Hostage Three - Softcover

Lake, Nick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1619634384 ISBN 13: 9781619634381

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens, 2014

Synopsis

As Amy sets out to sea with her family on a yacht, she's only thinking about the peaceful waters and the warm sun. But she doesn't get either after a group of pirates seize the boat and its human cargo, and the family becomes a commodity in a highly sophisticated transaction. Hostage One is Amy's father--the most valuable. Hostage Three is Amy, who can't believe the nightmare she's in. But something even stranger happens as she builds a bond with one of her captors, making it brutally clear that the price of life and its value are two very different things.

From one of today's most exciting contemporary voices in YA comes a commercial page-turner you won't be able to put down.

About this title

About the Author

Nick Lake is the author of In Darkness, winner of the Michael L. Printz Award, and the forthcoming novel, There Will Be Lies. He is also the Editorial Director for fiction at HarperCollins Children's Books. Nick lives near Oxford.
@NicholasLake · www.in-darkness.org

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up–Amy Fields walks out of her A Level exams required for entrance into the Royal Academy; she is still grieving over her mother's death and cares little about the future. Her rich father and new stepmother hope that sailing around the world will allow much-needed family bonding, but the idyllic trip ends when Somalian pirates seize their yacht and hold them for ransom. Tension is palpable as the frightened family and crew become pawns in the businesslike negotiations. Although carefully guarded with machine guns, the British teen observes a pecking order among her captors and befriends Farouz, the pirates' handsome translator. They share memories of personal pain that include Amy's mother's suicide, the execution of Farouz's parents, and the political imprisonment of his brother. Their stories are vivid and poignant, adding layers to a rich characterization, especially details of Somalian culture and mythology. Amy falls in love, understanding Farouz's vow to use ransom money to free his brother, but is startled back to reality when he agrees to follow orders to shoot her on command. Circumstances become dire when she learns secrets about her father's business that jeopardize their release, and rival pirates and the navy get involved. The author playfully tells Amy's account of the rescue the way she hoped it would play out, and then again, as it actually happened. The narrative twist is brilliant, taking readers on an emotional ride to the very last page.–Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NYα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1619634384
• ISBN 13: 9781619634381
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400