This was a fast-paced thriller filled with a lot of action. However, the whole story felt over the top and unbelievable. None of the characters were particularly likeable which made it hard for me to connect with or root for them. The middle section of the story seemed drawn out and repetitive and the few twists felt pretty obvious. Overall, just wasn’t for me.

This author’s previous book, The Chain, was thrilling and I couldn’t put it down. This one, The Island, did not keep me riveted. I found myself skimming paragraphs as I got bored with all the running and hiding.

WTF is this book?

"You are living on borrowed time. They’ll find you. This is their backyard."

The Island is a psychological thriller about consequences, revenge, and the fight for survival.


I don't want to give anything away, so I am keeping this review vague. It's best to jump into this book blind.

This book is just plain weird. It starts off weird, gets weirder, and then even weirder.

The characters were strange (and I am not referring to the O'Neils). Scenes with dialogue read bizarrely. At times, I wondered if what I was reading was really happening or if I was inside a character's dream.

As weird as I felt this book was, it was a page-turner filled with action, tension, and suspense. The tone is dark and disturbing, and there is a lot of violence. I loved the premise, but the way things played out was just a little too crazy for me. On the plus side, I was never bored. I would advise one not to think while reading this, as I noticed some inaccuracies, and I had to suspend my disbelief.

Overall, this was a gripping read, but I have no desire to experience this island again!

Trigger warning: some animals don't make it out alive.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest revew.

Just assume that you will not sleep the day that you begin reading this book. One of the best page turners I have ever read. This is going to make a hell of a movie

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

Wow! I started this book last night, stayed up way too late, only to finish it this morning while eating breakfast. The pace is blazing fast and the chapters just flew by! The story flows, there is nothing disjointed. I highly recommend this book if you're looking for something tense and terrifying (in a realistic way, not a supernatural way). My heart rate is still up as I'm writing this review.

Please note that for some reason chapter 49 is duplicated.

Having read the authors’ previous book, The Chain, I was looking forward to this book. Thankfully, The Island does not disappoint!

This book is incredibly fun and fast-paced. I was hooked from the first chapter. I loved the atmosphere the author created. It was easy to picture the island’s geography and feel the extreme terror of being hunted down.

My favorite character was Heather. I enjoyed her character development and determination to live. If I was ever stranded on a remote island, being hunted by maniacs, I hope to channel some of her willpower and survival instincts!

I appreciated the author’s acknowledgment of the Bunurong people and their land. (The characters in this book visit the lands of the Bunurong people, referred to as ‘Dutch Island’ in the book.) It was great to see the author mention the actual inhabitants of this land are unlike the inhabitants of The Island. I also liked the tone of which First Nations people were referred to in this story. It did not shy away from acknowledging their land had been stolen.

I took off one star for the ending. It felt like the story ended a bit abruptly. Also, at one point in the middle of the story, the pacing seemed to drop. However, I still really enjoyed it.

This book has already been optioned as a Hulu limited series. I can totally see why and I will definitely be tuning in to watch.

Add this to your TBR if you enjoy action-packed thrillers that will leave your heart racing!

I survived! I'm safely off the island, now I need a vacation and NOT on an isolated island!

WHAT A TRIP!

They just wanted to see the koalas, wallabies, and wombats. They didn't realize they were entering a sort of Jurrasic Park. Tom wanted to give his family some kodak moments. Jacko invited them to the private island. They made "a deal". All the while Jacko had a wolfish grin.

They set out to explore the island.

An unfortunate accident. What to do, what to do.......

They meet the shotgun wielding family- Ma is the head and she scared the senses out of me. A creepy, savage of a character, a total nightmare.

Thats all you get! Read at your own risk! (JK)

Once the chase begins, it is non-stop in your face action. I could feel the tension, danger, and shock. Yes, I wanted to pull the covers over my eyes! These island hicks were barbarians, but I was glued to every page.

If you're looking for a fast paced page turner with some shock and awe, this will deliver. It was a bit out of my comfort zone, but still I was entertained and had to see it to the end!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

This was a fast-paced thriller with major Lost vibes. I appreciated the pace and action of this book. It definitely pulled me in quickly and I was anxious to see how it would end. I wish the characters would have been developed a bit more as it just jumped right into the story. Overall, if you are looking for a fast-paced, survival thriller, give this book a chance!

The Island was a book I had never heard of until another blogger said ‘you have to read this one!’…Well, I’m certainly glad I did! I was on the edge of my seat with this book, and turning the pages at record speed. A few times my heart was in my throat. The Island is a very well written book that I highly recommend to all readers especially ones who love a lot of suspense. Thank you NetGalley and to Little Brown and Company for the ARC.

As much as I tried, I could not finish this one. I loved The Chain and was really looking forward to this book. However, it wasn’t what I expected and it dragged a lot. DNF

I just finished this book and my mind is still reeling! I don’t even know where to start … my brain is still trying to process the (fantastic) ending.

Tom, his girlfriend Heather, and Tom’s kids, Olivia and Owen, decided to go to Australia for a fun “new family” getaway. Tom’s wife had recently died, and Heather has stepped into her place. Since she is quite younger, the children aren’t happy with her being their new mother figure, so the trip was meant to be a bonding experience.

Well, they definitely bonded. After meeting a man in the Outback who invited them to a private island, the family decided to go and have a little adventure. Maybe they’d see some kangaroos and koalas. Maybe they’d get to see a part of the world that few people had ever seen. Maybe this was their chance to finally turn into a family. And so, on a ferry they went to this mysterious island.

As soon as they get there, a horrible accident changes their plans completely. This island is full of a large family who does not like outsiders - especially wealthy American outsiders who changed their world when they arrived. I don’t want to talk too much about the plot, but basically, they become trapped on this island full of crazy, uneducated and violent people. Will all four of them make it out alive? Do all of them deserve to?

This is your classic “locked room” thriller/horror, but in a very different setting. The writing was quite poetic at times, and the whole thing reminded me of a combination of “Lost” and “Deliverance”. In the acknowledgements, the author does mention that Deliverance helped inspire this book, so if you’re a fan of that movie, you’ll definitely like this book.

While reading this, I was touched, I was excited, I was shocked and I was beyond curious as to what would happen next. This was definitely a page-turner that you won’t want to put down. The ending completely blew my mind; with several twists and revelations, you will find your jaw dropping!

I see that Hulu has already picked this up to be a show, and I’m so excited … if it follows the book well, it’s going to be a huge hit. I wavered between four and five stars with this one, but I’m going with the five, because I’ll be thinking of this book and the ending for quite awhile. I loved it, and if you don’t mind a pretty gritty thriller, you definitely will too. I highly recommend this one as a great edge-of-your-seat, fast-paced thriller, with a very original plot and good writing. Your mind will be blown, in the best way possible.

(Thank you to Little, Brown & Company, Adrian McKinty and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

This was a tense thriller/story of surviva,. If you suspend belief in everyone who was bad was totally bad and the good but flawed had incredible survival skills. A young woman married to an older widow with two preteen children get stuck on an island and.......

Normally I try not to lead my reviews with the bad, but with this one I think it's important due to the nature of my complaint. IMO this book should have contained content warnings due to some of the things that were included in the story and the detail with which they were included. While I understand books in this genre often contain subjects that are sensitive, that doesn't mean the author is absolved of the responsibility to warn the reader, particularly when there are scenes that are more graphic than the average book. As for the specifics, this book contained an attempted rape scene and multiple other references to and threats of rape/sexual violence, many of which were in reference to a minor. Also, there was a scene that involved incredibly graphic and gory descriptions of the deaths of 2 characters in the book.

Overall these things were not enough to ruin my enjoyment of the book, but it did stop me from rating this book 5 stars. If upon publication the author/publisher chooses to include the necessary content warnings, I would be happy to edit my review to reflect this change.

Now on to the good, of which there was thankfully a lot. I really enjoyed the main character, Heather. While she made mistakes, for the most part none of them rose to the level of stupidity that you often see in books like this. And on the other side, while there were definitely instances of things working out for her in an almost unbelievable way, it worked in this story because of certain elements of the plot.

Which brings me to another thing I would like to highlight. This book contains themes of and references to Aboriginal lore. When I first saw the disclaimer at the beginning of the book, I was a little worried because it is rare that a white author does these stories justice, but IMO McKinty did. And while as a white person myself, I know my opinion on the subject doesn't count for a whole lot(and it shouldn't), I did think it deserved to be mentioned. It felt like he was trying to honor the people whose land he was writing about, not exploit them.

I have two other minor complaints about the book which I think should be mentioned, but were not enough for me to justify lowering the rating any further. First of all, a theme in this book is the generation gap between the main characters. Early on in the book this theme is very present to an extent that it became a little too stereotypical for my liking. I think the author could have been a little less heavy-handed with this message. The other complaint I have is that while I know spiders are something that Australia is known for, I could have done without the detailed references to them. I'm arachnophobic and even reading about them freaks me out, so I had to skim over a few pages.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book early in exchange for an honest review.

No spoilers!

I love a fast moving thriller and this one had it all. It was intense with lots of action and violence. Heather (24 y/o) just married Tom (40 y/o) a few months ago and is accompanying him on conference to Australia with his kids Owen and Olivia (12 and 14, respectively). When wanting to tour the more "out there" parts of Australia, they run into some folks and convince them to take them to their island for a tour. Well, things don't start off well and it's a cascade of events that lead to murder and threats of murder. This was a bloody and gruesome one and we learn a lot more about Heather's background, although I wish I learned more. She had some small flashbacks about her old life on another island, and I was really interested in that.

TW - harm to animals, talks about rape/assault

Wooo this was a fun thriller. Scary, in parts! You could say horror! 😱 I loved it. This was intense, and had lots of action! My first book by Adrien but now I know I'll definitely be reading more of his books. I love fast paced thrillers like this.

Dave Baxter and his new wife Heather, and his children, are on a trip in Australia, for Dave to attend a work conference. They find out about an Island that is normally off limits to visitors, and owned by the O'Neil family. The kids end up begging the O'Neils for a quick trip to the Island. They take the ferry over to the island for some sightseeing and the O'Neils tell them not to go too far inland, and to meet them back in a little bit to take the ferry back again. But while driving around, a woman riding a bike goes in front of them, and they hit her. She dies, and they try to cover it up. But the O'Neils find out. The Baxters end up being held captive. What happens after this, is a complete nightmare. Imagine being hunted on an island you cannot escape. Yikes! Freaky and outright terrifying. This is a must read! I flew through this one!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Adrian McKinty can write! This novel was very intense and fast-paced. Heather, the main character, is a survivor with surprising skills. While there were parts of the storyline that seemed a bit implausible, overall it was a fun, fast read. A bit dark and gory as well. If you ever dreamed of visiting an island in Australia, don’t go to Dutch Island!

Wow… don’t read this book if you already have anxiety, because you absolutely will while reading this. Tom’s new wife Heather and his two kids go to Australia for a conference, and they tag along for fun. After feeling frustrated with not seeing the “real” Australia, Owen talks his parents into going to an island where there is tons of wildlife. Tom speeds on the island, and they are in an accident. Heather makes a quick decision to hide it, unsuccessfully. This is up to about 15%. For the other 85% it’s page to page chaos. So many emotions, so much anxiety. This is the opposite of a slow burn. It’ll make you want to take meds and meditate 😅

When I saw that McKinty had written yet another book that wasn't a part of his Sean Duffy series, I was disappointed--for about 10 seconds. Then I thought, if it's only half as good as The Chain, I'm in for a treat. I am happy to report it is equally as good as The Chain and, in its own way, even better!

Heather is recently married to widower Tom Baxter and is trying to make a go of becoming an instant mother to his son and teenage daughter. When Tom is invited to be a keynote speaker at a conference in Australia, Heather sees this as a possible way to help them bond as a family.

Arriving in Melbourne, the jet-lagged family set out to try and view some of the exotic wildlife. They bribe their way onto an island owned by a large clan that lives without such modern conveniences as wi-fi or cell phone service. While touring the island, they accidentally hit and kill one of the island inhabitants. Heather's first thought is to hide the body and get off the island as soon as possible; Tom, reluctantly agrees. All goes awry when the body is discovered and the Baxter family is detained while the clan decides what an appropriate punishment should be. Heather manages to escape with the children and sets out to elude capture again--not an easy task on such a small island.

This is a tightly-plotted crime thriller that I finished in just two days. It was fun to watch Heather as she gained self confidence and grew into a fiercely protective guardian bent on outwitting her pursuers and getting off the island. As long as McKinty continues to produce books as good as this one and The Chain, I guess I'll forgive him for not writing more about Sean Duffy. This is an excellent read that gripped me from the start. I highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and Little Brown and Company for an advance copy of this book. The publication date is May 12, 2022.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the copy of The Island. This was a fast-paced book with so much action! Maybe too fast? It jumped right into it with little background on any of the characters. None of the characters were sympathetic or likable. What was Heather thinking in the beginning? How many close shaves could she get in and miraculously get out of? Where did she get her remarkable physical strength? I can usually suspend belief, but this book was over the top. The writing was great and really kept me reading, and I would definitely try other books by this author, but this book didn’t do it for me. If you like fast-paced books and can overlook the implausibilities you will probably love this book.

While I found the premise of The Island to be appealing, I thought the story in itself was pretty ridiculous and too far fetched. If I was not reviewing an ARC, it would have been a DNF for me. A lot was overdone and at times the writing was juvenile. No twists really WOWed me but one, and I did not like the direction the author took once the twist was revealed. I got some LOST vibes while reading but can definitely recommend better thrillers with similar plots.

Pub date: 5/17/22