection. I don't think I've ever read a book that involves a hostage situation before so this was new territory for me. The book is split between what happens in the hotel now via the various characters and events in the past which are gradually revealed to be linked. There's something really enjoyable about the structure of the book and the frantic, pulsing energy of the writing.
