Shutter Island
Ratings160
Average rating4
I'd not seen the well-known movie based on this book and when I found it on a "best" list, I thought it was time to check it out. I listened to the audiobook for the first 3/4 of it before switching to the print version. As the reader was just adequate, my experience of the story wasn't too different across the modalities. The story moved quickly and the setting - on an island in a chain I've toured off Boston - added to the plot. The time period - soon after WWII also contibuted well to the story as it gave creedance to the psych treatment questions raised by the characters. The twists are engaging, although I'm mixed on how plausible they are. I'm glad I read it and am likely to now seek out the movie to watch soon.
Wow, this book very pleasantly surprised me. I wasn't sure at all what to expect when diving into this novel and I haven't watched the movie but when I started it I thought that it would not be my cup of tea. However, I am glad I stuck it out because in all I really enjoyed this whole novel and I can't wait to watch the movie now. I have also discovered an amazing author in the process and will definitely be getting to his other works a lot sooner now. I think it's also important not to go into this book with too much background information because it's pretty easy to follow and after a few chapters I was hooked.
To begin with, Shutter Island is about two marshals who go to a remote island called Shutter Island, which hosts the incredibly insane, because a patient of theirs has escaped out of her cell and they need help locating her. However, things quickly get out of control and we find out that nothing on this island is as it seems. And this book's plot- just WOW! It's got to be incredibly hard to come up with something so original but this surpasses that. The pacing was great and after I was hooked, I couldn't stop reading it because I wanted to see what happens. Also, this book probably has one of the biggest reveals I have encountered so far, it's something akin to the surprise in The Silent Patient, for those who have read it and know what I'm talking about.
Further on, the characterization was pretty good. I wouldn't say they were the most extraordinary characters I have ever encountered in a novel but they were definitely very complicated and complex people, with a lot of skeletons in their closets. This was rather a short read and maybe if it was a bit longer we could have seen a little bit more into the characters' souls. However, with that said the main character, Teddy, definitely has a complete background and by the end of the book everything makes sense about why he acts the way that he acts. So, definitely not disappointed one bit.
Finally, the writing was what I had problems with the most in this book. Even though it flawed well enough, there were times when it felt choppy and I had to reread parts to make sure I understood everything fully. This was very minimal but it still took me a few chapters to fully get used to the writing style because it's not the one that feels the most natural to me in thrillers like this. All in all, not bad though.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this quick, suspenseful thriller and will be recommending it to all my thriller nerds, if not just for that huge twist at the end. It definitely had me holding onto my seat once I got used to the writing style and the plot was set and established. I am so excited to watch the movie after this and can't wait to compare this awesome book to that. It was a great read and I can't wait to check out all of this author's other works!
It was just okay. I heard great reviews but it never really captivated me.
My husband had picked this one up from the library and since I recently seen the trailer for the Martin Scorsese film they made from the book and thought it looked really good, I figured I would give this a read also! I liked it for the most part, it was enjoyable, creepy and kept my interest. That being said, I pretty much had it figured out 100 pages into the book, I don't want to give to much away so I'll just leave it at that. Overall, a fast and decent read.
Nothing special, but it's still a fast-paced interesting book. The equivalent of brain candy.
Having never read anything by Lehane before, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, I'm afraid my expectations were too high.
The novel alternated between a psychological thriller and a detective mystery, complete with puzzles. It was a pretty quick read, with engaging dialogue, and likable characters. However, about halfway through the book, I thought I had the ending figured out. I hoped that I was wrong and that I had fallen into a trap set for readers by the author. I prayed for a red herring. Unfortunately, I guessed correctly.
My only recommendation is that, if you're interested in reading this book, don't read the synopsis, don't try to think too much about the puzzles, and read as quickly as you can. Perhaps this way you can get to the end before Lehane ruins it for you.
One of the best psychological thrillers I've read in years. I'm not sure I can say anything about this book without giving it away, but I highly recommend it. In terms of creepiness and twists and turns, it's right up there with Robert Cormier's I Am the Cheese.
An engrossing mystery-thriller with an unreliable narrator. Shutter Island is a mysterious place where we are led to believe bad things are happening, however, much like I Am The Cheese, not all is at it seems and the story the reader has been following is really just the delusions of a patient at Shutter Island.
Enjoyed the reading experience. Not really worth reading again, but it was enjoyable.
I liked this book way more than I expected. Lehane's prose is very good and consistently engaging. Knowing the ending from the film didn't detract from my experience, I enjoyed looking at the foreshadowing. I will absolutely read more Lehane, this was such a fun read.
Well, got through a book that I decided to read based on a movie. I actually thought that the movie was a fair representation of the book. The one point from the film on which I wanted clarity was completely avoided in the novel, much to my surprise.
I had also hoped to find another contemporary author whose books I could enjoy by default. I'm not sure that Lehane got there, but I enjoyed the writing style enough to want to pick another of his novels.
No real review on this one. Anyone can watch the film and get the story. Unlike a number of other books made into movies, you wouldn't get missing a lot. Lehane's writing is incredible in some places (reference my comment about the description of a migraine from an earlier update). That, alone, made it an enjoyable read.