I really enjoyed this book. Right from the beginning I was hooked. It was gripping, intense, suspenseful. Everything I could want from a thriller novel, with some inevitable romance thrown in.

an intense, high-octane thriller that dives deep into grief, survival, and the quest for justice. Tess is a woman who’s been drowning in loss since the death of her fiancé, Kyle. Her life is a chaotic whirlwind of work and reckless escapism—until she and her colleagues are taken hostage by a ruthless Eastern European gang. The book quickly shifts from emotional turmoil to pulse-pounding action as Tess teams up with Mark, another captive, in a desperate fight for survival. The chemistry between them is raw and real, and their evolving bond under extreme pressure adds an emotional layer to the thriller. The pacing is relentless, keeping the tension high with each new twist as Tess and Mark push their limits to escape their captors and uncover the dark truths that lurk beneath the surface.

The stakes escalate when Tess begins to unravel the mystery surrounding Kyle’s death, leading her into the dangerous world of international cybercrime. With Mark by her side, they must outwit powerful enemies while racing against time to save Tess’s company—and themselves. The action is fast-paced and filled with suspense, but the book also touches on themes of healing, revenge, and the emotional toll of tragedy.

This novel is perfect for readers who love adrenaline-fueled thrillers with a mix of emotional depth and intrigue. Tess’s journey from heartbreak to heroism is captivating, and the explosive revelations about Kyle’s death will keep you hooked until the very end.

Whoa my goodness. I enjoyed this book, but would have loved for Tess to be able to focus and keep her head on straight without chasing behind a man.

Outside of that, the plot was really good. I loved the techie/cybersecurity aspects of the book. the cyber crime, all of the life & death shit.. all of it.

David!? I would never ever trust him. Mark, I get it.



I just, you can’t give too much without spoiling it.

The Unexpected Hostage by Allison McKenzie is a fast-paced, gripping thriller that blends survival, mystery, and emotional depth. After the death of her fiancé, Tess’s life spirals into chaos, but things take a darker turn when she is taken hostage by an Eastern European terrorist group. Alongside fellow captive Mark, Tess must navigate not only the brutal struggle for survival but also uncover the truth behind her fiancé’s death. McKenzie skillfully weaves suspense, action, and a developing bond between Tess and Mark as they face both external threats and personal demons. This thrilling novel will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very last page.

I do not generally read blurbs and this one is no exception. I’ve had it sitting in my Kindle library for quite a while and picked it out to read. I was not expecting this story … at all. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was not disappointed.
I enjoyed reading Tess’s story. She is suffering from the loss of Kyle a year ago, is having trouble at her company (Kingsley Tech), comes face to face with some really bad guys, and is fighting the attraction she feels to Mark, a man she met at a function they both attended. Tess is tough, she’s strong, she’s committed to finding answers no matter the cost.
Mark is facing his own losses in life and wasn’t expecting to meet Tess, which is one thing they could agree on. He also wasn’t expecting to be put in the situations he found himself in.
There are a whole host of other characters – Declan, David, Kavita, The Raven, the bad guys, the police who were involved.
I enjoyed reading about all that Tess and Mark were facing, how they were both dealing with their own inner turmoil, trying to find some healing, some justice in what they went through. I like how the author portrayed this relationship as up and down as these two were going through their emotional baggage, not to mention some other trauma-filled events through these pages.
For a debut novel, this one is extremely well written, I thought, and played out the events well. It has just the right amount of action, the right amount of intrigue, the right amount of attraction between Tess and Mark. If you like reading about cybercrimes, I highly recommend you pick this one up. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

3,5 stars. I am conflicted about this book, some parts had me hooked to where I could not put the book down and others made me yawn and wanting the endless conversations to be over. Some parts felt rushed, and I was not extremly satisfied with the ending. Again, it felt abit rushed in my opinion.

The parts were there were action was amazing, I liked Tess as a badass female character and the raven has a special place in my heart in this book. Its also extremly funny to see Norway and norwegian mentioned in books when you are norwegian yourself - a few sentences in norwegian did not make a whole lot of sense to me, but still - extremly fun!

A satisfying techn0-thriler from a debut author, I will recommend to readers of Ava Glass, Karen Cleveland, and Dan Fesperman.

Tess, still reeling from the loss of her partner Kyle, finds herself in a hostage situation in Canada with trauma surgeon Mark, taken by an Eastern European terrorist group. As they escape, they bond and uncover the truth about Kyle's death through an international cybercrime.

Both Tess and Mark, each coping with their own grief as widowers, form a connection through shared trauma. While the setting of Norway and Canada is vivid and atmospheric, some characters, like Kavita, lack depth and purpose.

The story transitions from a terrorism plot to a cybercrime storyline, leaving the genre unclear. The initial tension dissipates quickly, and expected twists never materialize. Despite the well-written prose, some parts felt overly focused on romance.

Recommended for fans of romantic thrillers, this book provides a mix of genres but falls short in delivering anticipated suspenseful twists.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC!

Fantastic, riveting story that I just couldn’t put down! Will definitely read more from this author!

The Unexpected Hostage follows Tess who is still reeling from the death of her fiancé who died in a tragic accident the year prior. She uses work as her way of coping before the unexpected happens. She and her colleagues are taken hostage. She soon finds out that the same people who have taken her hostage aren’t just your average kidnappers and Tess’ fiancé's death doesn’t seem to be an accident anymore.

This was fun!

It was hard not to be sucked into the story from the very first pages. I felt like they were laced with something because how was I expected to put this book down when I needed answers??

It’s always nice to see some romance sprinkled in with the suspense of the book. I especially loved the hacking and cyber part of this book and the feeling of impending doom that relied on whether Tess was able to successfully figure out how to save everyone and the company.

My only criticism is that it felt slightly instant love to me but that is very well a me thing and doesn’t affect the overall writing of the book.

This was a fantastic debut and I can’t wait to see what comes next for this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Wild Rose Press for providing me with this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Really enjoyed this book! 4⭐️!
Loved the mystery part and the thrill!
The two main characters were great! They were able to relate with their grief and also help each other heal from the grief and traumatic experience! It was so interesting reading about the hacking and secret codes.

I really enjoyed this read!!
Thank you for sending me a copy!

I could not finish it. I don’t leave books unread but this one, I just couldn’t finish it. I don’t like the different languages in it either.

I really really wanted to love this book - i’m in my thriller era and the concept of the story was extremely intriguing - cyberterrorism mixed with multiple kidnappings.

I felt like the first 15ISH% of the book had me hooked and was extremely well down - when our two MCs were kidnapped. It had you on the edge of your seat and made you want to keep reading. I felt that ended extremely abruptly and felt the book took a giant turn into more romance than thriller.

While i do like both thrillers and romance and when they’re done intertwined i have enjoyed that as well, but this felt like the author couldn’t decide which genre to focus on so it felt disjointed. I feel like if the story would have contained more twists and unexpected turns, and had the romance woven into it still i would have enjoyed it more.

I also felt very bored during the middle to like 80%. It dragged in my opinion and just kept talking about the same things - her flying with her foot, not taking her injury seriously etc etc.

I would definitely give this author another chance and while it wasn’t for me i don’t think it was a bad debut novel!

2.5 I enjoyed the initial first 3rd of the book. It was action-packed and suspenseful and I felt like I could follow along well. After that, I really struggled to remain invested and focused on the story. The plot felt choppy and incoherent. The amount of political, cyber, and tech jargon increased without satisfactory explanation, and it was difficult for me to fully understand the intricacies of the cyberterrorism plot. By the time we got to the climax of the plot, I had a hard time remaining invested. I also felt like I was waiting for this big reveal or twist or betrayal, but was disappointed when there really wasn’t one.

My 6P review

Tess lost the love of her life, Kyle and she has been trying to work through the pain ever since. She is taken hostage alongside Mark, a trauma surgeon from Norway, by an Eastern European terrorist group in Canada. Together they risk their lives to escape, forming a bond together. An international cybercrime uncovers the truth about Kyle’s death and Tess and Mark are once again thrust into the spotlight.

Tess and Mark are both widowers and grieving in their own way. From the mutual trauma, they form a relationship with each other. The other characters aren’t particularly well developed and I don’t know the purpose of some of them, especially that of Kavita.

The sense of place was great. I liked the imagery of Norway and Canada. I had a sense of the weather as well.

The initial terrorism threat and abduction was great. I felt this should have been the main focus of the story though. This part ended abruptly and then the story continued into another cybercrime scenario. I wasn’t sure what genre the author was writing. Was this a romance or a cybercrime/terrorism/thriller? I was awaiting the twists which just never came.

The prose was well written and I had no problems reading it although I did skip some of the romance.

I would recommend this story to readers who enjoy a romantic thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy from this author.

Thank you to Net Galley for giving me this opportunity to review this book.

Nothing has been the same for Tess since her fiancé’s tragic accident and death. Now at a corporate party a year later, Tess and a doctor are taken hostage by cyberterrorists. There was a lot of political overtones and international intrigue. I would have liked a few more surprises. But I do recommend this book of that is your type of suspense.

A touching Romance mixed with a bit of a Techno-Thriller in Allison McKenzie’s, THE UNEXPECTED HOSTAGE . . .

‘Recent memories of [His] bare skin against hers juxtaposed with visions of Kyle so vividly, she swore he had returned from the afterlife, alive again. But every time, the images vanished, shrinking from the edges before they curled inward like a burning photograph dissolving into ash.’

Though the pacing is slow at times, overall, I love the writing and story.

Recommend!

Thank you, NetGalley and The Wild Rose Press, Inc., for providing me with an eBook of THE UNEXPECTED HOSTAGE at the request of an honest review.

Omg u guys!!! Be ready to brace yourself for a pulse-pounding, heart-stopping thrill ride! The Unexpected hostage is a high-octane political thriller that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. With a fierce and relatable protagonist in Tess, you'll be dragged into a world of terrorism, cybercrime, and international conspiracies that will leave you breathless.

As Tess and Mark fight for survival, the stakes are raised to explosive levels. Every page turn is a countdown to disaster, every twist a hairpin turn that will keep you guessing. The tension is suffocating, the action heart-pounding, and the betrayals gut-wrenching.

This book is a ticking time bomb, ready to detonate at any moment. With its razor-sharp plot and breakneck pace,,it will obliterate your sleep schedule and leave you begging for more. The Allison Mckenzie’s mastery of the genre is evident in every expertly crafted sentence, every clever misdirection, and every heart-stopping revelation.

Don't dare miss this thrill ride that will push you to the edge and beyond!

Well, that was definitely interesting. It had so many different elements, survival, grief, terrorism, technology and love.

I really liked the dynamic between the two main characters and was pleased with the ending and how everything turned out.

My only complaint is that I stalled a bit in the middle because I am not well versed in cyber lingo or technology so I felt a bit stumped.

This book was a 2.5/2.75 for me… I really enjoyed the initial set up of this book - at first, I thought that the plot from start to finish completed in the first 100 pages but it’s detrimental for the rest of the book and sets up the rest of the plot. However, as the book went on, I really struggled to stay focused. There was a lot of cyber, techy jargon that just didn’t hold my interest.

I also thought that this book would have a romance aspect to it judging from the beginning but there was no real connection that I could grasp from this.

It’s not a bad read but it’s also not one that I would immediately recommend to just anyone. I think you have to have a specific liking for this type of plot to enjoy the book fully.