The Island is a thriller that kept me quickly flipping the pages. One of those books where you just sit back and let it happen. Small town girl, Heather Baxter, married Tom, a widowed doctor with two children. They are not very accepting of their step-mother, so when Tom is invited to be the keynote speaker at a conference in Australia, he decides it would be a great family vacation and a way to help his kids get to know Heather. Once they arrive and are touring the outback, the jetlag catches up with them and the kids are not happy. The learn about "Dutch Island" a private island off the coast where they will be able to see lots of wildlife. They take the ferry over, but that turns out to be a big mistake. It turns out that it is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, and they don't want them there. When an accident occurs, they try to cover it up and get off the island, but that proves to be an even bigger mistake. They find themselves in the middle of a nightmare, with Heather and the kids trying to escape their pursuers, and Tom captured by the family. Will anyone make it off the island alive?

As I read this one, I kept thinking of the movie Deliverance and hearing that music in my head. This was definitely a popcorn book with twists, and close calls throughout. I have to say that the spoiled kids at the beginning of the book, turned out to be heroes as the story progresses. There was a lot more to Heather than appeared when this story started. I don't want to say much more about the plot, because that will spoil it for you. Once I started reading this one, I was hooked. I wanted to know what would happen next and ended up staying up way too late to finish. Of course, then I had to try to sleep with visions of the characters in my head. If you enjoy a good thriller, one where you will definitely have to suspend belief, a survivalist story, one where a mother will do whatever it takes to protect her kids (even when they don't like her much), but that will pull you into the story and not let go until the end, then I recommend, The Island by Adrian McKinty.

The Island is a fantastically written novel that draws you in from page 1. The characters are great, and the story moves at a pace that kept me reading until the end. The suspense that Adrian built up in the story was intense, and while this was my first book by him, I quickly read several more.

I enjoyed the fast pace of this book. Unfortunately, I can’t rate it higher because I just couldn’t get invested or find myself caring about the characters. It became more of a “let’s get to the end” type read.

This book is weird, keeps being weird and turns crazy at the end. I am all over the map with how I feel about this one. Did I like it? Maybe sometimes and others absolutely not...

Hmmm…this one just wasn’t quite for me. I actually think it might have worked if it had fully, completely leaned into a satire of the thriller genre because it is so ridiculous and all over the place that I actually at times had to keep asking myself, “are they trying to be scary or is this making fun of the scary parts of thrillers?” The plot lines and characters’ dialogue aren’t consistent either (super formal and uptight one minute and then referencing farts and sharts in the next?). Just not for me but I can see how others might like the intensity and drama of it all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance electronic copy. All opinions are my own.

The Island starts with an American couple on vacation in Australia who travel to a remote island with their two young kids in hopes of spotting some koalas. While on the island, they are involved in a terrible accident and the inhabitants decide to implement their own form of justice. It's more "action" then scary/thriller, but it is certainly entertaining.

Oof. I wanted to love this book, especially because I really liked The Chain by the same author. But it felt like it was trying too hard? It was implausible and bouncing from one weird, "off" thing to another. 3 stars.

When Tom, an orthopedic surgeon, goes to a conference in Australia, he decides to make it a family vacation. His wife had died a year or so ago and he had recently remarried to Heather. There are two children, Olivia and Owen. The children aren't thrilled about Heather and this should be a trip to bring the family together.

While there, the family hears about an island only a mile and a half offshore which is private and has an amazing variety of animals. Since the children want to see native animals, Tom decides the cost to go is worth it, especially when they meet a German couple who agree to split the cost. The six of them head off to the island on a ferry and then they split up, each heading out in their own cars. But something goes terribly wrong. Tom commits an act that puts the family at odds with the strange cultlike family that owns the island. This group are the only inhabitants of the island and they live a life dictated by Ma, the matriarch. The group has its own rules and Tom and Heather are now on the other side of the law.

It's clear that the family wants revenge and soon Heather and the children are being hunted along with the German couple. As they fight capture, burning temperatures, lack of water and dangerous animals, Heather and the children come together to survive until they can be rescued. The family has decided that only death will do for Heather, Tom, the children and the other couple and they hunt them relentlessly. But Heather had grown up in the remote wilderness herself with parents both from the military and she knows a thing or two about survival. Who will win?

This was one of the most heartstopping books I've read. I'm pretty tough but I had to put it down a time or two when the suspense got to be more than I could take. Heather has survival skills few would know about and she manages to keep herself and the children going while bonding with them more than any of them ever expected. Adrian McKinty is an Irish author who also lived for a while in Australia so the environment rings true. He is known for his Sean Duffy series about a Protestant detective working in Northern Ireland and his standalone hit, The Chain. He has won numerous awards in the mystery genre and this book is recommended for mystery and thriller readers.

This book was so good. There were parts in the book I had to get up and check my doors and windows to make sure they were locked! And books usually don't spook me. It was a great storyline. I liked the characters even though I wanted to strangle some. LOL I would definitely recommend this book.

A fast paced novel that keeps you on your toes with the twists and turns you never expect coming! An instant 5 star review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free copy of The Island by Adrian McKinty in exchange for my honest review.

Five stars all around!! This suspense was so fast paced and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time!!

I absolutely loves this one. It kept you on your toes. I couldn't wait to see what happened next to the family
I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars

Reading challenge category: 2022 52 Book Club: set on at least two continents (North America and Australia)

I read McKinty's book "The Chain" and wasn't a huge fan, not sure why I thought this would be any different.

Everything in this book felt unbelievable. Like, if you set the plot of a horror b-movie on a remote Austrlian island, that would be this book. Then, the author uses pretentious language throughout that, by definition, fits, but not in context (ex: use of the words 'equipoise,' 'antecedent,' etc).

It was slightly more developed than the 1-star books I have read (those I find truly offensive, should never be read by anyone, a complete waste of time...) but barely.

This was a #netgalley ARC I didn't get around to when it was an advance copy; now I feel less guilty having read it a year and a half late.

Fast-paced, suspenseful, riveting, survival-that's really all I can say about this book. I could not put it down, and while I wanted to know what was going to happen, I also didn't want it to end!

A complete disaster for me. ended up DNFing. It all just wasn’t believable and a massive let down for me as this was a most anticipated read for me

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of "The Island" audiobook. It was thrilling, but not as riveting as "The Chain." Seemed to drag on.

So, this was guilty pleasure enjoyment at its best. I loved the fast paced action of it, but didn’t really care what happened to the characters. I feel like this would be a great movie.

This book pulled me in from just the introduction alone! How could I possibly stop reading after a machete is mentioned? Impossible! There is just so much pulse pounding action all through out that it made it so easy to binge read. After i finished, I thought it would make a great movie and to my surprise it’s getting adapted! So exciting. 10/10 recommend giving this book a read.

I enjoyed this so much more than Adrian's other book, The Chain. The mystery in this was much more intriguing and the motivations made more sense.

Middle-aged widower Dr. Tom Baxter, his new young wife, 24-year old massage therapist Heather, and his two children, 14-year-old Olivia and 12-year-old Owen, decamp from Seattle to Australia... and that's when the trouble starts.

I was on the fence about reading this one, based on the description it seemed more like one of those generic "woman in peril" books that have become such an over saturated subgenre in recent years.  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against a well-written "woman in peril" book, but when a trend hits its peak there tends to be a lot of poor imitators with weak, simplistic plots and one dimensional characters.

The good news is that The Island by Adrian McKinty isn't weak or simplistic; the main characters are pretty well developed and the story has substance to it. The bad news is that I didn't really like it all that much. The author does such a great job of presenting the dreary dynamic of this new family group, flaws and all, that by the time the story starts to turn it's hard to like any of them very much.

This isn't the most original story you'll ever read - it has aspects of The Most Dangerous Game, Deliverance, and countless others - but, at the same time, it does put its own original spin on things. My only issue plot-wise is that the ending seems a little rushed.

It wasn't for me but it's well-written and has one or two decent plot twists.