The Hostage by John Ryder.
Jerome Prentice is a good guy. Loyal to a fault, he always stays on the right side of the law.

But everything changes the night he is awoken by the sound of masked kidnappers entering his home. Holding him at gunpoint, they drag his beloved wife Alicia out of the house with a promise to kill her if he goes to the police. Their demand: betray the company he’s worked for his entire adult life.
I enjoyed book. I liked Alicia and Jerome characters. 5*.

WOW - waking up with guns in your face
Is the start of this read that keeps up that pace.
An action packed read I didn't want to put down
Any interruptions were met with a frown!

Jerome and Alicia are "ordinary" folk
Until this time when with guns they're woke.
Alicia is taken, Jerome told to wait,
Follow instructions, go to work, don't be late.

Can he rescue and protect her - and if so, how?
Following their instructions seems the way for now.
However, he'll not let them get away at all
He'll make them regret they ever decided on them to call.

This is a total, action-packed thriller,
Definitely another fantastic chiller,
Where Jerome is determined to protect his wife
And to her kidnappers bring plenty of strife.

What a brilliant, fascinating read this proved to be
At least as pulse pounding as it is claimed you'll see
With secrets, betrayal, determination, surprises and more
A superb story you'll agree, I'm sure!

For my complementary copy of this book, I say thank you,
I throughly enjoyed reading it and this is my honest review.

Thank you to Bookouture for letting me take part in this tour. I am a big fan of John Ryder, especially the Grant Fletcher series. I listened to about 70% of this book on audio and then read the last 30% on ebook.

The book begins rather shockingly. I can’t imagine how Jerome and Alicia were feeling when they woke up to guns in their faces. Just the thought of it gives me the shivers. Jerome and Alicia are such a sweet couple. They are very dedicated to each other and really have faith in their relationship. This is how they got through this entire ordeal.

This book was intense. I really enjoyed the strategizing and the discussions about how the money could be obtained and how to hide any trace of it. It was very interesting to hear the different theories and pitfalls.

Jerome was a really good main character. He is logical, realistic and smart. He was determined to get Alicia back, but he didn’t fall apart. He kept his cool and thought about the best approach.

John took me on quite the ride with this one. This book will keep you  on tenterhooks as to what will  happen next. If you love an action packed thriller this one will keep you hooked right til the end!

Jerome and his wife, Alicia wake up in the middle of the night to find three masked men holding scary looking guns pointed right at them.

Holding him at gunpoint, they take Alicia with them with a promise they will kill her if he goes to the police. He is to do something for them .. and if he doesn't, she will die. They want him to steal $50 million dollars from the accounting business where he works.

Jerome struggles with stealing from his employer .. he's basically a good man, an honest man. But he will do what it takes to keep his wife alive. He promises that he will make them pay if they hurt her in any way.

Being a really good accountant, he knows there are ways to divert money from one place to another. These men want this money sent to 21 different places ... almost impossible to do without getting caught.

It's a conundrum of a thriller/mystery. Character development of this protagonist is well-thought out. He is a strong man with a conscience, high moral standards, not used to violence, but will do whatever it takes. In somewhat alternating chapters, we get a peek at what Alicia is doing ,.... and that's mostly trying to find a way to escape her locked room where her captors have placed her. She's a great foil for her husband ... she's strong, and although she depends on Jerome to find a way to retrieve her, she's not going to be sitting in a corner chewing her fingernails. This is not the first of books I've read by this author. I enjoy his style of writing, the character development he achieves, an intriguing plot with a well paced story line.

Many thanks to the author / Bookouture / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction/mystery. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Thank you to John Ryder, and NetGalley, for this ARC in exchange for this honest review

As a huge fan of John Ryders books, I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to read his latest offering. Unfortunately, this book was in 2 distinct sections. It starts off as being right up there with his usual work, but then about halfway through it almost falls over.

This was a slightly different character to Mr Ryders usual. An accountant who even though he was definitely not a fighter, managed to adapt to the situation and use what was around him. But the second part of the story dominated the story, but for me this was the least captivating section.

Scoring this is difficult, whereas the first half was around 6 / 5, the middle bit was 3 /5 end possibly heading for 4 /5. So overall I give it just about 4/ 5. But if I wasn’t such a fan of his previous work might have been a 3 /5.

Jerome and his wife Alicia are woken in their home by gunmen who kidnap Alicia and want Jerome to steal 50 million dollars for them.

I thought there were a few bits of the book that was a little far fetched and the main characters were a little lovely dovey for me but on the whole I enjoyed it, towards the end my heart rate increased (can’t say why without giving away spoilers) which I think is the sign of a good book. This is the second book I’ve read by John Ryder and I’ve asked Santa for his older books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my advanced reading copy.

How far would you go in order to save someone that you love?

John Ryder’s The Hostage starts off at a pace that is fairly unrelenting until the very end with a pace that keeps you turning the pages rapidly.

Ideally a couple more twists and turns would have added to the overall story but in summary this is an enjoyable thriller.

So much action, nail biting suspense. Fast paced and captivity.
Jerome and Alicia are in bed - woken up with guns and strange, threatening men. The men take Alicia, promising to get in touch with details.
Jerome must steal tens of millions of dollars from the company he works for - to be given to previous employees who were sexually assaulted.
Alicia is held in a dank room, terrified but safe. She knows Jerome will do whatever to rescue her.
Lots of action, moves quickly. I would have enjoyed a few more twists.
Well written.

A bit of a book 8n two halves for me with my favourite being the first half Then came the action which to be fair is just not for me. I always find it difficult to imagine what is being described.
I thought Jerome and Alicia were good enough characters but a couple of times just too lovey dovey to be true.

Whoa, that was intense! Action packed and heart-pounding. I felt the adrenaline rush while following the main character's will power and resolve. I was hoping for a version of Bryan Mills to come out after the kidnapping but I fell in love with Jerome's logical and realistic approach to the situation. Even though he was not a fighter, he was able to adapt and use good sense to his advantage. That made his character more convincing.


The bad guys made me so angry I wanted to pull an Evelyn Salt and break them! Ugh! My fists were clenched and I was gritting my teeth 50% of the time. Haha.

On the whole, this was a gripping thriller with a decent plot. I was drawn to how the characters were written, even the typical villains were amusing at times. The technical aspect was also commendable and thorough. After reading this, I felt the need to get me some action films to watch.

Unfortunately i DNF’d this book at 20% I just couldn’t get into it and didn’t get on with the writing style unfortunately.

Absolutely fantastic book. I was gripped from start to finish.

I really enjoyed reading about how much Jerome wanted to save the Hostage.

I couldn't think who the kidnappers to be and when you find out it's quite a shock. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was brilliant.

I would definitely read more by this author and recommend to friends and family.

The Hostage
by John Ryder
Jerome Prentice is a nice guy who always stays on the right side of the law. But beware the fury of a patient man when his wife is taken hostage with the threat of death if he doesn’t do what the kidnappers demand, which is to steal $50 million from the company he and his wife, Alicia, work for. The kidnappers rightly believe that he will do anything to save his wife, but they underestimate his conviction for retaliation. This action packed thriller will appeal to fans of Lee Child and David Baldacci with its fast pace and riveting plot. I finished this book in a day. I liked that the action is continuous and intense with no lulls in the middle but also that it is not graphic in violence. This is the first John Ryder novel that I have read and I look forward to reading more of his books in the future.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. The pub day for this novel is November 25, 2021.

The Hostage is to say the least, a fast paced thriller with so many twists and turns you will be sitting on the edge of your seat and at times holding your breath.

Jerome Prentice is racing against the clock (and his conscience) as he is being framed to steal 50 million dollars while his wife is being held hostage.

Jerome is just your average guy, not a super hero but boy does he outdo himself trying to rescue his wife and not get them both killed.

This is my first John Ryder book and I will certainly be looking up his other books to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for a whirlwind of a read.

Oh wow, this book was fantastic. It grabbed me straight away and it never let up all the way through. The ending was so exciting and I really didn’t know what was going to happen. This would make a great film as it fast-paced and very thrilling. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This one sounds better on paper than it reads. Its not bad per say, its just not that great.

A great set up from the first page - man wakes up with gun pointed at his head, his wife is kidnapped and he has to steal 50 odd million dollars from the company he works for to get her back.
Thats the gist of it.

The first half of the book I enjoyed more than the second half. It focuses on how the money could be stolen, how he might get his wife back or find out where she is etc.
The second half is more about trying to escape capture, which was a lot less interesting and felt overly long in the context of the book.

There is the whole suspension of disbelief thing going on here, along with a rather cliched reluctant/unlikely hero in our main protagonist, which is all fine if you are being entertained throughout but I just felt the whole "escape capture" thing ended up dominating the book and was the least interesting part for me.

A decent if unremarkable effort. Felt longer than it was to me mainly due to the reasons above.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

I really loved how Jerome, the main character, is driven by his unconditional love for his wife.
I always wondered what I would do if I found myself in this kind of situation, and I liked how Jerome could find the necessary strength to never give up and actually take matters into his own hands.

This was not an explosive thriller with non-stop action, because Jerome is just an accountant, he's not The Rock...but he still is resourceful and there was enough action to make this book a quick page-turning thriller.

The Hostage is a stand-alone action thriller set in New York about a young accountant whose wife has been kidnapped to force him to embezzle a fortune from his employer. I’ve read all of Ryder’s previous thrillers, and most of his Graham Smith books set in the UK too, so knew I was in for a page-turner, but the twist here is that the hero is not some super-skilled former soldier, but an ordinary bloke driven only by his love for his wife.

Jerome Prentice wakes to discover there is a shotgun aimed at him, and two men are about to kidnap his wife, with the threat that is he doesn’t steal $50 million from the giant conglomerate he works for, she will be killed. There’s no way he can let that happen, so this usually law-abiding citizen will do whatever it takes to get her back.

The “mild-mannered ordinary Joe with a very particular set of skills” trope has featured in some great action movies in the last decade or so. In this case, Jerome’s physical skills are limited to what he picked up in high school football and wrestling, he’s never used a gun, and his battle strategy has all been gleaned from the big screen. He doesn’t even have particular computer skills - but fortunately his best friend does. Unfortunately, this meant that the first half of the book had a bit too much about accounting and Jerome making fairly predictable layman mistakes & getting beaten up for it. I did like that we got to see Alicia’s side of things, and in the end it’s their trust and devotion to each other that saves the day. The lovey-doveyness did get a bit much for me at times, but they’re a likeable couple and I was happy enough with the rather predictable denouement.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily. The Hostage is published on November 25th.

Jerome Prentice opened his eyes to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

With this opening sentence the rocket ride that is The Hostage grabs the reader's attention and never lets go. This is a fast-paced thriller about extortion, greed and love with an unlikely protagonist in unassuming accountant Jerome Prentice.

College sweethearts Jerome and Alicia Prentice are still madly in love, happily married and working for the same conglomerate, Beck Holdings. All comes tumbling when armed, masked gunmen wake them in the middle of the night and take Alicia hostage. To get her back Jerome must redirect $50 million from Beck Holdings, convert it to crypto currency and parcel it out to multiple accounts. All this while circumventing the various governmental and internal accounting controls put in place to stop just such an effort. For upstanding and law abiding Jerome it is never an option not to do as instructed to get Alicia back. What the abductors don't count on is Jerome's resourcefulness and determination to find Alicia before he must break the law and meet their demands. Armed with knowledge derived from watching action movies and playing PlayStation games, Jerome sets out to rescue Alicia and thwart her abductors.

Told from Jerome's and Alicia's points of view, the reader feels Alicia's terror and Jerome's resolve in this cat and mouse thriller. Up against abductors who seem to be one step ahead of him, Jerome's decision making, while sometimes questionable, moves the plot along at a pace that seldom allows the reader to catch their breath. Add in the twists at pivotal points and one comes up with an absorbing, exciting read.

I am a huge fan of this author. He has a lot of talent with making you feel that you are there through each ordeal that these people go through.

The story started out very quickly with a kidnapping which of course makes sure the term The Hostage is the perfect title.

Jerome is a wonderful character that you meet very early on. He is a family man through and through. He is very interesting and I found myself drawn to his predicament more as the chapters went by.

Alicia seems almost flippant at times about where she finds herself. Some of what she is doing makes her almost feel like she has no fear at all despite the fact that she is a hostage. I never really felt that she was in terror at least not from what I saw. When you see her you see more this feisty lady who is trying to find a way to save herself as well. I do like her but I would have liked to have seen some of the terror she would have felt at the first.

Being in the banking industry you can see a lot of items that while may be difficult could certainly happen. I see a lot of suspicious items in my day to day work so you can easily see it in the novel.

I do like the fact that this book deals with other areas that aren't just murder or rape. I like the fact it deals with white collar crimes as well. It makes me smile to see a different take on crime and not one that I had really seen before.

The pace is fairly fast which is great as the white collar crime stuff can make it seem very dry. This was anything but dry. It was a great show of how you can take an item such as fraud and make it sound more interesting.

This author is one of my favourites as his writing style you feel like you are in the very pages of the book. This is not what I would call a thriller book as it didn't have the same feel but I do really enjoy the white collar and the hostage style of this book. Once you get further into the book there is more action which is also good as it allows the best of both worlds.

It was so well written and had me wanting to read a lot more. This book shows a huge gain for me from this author as it shows the most amazing parts of both the action as well as the crime parts of this.

It was amazing to see a book like this as it deals with so many aspects that I think shows nuances of what life is like or could be like under the wrong circumstances.