I really enjoyed this story.
If you like fast paced, nail biting, life or death, all or nothing, survival thrillers, this is for you.

While on vacation with her new husband and two step children, Heather and family decide to go on a small island to see kolas in Australia. After an unfortunate incident, and things turn from bad to worse, Heather has to use her knowledge from growing up with two war vets as parents, to help her get her family to safety.

I could not put this down. I can’t wait to go out and buy a physical copy.

It took me a minute to get into this book. I actually thought about giving up on it and trying to read it later. I decided to just push through, and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed the book. The story itself was interesting. I can't even imagine being stuck on an island and having a crazy family trying to hunt you down. 

I thought Heather was such a strong, kick ass female. She had a lot of fight in her. The Island family though, they were crazy. I could just picture them cooped up in their home. They drove me nuts but I liked getting their take on the story. They were such awful characters. For some reason I sometimes found myself liking Matt and I'd get mad at myself for it. 

I saw it is going to be a Hulu series. I am looking forward to that! I can't wait to see if the characters match what I was thinking. Special thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'll update and share my link to bookstagram when I post.

The first few chapters are slow, but after that the action really picks up and keeps going!
I thought it was exciting and action packed and would make a great movie. Heather was a surprising character as she really steps up and takes charge of the situation on Dutch Island. The O'Neill family lives on the island and, after an unfortunate accident, want revenge in an eye for an eye sort of way. They are a creepy and barbaric family, to say the least.
This is a good, suspenseful novel that will keep you intrigued!

▪️REVIEW▪️

The Island ~ Adrian McKinty

READ IF:
* You have dreams of traveling to the Australian outback.
* You’re curious how a Porsche snorkel works.
* Family vacations are where some of your favorite memories are from.

SUMMARY: Tom Baxter and new wife Heather head to Australia, his kids in tow, for a medical conference and while keen on making this an amazing family vacation, not everyone is feeling the vibes.

A trip to Dutch Island is just what this family needs to get into vacation mode but a horrible accident sends them into survival mode instead. Heather is left to save herself and the kids and her only solution is to find a way to get them off the island.

REVIEW: Saddle up folks because you will need a lot of suspension of disbelief to get through this one. The characters take on full Bear Grylls survival tactics to handle the mishaps on this island which good for them but I couldn’t help but repeatedly shake my head, like huh? Heather is a massage therapist - target practice in between massages? I think not.

Points for a cool setting and short chapters to keep the story moving along but it wasn’t enough for me to buy this as even remotely believable. This is getting rave reviews so be sure to check others out before passing this one up. Might be for total win for you but left a bit to be desired for me.

This has the potential to be a great read with a little more work. I really liked the storyline but feel the characters fell a little flat.

The story was intriguing, action packed and definitely a page turner. Character development could've been a little better. It well wrote. Not a whole of twists. Kinda scary and heart pounding. Loved the ending.

Widowed Dr. Baxter marries a much younger woman, Heather. He decides to take Heather and his 2 children on a working vacation in Australia. Heather is very aware that her stepchildren, a 14 year old daughter and 12 year old son. The kids are restless and desperately want to see koalas and have an adventure. They meet a couple questionable men that tell them there are koalas on the island they live on, Dutch Island. Along with another couple they set out excited to explore the island. Given strict orders on where they should go and be back on time to take the barge back over. A tragic accident occurs and the vacation turns into a nightmare. Fearing for their lives, 6 people must work together to get off Dutch Island alive.

Told from Heather's point of view, this book was full of action after the first few chapters. There is alot of violence in this book. Is it believable, no but it did hold my interest.

Trigger warnings: animal killings and attempted sexual assault.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown and Company for an advanced ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was FANTASTIC! I'm talking edge of your seat, stress at an all time high, couldn't flip the pages fast enough, unputdownable fantastic!

Heather is only 24 years old, but when she marries an older man, she is instantly thrown into motherhood as he has two adolescent children from his first marriage. The family decides to accompany Tom on a work trip to Australia so they can take in the sights and spend some quality time together. When they persuade a local to bring them to a secluded island to check out the wildlife, the family is in for much more than they bargained for when they accidentally hit and kill one of the locals. The family quickly realizes the island's inhabitants are now out for revenge and don't intend to allow them to leave.

This book gave me so much anxiety and I say that in the best way. I didn't find it super predictable which I loved and there were some twists I definitely didn't see coming. Heather, though nothing like me at all, felt relatable and it was easy to connect to her character. I loved the relationship she built with the kids and the transformation they made throughout the book from being spoiled brats to becoming more kind, self-sufficient and respectful.

McKinty's writing was superb in this novel. I could envision the island perfectly and the book played out like a movie in my mind. It was an intense, quick read and would definitely translate well to the big screen.

I did find the first 15% or so a bit slow but once the family went to the island, the pace quickened and didn't let up!

If you enjoyed The Chain, you cannot miss this one!

Thank you to Little Brown and NetGalley for a copy of this excellent novel.

This was not the book for me. I found the dialog to be painful, the storyline too preposterous, and the characters actions were so uncomfortable and unfathomable. I truly wanted to love it since I saw all the great reviews, but I just couldn't get there. I have no doubt that this would make a great adaptation for a movie/television...but I just hope the dialog and interactions between the characters becomes more genuine.

4 stars. Read this in 24 hours. Fast paced with some suspense and kept me on the edge of my seat. Would definitely read more by this author!

Copied in my feature I put on my Instagram. Due to animal cruelty mentions I decided not to read sorry. I am trying to avoid reading about that at this time due to mental health. If I knew it was a trigger I wouldn't have requested. My apologies again.

Ugh what a Monday. I’m exhausted, but not too busy to thank @novelsuspects and @littlebrown for this amazing book!

Synopsis: 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.

Sounds good right? This one publishes tomorrow!

3.5 ⭐️ Rounded to 4

I enjoyed the overall idea of the book and the thriller/mystery involved in The Island (originally titled The Chase for the ARC).

The story is interesting and fast paced. I just struggled with a bit of the story line. I wanted to know more about the family on the island, why they choose to kill people and the monster that is mentioned. I also felt that Heather, the main character wasn’t completely developed and we found things out about her as the book went along that we should have learned about earlier.

Overall the book was good. I just felt the story could have been developed a bit better!

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Tom, Heather and their two children are visiting Australia as a part of a business trip. Desperate to see some native wildlife, the family of four decide to take an off-the-beaten-path tour of an island off the coast. Upon arrival, things quickly go pear-shaped as the foursome find themselves on the run from the island’s armed inhabitants.

I feel like I am taking crazy pills. People are absolutely raving about this one and I just found it.. OK? I mean, this is average stuff bordering on the completely ridiculous – like a computer algorithm wrote a screenplay after having been fed a dozen Liam Neeson action movies. That isn’t to say that it doesn’t succeed in its goal of being a balls-to-the-wall thriller, but this stuff just isn’t for me. I found much of the action too over-the-top, the characters aggressively stupid and annoying with a plot that is certainly predictable to an extent.

I found the novel’s main character of Heather often grated on me. She seemed to constantly jump to conclusions and discover things that I found completely unreasonable based on what she knew and when she knew it. There is a subplot that is revealed later in the novel that has her performing mental gymnastics to justify the reasoning behind her thoughts and actions to the point where I threw up my hands and just said “screw it.”

There is nothing wrong with consuming popcorn fiction whether it is in a book or on the big screen, but I couldn’t really find anything in this one to justify a positive review. This is my second experience with McKinty, and while I thought The Chain was a bit better, I did notice a pattern to his plot pacing in both books. I do not think he is a bad writer in the least, just isn’t putting out work that fits within my wheelhouse.

*It was just suppose 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.*

I read this book in just a couple sitting! If you’re looking for an intense, edge of your seat story that will have you turning the pages so fast, needing to know what’s going to happen next-than this books for you!
I went into this one pretty much blind so I was pleasantly surprised with the quick pace and bad ass main character.

Definitely recommend you pick this one up!

Omg this is a story that leads one thing to another. A dream trip gone wrong. What to do to save a family. A heart wrenching scary twisty tale of suspense and survival.

And Alexander thought he was having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?!



In the digital advance readers copy, the working title is "The Chase" which sums up the majority of this survival thriller with "Deliverance"-like vibes and "Lost"-like Aboriginal mythology. Fans of both should love this story.

It begins with a cliffhanger scene on THE ISLAND before going back to events leading up to that moment (at the 63% mark).

We readers are introduced to an American family visiting Down Under: an older surgeon newly married to his young second wife (which sounds like Australian Sally Hepworth's most recent novel), his 14-year-old daughter on Lexapro and 12-year-old, walled-off son on Ritalin.

"It's Australia. Like Disney World but better. Everything magic. The animals. The people. The landscape. The accents. A complete escape."

Or so they think, before paying a private ferry operator to shuttle them and a German Dutch couple they meet to an isolated island off the Victoria coast where they're involved in a deadly accident* that treads (npi) into "The Husband's Secret" (also Australian) territory.

The travelers make to get off of THE ISLAND, but are captured by a matriarchal clan of settlers seeking retribution and to get rich or die tryin'.

Then, it becomes "Yanks" versus "Krauts" versus "Mad Max psycho-killers."

The conflict among them isn't *Lost* on readers familiar with the Black War (the Black Line figuring into the story). Same for the Dreaming, conjured by *The Younger Wife*. She becomes a mama bear hellbent on protecting "her" cubs from the bunyip.

"There were no monsters on Dutch Island, but the beast was man, had always been man."

The twist all but appears in boldface type before it occurs, and the turn is apparent from the start, but this tale that's meant for sheer entertainment (although, the curious reader might fall down the rabbit hole googling) essentially boils down to finding one's grit.

⛴🚲🏎🦟🐨🪱🍑⛰🪞🛢🔫🌝

tl;dr: The author of the standalone "The Chain" delivers another kidnapping nerve-shredder. "The Island" to "The Chain" is like "Hairpin Bridge" to "No Exit": an amped-up, high-octane thrill with a badass heroine.

🎶 One can create a playlist from the recording artists mentioned in the story: Mazzy Star (Into Dust) • Sex Pistols • The Damned • The Clash • The Beatles (Hey Jude; The White Album; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) • The Rolling Stones • The Who • The Kinks • Joy Division (Day of the Lords) • Nicki Minaj (Pink Friday) • Greta Van Fleet • Tame Impala • Lana Del Ray • The Pixies (Gouge Away)

Perhaps that'll be the soundtrack for the upcoming screen adaptation.

---
*There are times that the reader has to remember that truth is stranger than fiction (or be told it: "This very situation had happened to Thomas Edison in Germany").

TW: attempted rape; snake stoned to death (and eaten); four hound dogs shot to death

May the finished copy not have (1) Matt taking off his hat twice (there's no mention in between of his having put it back on) and (2) a duplicate Chapter 49.

Thank you to Little, Brown and NetGalley for the DARC

Tom (father), Heather (step-mom), Olivia (14) and Owen (12) embark on a trip to Australia together. The kids have been having a tough time since their mother died a year ago, and now they have a new step-mom trying to fill her shoes
Not all hero’s wear capes
And not all protectors are blood related

One of the best books I've ever read. As much as I liked The Chain, I liked this ten times more. I cannot wait for future books from this author.

Great story, great characters, great book.

Highly recommend.

Heart racing, palms sweating....am I in love or just scared?

Talk about a wild ride, this book really took me for it. I read 28 pages one day and the rest the following day. I went in blind and I feel like that's the best way to do this read. The tension and suspense was brutal at times!

A family vacation to Australia isn't all it's cracked up to be for the Baxter family. What should be a healing trip to close wounds ends up ripping them open more until they need each other.

That's it. I can't say anymore. Just trust me, if you like horror/thriller then you should pick this one up!

Thank you to @novelsuspects, @littlebrown, Adrian McKinty for the review copy!

Read this book in less than a day. Very fast paced, will hold your attention from the start. Plot got a little hard to follow towards the end. Really enjoyed the glimpses into other minor character’s pasts.