Just finished reading Hotel Alpha by
The book is narrated between Graham, the concierge of the hotel, and Chas, the blind adopted son of the hotel’s owner. Chas had been blinded by a fire at the hotel, which killed his mother. Howard York, the hotel owner rebuilt the Alpha and adopted Chas.
The book was not what I was expecting. With the blurb on the back telling of “when two mysterious disappearances raise questions that no one seems willing to answer….” I had assumed it would be a mystery adventure. Instead it is more of a drama, which interweaves real people and events with the fictional characters between 1960’s and 2012. Reasons for the disappearances are hinted at as they happen, rather than being mysterious. But the reasons are not what they first appear. Later, new facts emerge to explain the disappearances. And later still, even more new facts compel the disappearances to be re-examined.
An interesting read.
Plot
Howard York – self-made man and founder of London’s extraordinary Hotel Alpha – is one of those people who makes you feel that anything is possible. He is idolized by his blind adopted son, Chas, and Graham, the inimitable concierge, whose lives revolve around the Alpha. But when two mysterious disappearances raise questions that no one seems willing to answer, Chas and Graham must ask themselves whether Howard’s vision of the perfect hotel has been built on secrets as well as dreams . . .
Available from the Big Green Bookshop
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My thanks go to The Big Green Bookshop and especially to Mark Watson, who bought me a copy of his book.