Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Siege: A Thriller
Siege: A Thriller
Siege: A Thriller
Ebook432 pages7 hours

Siege: A Thriller

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

From the #1 internationally bestselling author of Relentless, Stay Alive, and Ultimatum, a heart-pounding, race-against-time thriller about a carefully orchestrated hostage takeover at a London hotel.

London is under attack. An unknown number of its citizens are dead. Many more lives hang in the balance as a group of highly trained gunmen storm the luxuri­ous Stanhope Hotel on Park Lane, demanding the government meet their requests within five hours—or they will blow up the building and everyone still inside it.

Shots ring out. Some guests panic. Others text their loved ones. A few try to escape. All are united by their desire to live. And at the center of it all is one man who has information so dangerous that it must be kept safe—at any price. Darkness falls. The gunmen become increasingly violent. One question is on everyone’s mind: Will any of them survive the night?

"Kernick generates a potent cocktail of thrills" (The Guardian) and calls to mind Robert Ludlum and Lee Child in sheer storytelling power and action. With a fast-moving plot and an arsenal of dynamic characters who are at once familiar and full of surprises, Siege will keep you on the edge of your seat from its start to its shocking finish.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherAtria Books
Release dateJun 4, 2013
ISBN9781476706245
Siege: A Thriller
Author

Simon Kernick

Simon Kernick is a Sunday Times #1 bestselling author and one of the UK’s foremost thriller writers. His twelve novels have been translated into more than twenty languages and have sold more than four million copies worldwide. He lives in London.

Read more from Simon Kernick

Related to Siege

Related ebooks

Thrillers For You

View More

Related articles

Related categories

Reviews for Siege

Rating: 3.8846153487179493 out of 5 stars
4/5

39 ratings9 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The author really ramps up the tension as terrorists seize a luxury west end hotel and threaten to kill hostages. Clever plotting kept me going and I read it in a single day. Recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A group of terrorists execute multiple attacks in London with the main thrust being taking over an entire hotel and holding the guests as hostage. Good plausible plot, plenty of action, well structured chapters that keeps the drama flowing at a good pace.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A first rate story that moved at a tremendous pace and kept me on the edge of my seat all the time. The main character didn't appear as much as I expected but that left a lot of space to allow other characters and sub plots to develop. The story revolved around a terrorist cell who took siege of a London Hotel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It was a quick listening. First I had that feeling that I won't like it because it was too violent but by the time I got to like it. There were different stories behind this story. A police officer's husband was murdered and her children were being taken hostage. An islamic terror group has taken a MP hostage and with him a lot of innocent people and a father and former soldier was looking for revenge.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sets a cracking pace, a real page-turner. Keeps up the suspence from start to finish of a well-plotted tale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very fast paced - a little bit more speed and it would be too fast if that's possible. Entertaining but characters are fairly stereotypical. Overall, well done thriller - as any other coming from Simon Kernick.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    SIEGE: Who Will Survive by Simon KernickThriller is an understatement for this fast paced, action-loaded novel with appealing characters and a tight plot. You learn enough about the main characters (Arley, Elena, Abby, Scope, Martin and bad guys, Fox, Wolf, Bear and Cat) to care about who survives and who doesn’t. The story is plausible and works on the several levels and plot lines while keeping you guessing until the very end. The chapters are very short and generally end with a cliffhanger so you keep reading long after you tell yourself “just one more chapter.”Unusually well written for the genre, SIEGE is still filled with a high body count and numerous episodes of mayhem. Set in a posh London hotel, the book involves M15, a highly trained assault force, a police commander who has been coerced into aiding the enemy, a dying man and a killer along with the many civilians who are caught in the midst of a terrorist’s plot.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    New author, to me, but what a cracking story.Tense, nailbiting, story.Some books are very hard to put down, and this was one of them. 
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Short chapters, cliff-hangers, a large host of characters and non-stop action: it sounds like something James Patterson would be proud of but Siege is the latest offering from the formerly cutting-edge writer Simon Kernick who is probably the most talented of the darkly witty and altogether brilliant new wave of British crime writers. A group of ruthless terrorists [are there any other kind] distract the police with a series of well-placed explosions, and then invade an upmarket London hotel taking staff and guests hostage. In standard airport thriller format we are introduced to a large number of people and given their back story prior to the attack, a common ploy to enable the reader to sympathise with the victims when the going gets tough and the shootings begin. Scotland Yard eventually realises what's happening and is about to send in a SWAT team: the response is jeopardised though because the terrorists [vaguely Middle Eastern origins are postulated] have kidnapped the husband and children of Assistant Deputy Commissioner Arley Dale who is leading the team. There's the diabetic who will go into a coma if she doesn't get her insulin, there's the man with inoperable cancer who checked in to kill himself, there's the young woman about to join her fiancé in Australia, not to mention Arley Dale, torn between compromising herself to save her family, and her duty to the hostages. The only familiar face is Detective Inspector Tina Boyd whom Kernick fans will recognise from many of his other [and infinitely superior] books. If light-weight plot-driven page-turners are for you, Siege will fill a few hours very happily, but for those of us who have followed Kernick through from the start, this is a massive disappointment.

Book preview

Siege - Simon Kernick

.abook_preview_excerpt.html}KFU!Eo?Oſ/agmB9qI17q&<3r8ݗ/E>躮yӵ.]f7~N>%v5{6n͛xu] ]spcㆶIﲟv%|K0fZ? b| érӅ'/_6qjcLwÎc 7MW|5}hRx' e1{;vOG)k׍csNNܹ9phƐrʡy(;mm *[Kܯf9`i|tE Nr]%Ν,)>~Y!R{{}#|g]w o:7OkOǷ5_'Oa3:pZx.NvqNy 3c8 h.0dcWᩙpX<TY@k3kxJX n s!h޵*#]YcC즋s+o]84`=Nr@f#|i4QCesGcQ)ƢbΟ˳ݣ)J 2Nwйgyyj 3l$zpR` Wu,FN,bR%)gjȍ;~hG(q=rPU]]|TD,'TЋ|ňx.WVc:Şot1~~c#'N,u_~߿t"h1V=ΰ~ҏq۫!Ʌ*z#DW9Eyb5"&\cG)TH<1bs2l|;w+Pף瑃ܷZ&*cךOCף=Ⴋz,xHCSh~9_DM}Q^⫅BmEq| -RR^#3H|:Hk*Jhc|oTFxǀĈb40MV|#"g{ Lxb i<_'yis-;bC$dM"v8"-tgN>_bBH?!h$yb-ir@!ТA:, tDŽȧ_,r#x݅g*D)0Mw:dc!oq I 'FLNZ,.{FF7 #to伡G, XyzJEm2sDtHSH,U4o(#38 梏tJLu#3bysz=f݈;49sڴy,bR!;6_ uA7E_lw{1_H֏Vʂf3+5H{_=bzG b]=P>8)w5ʽ r(_yQ"I 1 J[4zIJVhQo 2n^ q4barWp;b5oneCw9GЀQPcNJU9N?bw$NݬRG!c];yjs6T+ᙰH|[Q*xbGUԴ i D;Z|'[qIP]$<ǭ+-MFZnL.4]<>򀕠+C@ND3/`U^ߋ$ ? Q&>P Ikr=}9@|y Y'8`+0Ⅴp:h N.3/Q'1mUU;5wA#p}DZYj%FKr+a St&`ANJ4K-Vh l&E|dᲆٖLO~= ,n? A*q+2iT^qrP_]U"c YZ3< M QQ`Ѻ(,BH`1d}+BOUreT0t.^N$}{&n,)7yww5ҫ74^s1d[^Uݟ1͇X8xҭ8R.v**w8Ć<;ͅC jsϾҚ{%ky͚.WDJ8[BrS>k꜏HNS * XlC"i ,؆>yb$(nQ{LbT/ lK5gZ͜7UyYyĸ#L۞A&X#\ҜFL-J^ ҳQ/gVT̚7&u28Br(urKKr2"aCi1#h7[8)@t`zZT  m t , VmR/:lAd."C=%\y.CH J oٺ(Tq§r*ƛ `[8&UD_S)T$QeYm_/tR4*7azX8AfBкA+X; &E8j 7?gJNrfmR8Jl\9S=jLZ*Qg\w,rVn*HWXX lڴ[uRr$o4mȘx&~GWzO=Up^5d%[5Ü<k V+o}uvI^_e5tatWYUb<+RDKR)i(I4 4-s@G^4}\q W73CODK|LR $N+)\F# wMwX X5"ݳa-><5W]+eqGY4Mjs]QH&Y{7P.a6DTmΤY,-W̶U)y#` UrؓXY%R`u-y AjXX qJ9Z&_BM}FRTk @6Н +(tv*>ZF9`*LE< ?NVI<Ӻvc)iK.`a(W,xgB`*%ϱT?4GY%P&JYHP-ma VGz;V\r e08 ʥELkO|d(cФb7gڗi b&/BEQ4m"r??*eq.!ɕ$yv@[) |@wFShj;ō,s#GZT灦hyVN] {JzrX@BLvQkp5`7|օxd1(ë\:v]UV@S־[ CDdN<١?#ZdL;P>"^wE' /?{7??{|$߯x7CKB[?É(vxtQ<#-mFek569͓AM. Wye|45hTț4qUhb%2ףܺV^? r$G7UT0#DЪCjȅhֳߥі+ 06"dشL;yr14 _'!.캲<ˀҹK^9Igx 0;WҢ(SG[g9Z%jQl ūa{0frW-.^]H?Y^]+e;~5x d'5ͤESZʛє@Y(̭p e̤j%çE1H] ϩ SUwM.-e0*Ҋ#RE}T9?s ca^:is~/Gxph[YTQ˳K`PcX>uONzHA3%_uČvtPmk9f/>^B{jt^D -aȖG)"Z?mMx\fR5,3h[5ѵKgrBh=Q 擶_!LheU: ,IR|pܻJu*E9 = ?pۇedK UÝz>nnC0HN\j3X w͜ .ו5wwESVL-zOALrp71J~bK_fK[PJ۱| ߗCJL2%T"gr7jHjյ|j$k5o_YnE-YUbr.XFXA=[ *+sKڭVʞ)N3NQwGV@DI堥\4Ae8(I~Ā,+J4Ik!c\-P8sjGmq4(C$QW3 c͎nñ 3>mHTkTf9(Օ,okԐy=,*4֪蕷EP\2x1+)^=â@LC9 1u~by H79\& eFj=-Cws#_`#lF݋/F͚~ {1-n-5q֬ *Xj'oCF gFX'D Mkssu,3C4ޠDbN,%JVdCV^Ht=>1. k9AS#/6?EA~¿$@'&ۋ,RԎNF2(( >гWΡ{*%¶a9,ZԲG\3T/@# JILdJXۨЋBfRTm}ĘRoVZȄى.!2e{sErYVR(lkĬj*4@I鋤Zf(@SZB }ҏA.l:s#N^q kMn`l?>!bwUv5,[zN̘>:~,٘$q8ieRyʗI9}NPOF5Jn_({AṮN*o>]}s9f)A Z;ف5ւ3|ʳ:NJ} 8B+a;YjS)JYKAƲK 6o6#[-{V0LDӴj*M2| `5XE7,Zl$, vίZ8tX4 Pf$v嗷ؐ 1_X3NJ̐P?.%])-r0R|(SVt%GU1nhZ{6S+ˉi&LF2psбmrDQ ryyA TZYz"W \ZI-v$Dk"S~֪鹌ۜuA3Vt}D~{1)0`r=pA!jcI"ׂhb8+| = v^beIm9tq\:m+`8HC5;JF3ND~Dlد !\YԉJ 0]Q #vz>u}ujZysV+cȋOl$-)I] \4kD@@`h7,L{.9M Yb"PkQT02TH 1RkK7^`y]3.UE,١+-PSW!Q6 bQe%~iض<^jw)k5@i]P1:ƪp!ZW%OivbFZNўg:Ni0׃=jrv*7ŀz 7`]d57Ah8oY'T魊~1&L+K]K\߈47Y׍yxPG*IeW_ḚI\=(51vDXn~擵Qg_G{-6$z~ҽ#hWYPA |'S%C K'⵴X2_+;E3:8Lxt%f8Hmll`_1ߐF>-vI-1Nh2H<g{2jFԪ%kjVMU8}o#.čJ1d%=4ՙ)\):&xaj_r6 Z0jE20biRPJE%[)=J y~+Aɑn6/qFF:^?ڴV׺Znz<%uG@lU e[7:]9t?HvhGumkkl^]럇cZA[W\/VV>[t}mcux?-[[l'uvC)0: R[^]ü q _6XW:'[=^ޠ:2}0|%E/7N4Wim_fd~ ث/SPCd׌a?1*G>Mpܫ#<\v(D1zƎaQ>(E{.Xb1{b^ʆUGbт'&V.uCE EK,?V{m[j15%`.QvXZѓs:8{3g0i;;Z=?;絸doT(G)V%O( 1LANB|3Վ3]3ox fr]Į[:n,E+0'>ss7(#øYl(]VbyQ!+q2;s_6O1^Z8ljplɁup2bJ VA-5h¿`P3BUE`1-O~˻%ԌyoPVHC-#?#JsBk+jV[.Pg`.ಜa*zl+Pp^OSbt+d1l-{W叐iLj PX# \W,U9#XOuJy>rlI81բX![u| -&KF  g NzRn+Ӟ:71C)9[1wrcD$֭ijKxX"pM>o'T44ZY1y@?ʲ, 2Ʋ+ t J\J":P&={xʶPG|xPB0kҸ?)0N ZWȷ p:ARaEM:׫D$D\E-ˮxdvE˭ [E\~z6,eRT􏚱lA!@m};;@VS%$O*N Q~P&>?qΧ>cԯY e[xo4zIh <? t(=bKׇ']n#4YO?L3A",Dɿ O~9fs&hZלu&3X;ƘƖ0h}ѝI /ɶy45s
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1