A combination of Deliverance and Survivor set in Australia, The Island is a brilliantly deranged tale of fear, family and persistent resistance. Adrian McKinty has delivered another psychological thriller that puts parents in impossibly terrifying situations to see how they would react when the lives of their young children hang in the balance.
Tom is a renowned surgeon who’s invited to speak at a medical conference in Australia and decides to bring his kids and new wife Heather along for a family vacation, hoping quality time together will help the kids warm up to his second wife after the tragic death of their mother. During their travels before his big keynote speech, they take what’s supposed to be a quick sightseeing trip to secretive Dutch Island, only to end up in the middle of a heartbreaking accident. Finding themselves trapped and at the mercy of a secluded, closely-knit local family, they must first bargain for then fight for their lives in an unfamiliar and harsh land. Despite incredibly long odds and step-children who don’t trust her, Heather must summon the courage, cunning and survivalist skills necessary to outwit, outplay and outlast those who will stop at nothing to keep her from ever leaving The Island.
As a big fan of Adrian McKinty’s last book, The Chain, I was eagerly awaiting this hotly anticipated novel. And it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it’s another banger of a thriller. An exhilarating and dire “us vs. them” scenario with seemingly no way out but through the danger. The skills that Heather must bring to bear against the island’s inhabitants are impressive, showing that individuals are capable of great feats when their backs are up against the wall. And the family she is battling…oh boy! They are unscrupulous, mysterious and possibly inbred. Definitely gave me flashbacks to the movie Deliverance. All that was missing was the banjo.
The Island is a fast-paced, fucked-up novel for fans of suspense, horror and witnessing people out of their element adapt and overcome the odds. Adrian McKinty has a second straight hit on his hands and thriller fans are the great beneficiaries.
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