Book review: Terror that threatens to unravel it all

Ellie Levenson has created an eminently relatable protagonist and the narrative is full of action, tension, drama, all wrapped around what is essentially a love story

Ellie Levenson’s debut novel is rich in tension and drama; she builds suspense but doesn’t overdo it.

• Room 706 
• Ellie Levenson 
• Headline Review, €15.99 

Room 706 is journalist Ellie Levenson’s debut novel. The scene is firmly set in the opening chapter. Kate is luxuriating in a hotel room after a meet-up with her married lover James. 

These hook-ups are a regular occurrence and have been going on for a while — every few months for the past six years. And nobody knows.

We get a little background of the affair and Kate’s home life while she waits for James to finish his post-coital shower, and then Kate is snapped into reality by breaking news on the hotel TV.

Chapter 2 shifts back to earlier that morning, with Kate getting her young children ready for school and the humdrum of family life. 

Shopping lists, school lunches, playdates, emptying the dishwasher. Every mum will be all too familiar with this daily overwhelm of running a household.

Kate’s life sounds hectic but loving. Her relationship with her husband Vic and their children appears, dare I say, “normal”.

Back in room 706, the full scope of what’s happening is becoming apparent. Kate and James’ London hotel has been taken over by terrorists and all occupants are now technically hostages. Will their secret be thrust into the open?

The story jumps between real-time in the hotel room, Kate’s life with Vic, their early life together, her initial meeting with James and their past meetings. 

With these different viewpoints, we see how she has ended up in room 706. This isn’t a one-dimensional cheating story. No doubt, many women reading this book will understand Kate’s choices.

That’s because Levenson builds out Kate’s character nicely. An only child to a single mom, Kate grew up with an intensely close bond with her mother. 

After her mother’s untimely death in a road accident, Kate is alone — aside from her childhood friend Eve. It’s at this juncture in her life that she meets Vic when she goes to Rome for a few months to study.

As Kate and James sit in silence in their room, hoping they go undetected by the terror group, Kate looks back on her relationship with Vic. 

From their time in Rome to their early life together and to becoming parents, Kate reminisces on the challenges they’ve had and the connection they share.

She’s devoted to Vic, but there are obvious annoyances too: He takes her for granted, his mental health issues lead Kate to protect him from daily burdens, he doesn’t rock her world sexually in the way that James does.

We spend the book wondering if Kate and James will be discovered. As the siege continues, news is scarce, meaning we never really know what’s happening outside room 706.

Inside the room, Kate and James cope in their own ways — Kate writes to her children and her husband, she organises their shopping lists and schedules reminders so that Vic can manage if the worst happens. 

She also has imaginary conversations with her mother and Eve, turning to them for advice.

Levenson builds suspense but doesn’t overdo it. We get snippets of the activity in the hotel, which ramp up the tension, but the book is focused on Kate — her relationships and the inner workings of her brain. 

The ending is delightfully ambiguous. Will they be discovered? Will Kate continue to see James, or will she realise that what she has with Vic is enough?

This is a real page-turner of a book. In Kate, Levenson has created an eminently relatable protagonist and the narrative is full of action, tension, drama, all wrapped around what is essentially a love story.

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