The Island
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Chain comes a pulse-pounding thriller about a family that must face their darkest fears--and deepest secrets--when they go on the run for their lives.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A NEW YORK TIMES "BEST THRILLER OF 2022" "Unrelenting suspense." --Stephen King "Extraordinary." --T. J. Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Falling "You'll never go on vacation the same way again." --Don Winslow, New York Times bestselling author of City On Fire IT WAS JUST SUPPOSED TO BE A FAMILY VACATION.A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT CHANGED EVERYTHING.
YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE CAPABLE OF UNTIL THEY COME FOR YOUR FAMILY. After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. A working vacation overseas seems like the perfect way to bring the new family together, but once they're deep in the Australian outback, the jet-lagged and exhausted kids are so over their new mom. When they discover remote Dutch Island, off-limits to outside visitors, the family talks their way onto the ferry, taking a chance on an adventure far from the reach of iPhones and Instagram. But as soon as they set foot on the island, which is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, everything feels wrong. Then a shocking accident propels the Baxters from an unsettling situation into an absolute nightmare. When Heather and the kids are separated from Tom, they are forced to escape alone, seconds ahead of their pursuers. Now it's up to Heather to save herself and the kids, even though they don't trust her, the harsh bushland is filled with danger, and the locals want her dead. Heather has been underestimated her entire life, but she knows that only she can bring her family home again and become the mother the children desperately need, even if it means doing the unthinkable to keep them all alive. SOON TO BE A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES "Gripping and unpredictable. No one does high-stakes tension like McKinty . . . Prepare to be hooked." --Sarah Pearse "A haunting masterpiece." --Steve Cavanagh "McKinty has written another irresistible and pulse-pounding thriller about the surprising places evil hides and just how far we'll go for those we love." --Karin Slaughter
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Community Reviews
At the center of The Island, by Adrian McKinty, is a strong female protagonist, Heather Baxter. It is a story about her imperiled family that she must summon the courage to save.
As the story opens, Heather Baxter has snagged a "trophy husband," according to her friend, Carolyn. Tom, her forty-four-year-old new husband, is a successful orthopedic surgeon -- one of "Seattle's Best Doctors" -- who has been invited to speak at a conference in Australia, so they decide to combine his business trip with a much-needed family vacation. Tom's two children, twelve-year-old Owen, and Oliva, who is fourteen, are reeling from a whirlwind of life changes. Their mother, Judith, suffered from multiple sclerosis, and died when she lost her balance and fell down the stairs in their home. Since then, Owen has been withdrawn, while Olivia has acted out. Tom is anxious for the children to accept Heather who, at only twenty-four, met Tom when she was a massage therapist and he became her client. Despite her lack of parenting experience, he has already relegated to her nearly full responsibility for caring for Owen and Olivia. Exhausted, Heather is determined to win the children over and make the marriage work because she genuinely loves Tom, "despite all his little quirks and weirdnesses," and because he is becoming less condescending in an effort to "be a better man."
Still, his sense of entitlement is on full display when he is unable to rent the vehicle of his choice after he reluctantly agrees to take a drive into the Australian countryside. The children are bored and complain when they fail to spot any koalas or kangaroos in the wild. As the day heats up to 106 degrees and the road narrows to a single lane, they happen upon a food stand. Two men arrive and hear the children griping, so offer to show them the koala caged in the back of their car. Matt and Jacko explain that they live on a private island just across the bay populated by koala, wallabies echidnas, and wombats. "It's like Jurassic bloody Park, mate." Dutch Island is owned by their Ma, who doesn't like visitors. But Tom figures that money might persuade the brothers to let his family take a drive around the island. They strike a deal, but the brothers insist that the visit be short and the Baxters must return on the ferry after taking a few photos. They explain that on the island they "make our own electricity. Grow our own food. No phones. No taxes No law enforcement." From 1910 to the 1980's, the island housed a prison with the correctional agency paying rent to the family. The inmates are all gone, but a few of the old buildings remain. Now the only inhabitants are the twenty-seven or so members of the O'Neill family. Those details should be enough to dissuade the Baxters. Instead, along with the tourists from Holland, Hans and Petra, they also met at the food stand, they embark. As the ferry chugs closer to the shore of the island, Heather grows increasingly wary, but it is too late to turn back so the family sets out to sightsee, not realizing how much they will soon regret making the trip.
McKinty next asks readers to ponder what they would do if they were involved in an accident that brought about a stranger's death. Once they arrive on the island, Tom is determined to get what he paid for. When they encounter an old man who questions what they are doing on the island and warns them to leave immediately, Tom accelerates the rental Porsche just as a woman riding a bicycle appears from a side road. Heather desperately wishes that Tom had agreed to rent the Porsche equipped with radar and an accident-avoidance system. But he didn't. The car strikes the woman, killing her, and Tom is dazed momentarily before he flies into a rage that Heather has only observed on a couple of prior occasions. There is, of course, no cell service on the island. so no way to summon the authorities. All of Heather's instincts tell her that they must hide the woman's mangled body and bicycle in the grass, race to the ferry, and escape the island as quickly as possible. They can call the authorities from the mainland, explaining that they think they hit an animal. But the Porsche sustained noticeable damage and the O'Neill family discovers the body before the ferry leaves the island. The Baxters are informed that the woman, who was plainly oblivious to the danger when she rode her bicycle in front of the Porsche, was deaf. They are marched at gunpoint to a farmhouse where they meet Ma, and Tom attempts to negotiate his family's freedom.
And that's when McKinty's story begins careening at an unrelenting pace. The Baxters quickly find that they are among a family, led by the diabolical Ma, that lives on a remote island because they refuse to subscribe to the rules that govern the lives of other people. The only laws enforced on the island are the ones laid down by Ma, and she believes in "an eye for an eye," so Tom's privilege is of no use to him. No promises of insurance proceeds or cash payouts will dissuade Ma from extracting what she craves: revenge. And thus begins a harrowing series of graphically-described skirmishes, as it falls to Heather to find a way off the island with Olivia and Owen in tow.
Heather grew up on tiny Goose Island in Puget Sound where she was homeschooled, but never graduated from high school. Her parents both served in the U.S. Army and moved to the island, a communal artists' colony founded in the 1970's that attracted veterans suffering, like her father, who served as a sniper, from PTSD. She left for Seattle with a need to see more of the world, and tried her hand at a number of jobs, was homeless for a bit, and eventually, with the help of a friend, became a massage therapist. She was drawn to Tom because he was an older professional man who offered stability and safety. But she never wanted to be a stepmother. In fact, she had never really contemplated motherhood at all. Now two bad decisions make her the only person capable of getting Owen and Olivia off the island alive.
As the story proceeds, McKinty reveals more details not just about how Heather learned about nature and survival growing up on the island, but also about her relationship with Tom and his past, all at perfectly-timed junctures. Tom's true nature is disclosed as Heather begins to realize her own strength and power. In quiet moments, she acknowledges, as she surveys the past few years of her life, that she has been willing to settle for less than she deserves. And resolves never to do that again . . . if she survives. As she finds ingenious ways to evade being captured by the deranged O'Neill clan, she and the children also draw closer, learning to trust each other. Their lives depend on that trust. And those tender moments provide brief respites from McKinty's spellbinding and unwaveringly tense saga, and permit readers to invest in Heather, Owen, and Olivia, each of whom is a compelling and sympathetic character for whose welfare readers will find themselves cheering.
Armed with only a penknife an Aboriginal man she encountered on the mainland gifted her, Heather devises increasingly innovative and deceptive ways to hide from the O'Neills as they tenaciously search for her and the children with dogs and jeeps. She hopes that someone from the mainland might arrive to help and knows that is highly unlikely, so it is up to her to find a way to safety. But can she doe so before time runs out?
McKinty's narrative is gritty, violent, and not for squeamish readers. The sadistic O'Neills use any means available to them, including knives, guns, and even pathfinder ants, to track their prey and punish the ones they capture. McKinty maintains the dramatic tension and suspense throughout the book, keeping readers guessing until the very end who will prevail in an epic battle of wits and strength, as well as how they will manage to claim victory. The Island is an inventive, absorbing, and very entertaining, if exhausting, tale.
Thanks to Net Galley for an Advance Reader's Copy and Novel Suspects Insider's Club for a hardback copy of the book.
As the story opens, Heather Baxter has snagged a "trophy husband," according to her friend, Carolyn. Tom, her forty-four-year-old new husband, is a successful orthopedic surgeon -- one of "Seattle's Best Doctors" -- who has been invited to speak at a conference in Australia, so they decide to combine his business trip with a much-needed family vacation. Tom's two children, twelve-year-old Owen, and Oliva, who is fourteen, are reeling from a whirlwind of life changes. Their mother, Judith, suffered from multiple sclerosis, and died when she lost her balance and fell down the stairs in their home. Since then, Owen has been withdrawn, while Olivia has acted out. Tom is anxious for the children to accept Heather who, at only twenty-four, met Tom when she was a massage therapist and he became her client. Despite her lack of parenting experience, he has already relegated to her nearly full responsibility for caring for Owen and Olivia. Exhausted, Heather is determined to win the children over and make the marriage work because she genuinely loves Tom, "despite all his little quirks and weirdnesses," and because he is becoming less condescending in an effort to "be a better man."
Still, his sense of entitlement is on full display when he is unable to rent the vehicle of his choice after he reluctantly agrees to take a drive into the Australian countryside. The children are bored and complain when they fail to spot any koalas or kangaroos in the wild. As the day heats up to 106 degrees and the road narrows to a single lane, they happen upon a food stand. Two men arrive and hear the children griping, so offer to show them the koala caged in the back of their car. Matt and Jacko explain that they live on a private island just across the bay populated by koala, wallabies echidnas, and wombats. "It's like Jurassic bloody Park, mate." Dutch Island is owned by their Ma, who doesn't like visitors. But Tom figures that money might persuade the brothers to let his family take a drive around the island. They strike a deal, but the brothers insist that the visit be short and the Baxters must return on the ferry after taking a few photos. They explain that on the island they "make our own electricity. Grow our own food. No phones. No taxes No law enforcement." From 1910 to the 1980's, the island housed a prison with the correctional agency paying rent to the family. The inmates are all gone, but a few of the old buildings remain. Now the only inhabitants are the twenty-seven or so members of the O'Neill family. Those details should be enough to dissuade the Baxters. Instead, along with the tourists from Holland, Hans and Petra, they also met at the food stand, they embark. As the ferry chugs closer to the shore of the island, Heather grows increasingly wary, but it is too late to turn back so the family sets out to sightsee, not realizing how much they will soon regret making the trip.
McKinty next asks readers to ponder what they would do if they were involved in an accident that brought about a stranger's death. Once they arrive on the island, Tom is determined to get what he paid for. When they encounter an old man who questions what they are doing on the island and warns them to leave immediately, Tom accelerates the rental Porsche just as a woman riding a bicycle appears from a side road. Heather desperately wishes that Tom had agreed to rent the Porsche equipped with radar and an accident-avoidance system. But he didn't. The car strikes the woman, killing her, and Tom is dazed momentarily before he flies into a rage that Heather has only observed on a couple of prior occasions. There is, of course, no cell service on the island. so no way to summon the authorities. All of Heather's instincts tell her that they must hide the woman's mangled body and bicycle in the grass, race to the ferry, and escape the island as quickly as possible. They can call the authorities from the mainland, explaining that they think they hit an animal. But the Porsche sustained noticeable damage and the O'Neill family discovers the body before the ferry leaves the island. The Baxters are informed that the woman, who was plainly oblivious to the danger when she rode her bicycle in front of the Porsche, was deaf. They are marched at gunpoint to a farmhouse where they meet Ma, and Tom attempts to negotiate his family's freedom.
And that's when McKinty's story begins careening at an unrelenting pace. The Baxters quickly find that they are among a family, led by the diabolical Ma, that lives on a remote island because they refuse to subscribe to the rules that govern the lives of other people. The only laws enforced on the island are the ones laid down by Ma, and she believes in "an eye for an eye," so Tom's privilege is of no use to him. No promises of insurance proceeds or cash payouts will dissuade Ma from extracting what she craves: revenge. And thus begins a harrowing series of graphically-described skirmishes, as it falls to Heather to find a way off the island with Olivia and Owen in tow.
Heather grew up on tiny Goose Island in Puget Sound where she was homeschooled, but never graduated from high school. Her parents both served in the U.S. Army and moved to the island, a communal artists' colony founded in the 1970's that attracted veterans suffering, like her father, who served as a sniper, from PTSD. She left for Seattle with a need to see more of the world, and tried her hand at a number of jobs, was homeless for a bit, and eventually, with the help of a friend, became a massage therapist. She was drawn to Tom because he was an older professional man who offered stability and safety. But she never wanted to be a stepmother. In fact, she had never really contemplated motherhood at all. Now two bad decisions make her the only person capable of getting Owen and Olivia off the island alive.
As the story proceeds, McKinty reveals more details not just about how Heather learned about nature and survival growing up on the island, but also about her relationship with Tom and his past, all at perfectly-timed junctures. Tom's true nature is disclosed as Heather begins to realize her own strength and power. In quiet moments, she acknowledges, as she surveys the past few years of her life, that she has been willing to settle for less than she deserves. And resolves never to do that again . . . if she survives. As she finds ingenious ways to evade being captured by the deranged O'Neill clan, she and the children also draw closer, learning to trust each other. Their lives depend on that trust. And those tender moments provide brief respites from McKinty's spellbinding and unwaveringly tense saga, and permit readers to invest in Heather, Owen, and Olivia, each of whom is a compelling and sympathetic character for whose welfare readers will find themselves cheering.
Armed with only a penknife an Aboriginal man she encountered on the mainland gifted her, Heather devises increasingly innovative and deceptive ways to hide from the O'Neills as they tenaciously search for her and the children with dogs and jeeps. She hopes that someone from the mainland might arrive to help and knows that is highly unlikely, so it is up to her to find a way to safety. But can she doe so before time runs out?
McKinty's narrative is gritty, violent, and not for squeamish readers. The sadistic O'Neills use any means available to them, including knives, guns, and even pathfinder ants, to track their prey and punish the ones they capture. McKinty maintains the dramatic tension and suspense throughout the book, keeping readers guessing until the very end who will prevail in an epic battle of wits and strength, as well as how they will manage to claim victory. The Island is an inventive, absorbing, and very entertaining, if exhausting, tale.
Thanks to Net Galley for an Advance Reader's Copy and Novel Suspects Insider's Club for a hardback copy of the book.
My fave book of 2023 - utterly brilliant… felt it had a lost/wrong turn vibe/feel to it… read it within 2-3 days, suspense, twists, turns, just epic - I couldn’t put it down! xx
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