Hotel Arcadia by Sunny Singh

I would like to thank Magpie and Random Things Tours for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Magpie

Published - Out Now

Price - £9.99 paperback £5.99 Kindle eBook

A high octane thriller, capturing the extraordinary capacity of humans to retain compassion in extreme circumstances

Sam is a war photographer, famous for her hauntingly beautiful pictures of the dead. After a particularly gruelling assignment she checks into a luxury hotel, hoping to unwind with a few days of solitude.

Abhi, the hotel manager, never wanted to be a hero; he just wants to avoid disappointing his father and brother any more than he has already. But when gun-wielding terrorists run amok through the hotel, and his five-year-old Billy is found alive under the bodies of his parents, Abhi and Sam are forced to work together to protect him from the mounting violence.

As the threat of danger moves closer, the bond between this unlikely trio grows ever stronger. If they make it out alive, none of them will ever be the same.

In thrillers we usually have a clear mental image of the hero or heroine. Likely very strong, brave, perhaps quipping and sometimes wearing a vest in air ducts. But often moments of horrific events don’t have action heroes ready to take charge. It’s up to us members of the public to decide what to do and our lives may not have trained us for such events but will still shape our decisions. In Sunny Singh’s remarkable thriller Hotel Arcadia two individuals are thrown into extreme danger and only by working together may they be able to last the night.

Hotel Arcadia is a hotel that looks like so many other luxury places for businessmen and rich visitors to spend the night while moving to their destinations. But one night a local terrorist group attack, brutally murdering staff and guests while preparing something for the inevitable rescue team. For Abhi the hotel manager this isa disruption to the job of his dreams that he rebelled against his military family to have. For Sam an acclaimed war photographer this is placing her too close to the action that she typically prefers to witness not be part of. Abhi decides to keep the guests ion their rooms informed of what is going on but Sam and him bond and both are required to work together to do the right thing.

I thought this was a very impressive novel that manages to bring the familiar danger of an action thriller - brought dramatically and bloodily to life but its also combines a powerful character study of the two leads. Who they are, their flaws and strengths and what this means when they face the ultimate pressure that neither have been seeking. It is a novel that does what I love in great character work make us realise why they act this way and that makes us desperately hope that they succeed but they’re also very much not the ones we tend to think of as a ‘hero’ and their not quite normality makes this really stand out in the thriller genre.

For Sam while we may think a war phototgrapher perhaps is more used to such horrific events we see Sam has over many years been more the witness to them. She very much has in her career avoided taking part, rescuing, aiding and helping those she meets. For her its been creating the perfect shot - often of the dead - sometimes for news agencies to pay her but also for her dramatic art expeditions and its personal meaning to her. This appears ghoulish but in a series of flashbacks Singh unpeels Sam’s character further - we see incidences where she witnessed something so horrific that she pulls back behind her lens to never be that close to anyone again and yet in her present a toxic relationship that constantly drives her to seek solace in her work. She’s very much all about the job and when we see her use the hotel’s wreckage as a photo shoot we think she may be going too far but finding a lost child among the dead brings a unique challenge as she is not whom you’d usually send to care for a child. What I loved was that by the end I did understand and even cared for Sam’s survival even though I found all these offsetting features of her life initially making me find her so reserved. Sam will change in this experience but we are not quite sure how and into what.

If Sam is the cold fire burning away with Abhi it’s a man full of heart. Initialy we think of him as the workaholic even in a crisis putting his guests first as he calls them to warn of attackers on the way but in his series of flashbacks we see a much more complex and warmer individual . Abhi could easily have followed his family into the military and indeed we see he trained in childhood but it’s not quite him. He will fight a gang of bullies in school to defend someone but his experiences of military life as a child and to some extent his hidden sexuality means it didn't really call out to him and his family struggles to accept that. This is a good man doing the best for people even at the expense of his own life or freedom. He becomes the conscience and guardian angel for Sam and the two neatly work together especially when the child is found. To add a further dimension his own lover may be among the guests left behind which puts a desperate spin on Sam’s expeditions into the increasingly dangerous corridors.

Hotel Arcadia is a story about how what we have done in our lives preapres us for the sgtrangets of moments and that informs our later choices. If you’re expecting one liners and elaborate traps you’ll be disappointed but exploring two unique people’s lives and watching how they cope in dire circumstances for me make this a highly immersive story you follow all the way to the end. Strongly recommended!