Hotel Alpha

Absolutely loved this book! Could visualise all the characters clearly, and the story was quietly gripping, always leaving you curious as to how everyone's situations would end up. Loved how certain real events were interwoven into the story and the way in which one of the characters had to reluctantly cope with the changes in their ordered life, brought about by various factors as the years go by. I find Mark Watson a very engaging personality and a great performer but had never realised what a brilliant writer he is. His other books are lined up in my wish list and I can't wait to start the next one!

This is Mark Watson's third, and best, novel, coming after Eleven and The Knot. Spanning an ambitious time period, Mark uses his usual warmth, humour and attention to the liitle quirks and details that really help define a character to show us life at the titular hotel through the eyes of Graham, the conscientious, professional yet unadventurous concierge, and Chas, the blind adopted son of the hotel's enigmatic owner Howard York. As times, technology and the clientelle change, so do the relationships between the main characters, and this web of secrets, mysteries and resolutions play out very well.There is a lot to admire here - an early moral decision by two of the characters grabbed me straight away and left me wondering throughout the book what I would have done in their place, especially as more information on ithat choice is gradually filtered through to us. The decision to include real-life global events pays off well, the hotel itself is a fully-formed character and the description of the way that the changing technology impacts on one character makes me feel slighly hostile towards my computer as I type this review! The era-specific pop-culture references also help flesh out the narrative - I'd completely forgotten that Friends Reunited was ever a 'thing', for example!I am yet to read the bonus 100 stories of different hotel guests which can be found on the internet, but it's a great idea. Hotel Alpha is engaging, compassionate and real: another triumph for a talented author.

Have just read Hotel Alpha with my book club and then was lucky enough to enjoy a talk from Mark Watson as part of Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival this week (I believe Mark became an honorary member just for the night!).I was captivated by the wonderful characters in this book - not just the people but I got a real sense of the Hotel as a living being too. I feel like I have stayed here and would love to see this made into a film/TV series.It's a shame to give too much away about the plot and, although not gripping in everyone's sense of the word, I loved the way that everything wove together. That alone kept me turning the pages.Many themes are covered and for me what stood out was the piece about "connection" and how the world has become a much smaller place over the last few decades due to the internet.I did wonder if the book would have a comedic slant to it but far from it - a really well observed, serious piece of fiction which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

I thought the premise of the book was very clever Who hasn’t stayed in a Hotel 🏨 and imagined what the lives of the other guests and staff may be like ?Nice interweaving of real events & people with the fictional characters between 1960s and 2012

Not my usual type of book, made a very pleasant change. Good to read something well written that does not depend on excessive use of expletives. An intriguing read.

I loved this book. I have read all of Mark Watson's previous books and enjoyed them too, but this is my new favourite. It is beautifully written and totally convincing. I loved the two main characters, with their alternating perspectives. I found the delineation of their life stories - and the stoy of the Hotel itself - through changing times fascinating and I particularly liked the treatment of real historical events within the narrative.Having finished the novel (I devoured it quite quickly, sitting in the sun in my back garden), I am only part way through the 100 additional stories accessible via the website, which I am also greatly enjoying (only wish they were downloadable to my kindle as I can't see my computer screen out in the sunshine!)

Really enjoyed this book, mind you I love this author. Nice idea .now on to another of his books.

I read this book for my book club as Mark Watson was promoting it at the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival and had no idea what to expect.Hotel Alpha is a richly written book with plenty of fascinating characters which gave us lots to talk about. His descriptions are so vivid that you get totally drawn in to the story and feel like you are actually in the hotel.Mark Watson has also written 100 additional short stories which expand the story of the hotel and lesser characters in the book - they are available free online on his website - a bit like extras on a DVD - which is a cool idea.