The Island was an unexpected thriller and hell of a read!

The story takes place in Australia. Isolated by water and far from any other people and civilization.
Then a funny joke, made by a minor character. She warns her friend, the main character, to avoid Australia. As that is where all the scariest and most horrifying serial killers live (i.e. based on all the movies that take place there).

I have to admit, I completely agreed with this sentiment. Of all the scary movies I've watched. The only ones that I either turned off or desperately wish I'd never watched, took place in the Australian outback. And I don't mean, I was a scardy pants. I mean, I love watching horror movies and these particular movies were too horrifying, too brutal, too everything to possibly enjoy watching. To this day, I'm still wary of Australia as a result. And trust me, I completely understand how ridiculous and utterly absurd it is for me to hold this stereotype. Lol.

So when this character mentions it, I laughed my face off! I'm not the only one with this absurd idea! But also felt concern as to whether this book would be too extreme for me...

That said, albeit, in a very wordy manner. I hesitantly continued reading. While simultaneously waiting for the story to go off the rails like the movies. However, while the stereotype was alive and well in this read. It was an endurable level. Add in a rock star lead female character, plus intensity, sheer craziness and a very constant sense of fear and adrenaline. Equals = A knock it out of the park read!!

*Thank you to Little, Brown and Company, via NetGalley, for providing the DRC.

Wow, this book had me on edge the entire time. It's very disturbing and frightening and I was anxious the entire time I read it. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves high concept survival thrillers.

A great, compelling, heavy, twisty thrilled. The story was very bleak, but I was immediately hooked.

The Island is a story of a family who takes a trip to Australia and while there accidentally get caught on an island full of a family that is trying to kill them.

This book was a little too graphic for me.I felt a real sense of foreboding while reading it, which made me more uncomfortable than intrigued, which in thinking about it is a complement on the author’s writing style, which was descriptive visually.

I thought the constant references to teenagers as little children annoying, but not as irritating as the fact that there was absolutely nothing our 24-year-old main character (who was self admittedly shy and insecure) couldn’t do / didn’t know to survive in the Australian outback. Tom’s backstory was unnecessary, as was the inclusion of Carolyn, who really didn’t add anything to the story; I would, however, had liked more of Ma’s backstory. The O’Neill’s seemed completely over the top as a whole.

This started slow for me and I found the husband not at all likeable and the children whiny and spoiled. I almost gave up reading it but I’m glad I continued because I really wanted to know how they’d get off this horrible island. Heather became a survivalist keeping her stepchildren alive and I even liked the children by the end. Can’t wait to see this on the screen.

Wow!! This was so good! I couldn’t put it down! I loved how each chapter ended on a cliffhanger. This is truly and edge of you seat, nail biting thriller!!

The Island
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 4 stars
by: Adrian McKinty
Genre: Thriller/Psychological Fiction/Crime Fiction/Suspense
Thank you for the arc copy @netgalley @orionbooks

Wow! I don't think Heather Baxter had any idea what she was getting herself into when she agrees to go on a working vacation with her new husband, Tom, and his 2 children, Olivia and Owen.

The kids desperately want to see the wildlife of the region, considering mama considering they are vacationing in Australia and they are from Seattle. Where are the kangaroos and koalas? Tom is able to bribe a ferry captain to take them to a remote island where they will see wildlife galore but they're limited to a very short time before they need to leave.

Unfortunately, a tragic accident happens almost immediately on the island involving a local. When the rest of the locals find out it turns into a fight to survive and to get off of the island beforenightfall.

It seems like the survival is left up to Heather who steps into her role as the mother. Very suspenseful as you never knew what was going to happen next.

Published on May 17th, 2022

This was a page turner and while I couldn’t put it down, it was hard to read at times. It was hard to read because anything with kids in a dangerous situation makes my stomach churn a little. Either way, this was great!

Creepy fun and atmospheric, I thoroughly enjoyed this story! Recommend the audio book to everyone. I’m I give this one 5 stars, once it starts it never lets up!

Oh man. All I can do is shake my head, cause I was so excited for this one and wasn’t expecting to give it such a low rating. I enjoyed The Chain and thought this would be a winner. Sorry (not sorry), but it was not.

The first 2 chapters were going well, but it somehow took a nosedive for me.
It all started with the fart conversation in ch.2, which at first I laughed. But then it gets mentioned again later on, which threw me off. But the real kicker for me, was the amount of times ‘PORSCHE’ is mentioned. Yes..I am well aware he rented a Porsche..a Porsche Cayenne. But it wasn’t the Porsche he wanted. Still. The Porsche was comfortable. The Porsche was safe. They drove the Porsche to explore the island. Wait..did I happen to mention it was a Porsche SUV? 🤦🏻‍♀️

*sigh* By the time I got to the good and what should have been the exciting bits, I rolled my eyes and thought it was like watching a bad movie with bad acting! Starring Dr. Drake Ramoray..Except his name was Tom.

I think less pickier readers will enjoy this. But it wasn’t for me.

4.25 stars!

Thank you so much for the ARC in response to an honest review!
What a great book to read in the summer! The Island by McKinty was twisty, tense, entertaining and a page turner. It also felt spooky and chilling, which I love when reading fast-paced thrillers. It reminded me a bit of the tv-show 'Lost'. This was a very unique read and i would highly recommend this to someone else. The plot had intricate detail, good character development, and a clever ending. My only iff was that in the middle it was quite slow and not as thrilling as the rest of the book but if you get through that, then you will still really enjoy this.

Heather is on vacation in Australia with her husband Tom and her stepchildren, 14 year old Olivia and 12 year old Owen. What was supposed to be a quick trip to an island to see some animals turned into a fight for survival.

This novel was filled with a never ending feeling of foreboding; knowing that each step a character took could end in death. It was very intense and a fast read. There were some descriptively gory scenes, so this book would not be for someone who would be offended by them.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an ARC of #TheIsland by #AdrianMcKinty #TheChase - 3.5 stars rounded to 4

I have enjoyed this authors novels in the past but this one was a miss for me. It seemed a little repetitive and all the characters were terrible. This is a survival story at the center and is well done. It's creepy and my anxiety was at a 9 the whole book. I loved not knowing what was going to happen next, what weird thing would throw the characters off their path. But it was hard to be invested when I didn't care about any of the characters.

I enjoyed it but wasn't my favorite by this author.

This story was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I found the characters unlikeable and struggled to care about their fates. The story also required full suspension of disbelief with so many outrageous twists and turns. At times, it felt like a little too much.
In spite of the things I considered negatives, this story was an unrelenting survival tale that had my anxiety level high. I had to know how things were going to play out and couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

I like the author, loved The Chain. Unfortunately, this was a tedious read for me. The premise was so exciting, but it just didn't live up to it's potential for me.

Unfortunately this was not my cup of tea, which is a shame because I love a good mystery book. But i found this one to bee too slow burning and it wouldn't get to the thrilling part for me. Some lines were really weird for me so unfortunately the story could not keep me interested in it.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Little, Brown and Company and to Adrian McKinty for the opportunity.

A modern, highly charged, and innovative survival story. I can easily see this thriller being made into a movie.

Wow what a gritty and unique book. I have never read a book that takes place in Austraila so that alone was interesting. It took me a minute to get into it but when I did, I was hooked until the end.

The author provides enough description to picture the landscape while making it gritty and making you feel as if you're there hiding behind the bushes with them. I also liked how the author was not afraid to show the reality of how dark people can be. Hearing about the deaths and in particular the first one really brought the darkness to the book. It made me think, what would I do? I personally would like to think I'd have chose a different path but we don't know until we are in it.

I'm looking forward to checking out more from this author. This one will be a hit this year for all thriller fans.

Odd and outlandish, but engaging enough to keep me turning pages. I had to find out how they were getting off the island. Just go into it knowing that it's implausible to say the least, but that's the fun of reading fiction.