About this title: In 1954 on a remote island in Massachusetts Bay, a mental patient has escaped from Ashecliffe Hospital. Since there is no way off the island, logic dictates that she must be hiding somewhere, and the hospital calls in US Marshalls Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule to flush her out. But when they arrive, they find that there is more going on than a simple escape, and a lot of it is in their own heads--and an approaching storm isn't going to make things easier....
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Description: Acceptable. Book is in good reading condition. Cover has wear at edges and corners. Spine has wear at edges. Dust jacket has some wear. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Harper Torch, N. Y.
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780380731862ISBN:038073186X
Description: Cover Art. Good. Vintage Paperback. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. The cover has spine creases....Light yellowing pages. Slight spine cock.............We are very careful when we list our books, but sometimes something minor may get by. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperLargePrint
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060545505ISBN:006054550X
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Ex-Library book-on-tape with stickers and stampings. Clamshell has some typical wear. (W4) 4 cassettes. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: HarperTorch
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780380731862ISBN:038073186X
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Edges of cover slightly worn. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 385 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
""Shutter Island" started off lame. Then it got better. And then it reverted to a convoluted plot recycled from pretty much any psycho-thriller out there. This is the first and likely last Lehane book I've read, and I've surmised that he, like Stephen King and John Grisham, simply write screenplays disguised as novels, probably writing the story while fully aware that it will be purchased by a movie studio within a year of being published. Lots of cliffhanging chapters, laughable dialog, a little gratuitous sex thrown in, and at least four instances where a character pleads a variation of "Don't you get it???" in tooooootal desperation.
Two stars, yeah that sounds about right. I'll give it a couple points because I had this compulsion to finish the book. But it wasn't out of enjoyment of reading the prose or an attachment to the characters or even a minorly compelling story. It was just an underlying need to see what happened next. Only a vague hint of what's going on is revealed (though, admittedly, some aspects of the "mystery" are pretty transparent). I've bitched about this before in a review of a book that I can't remember, but reading it was like watching a marathon of "Lost". Although early on you stop caring about the characters or the environment or the story itself entirely, you keep getting teased with little hints that something awesome is going to happen really really soon so you keep watching. And of course that awesomeness never comes and the whole thing becomes a colossal waste of time, which you subconsciously anticipated. And much like "Lost", which concludes each episode with a 30-second preview of all the awesome things that might happen in the next episode, the copy of "Shutter Island" that I read concluded with the opening paragraphs of four other Lehane novels.
Yeah, yeah, I know. "Building suspense" and all (sorry Mandy, much love). I suppose I just don't find this technique suspenseful or exciting or thrilling at all. I just feel ripped off. I guess that means no more exciting suspense thrillers for Danny.
The movie looks promising though--Scorsese, DiCaprio, Sir Ben--and after all, this is the same guy who wrote "Mystic River" and "Gone Baby Gone". So apparently a good director can do wonders with a silly story from a mediocre writer."
"This book is so well written that you identify with U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels. You are at his side as he goes on his quest to this forbidding island with its hidden secrets and collection of unfathomable characters. You feel his fear as he becomes trapped there. You stumble with him along treacherous cliff top paths amidst the gathering storm. You feel his confusion as friends become foes...and nothing prepares you for the final mind-numbing twist."
"Shutter Island isn't as good as Mystic River, which I read just before this. Mystic River is an entire neighborhood of fleshed out characters that propelled its tragic plot. Shutter Island isn't so three dimensional. What it does have going for it is a taut plot full of suspense and mystery. This is a puzzle novel. Not a novel puzzle like The Davinci Code where the puzzle is the thing and everything else is secondary. The puzzles of a first-rate thriller exist not as the primary purpose but to pull you into the characters and reveal the actual mystery and meaning of the novel. Shutter Island isn't so much a Who-dunnit as much as a What-the-hell-is-happening. The central plot is about a FBI agent who is attempting to find a missing patient at a mental hospital for the criminally insane in the 1950s. Yet this is one of those novel where nothing is as it seems. Personally, I found the clues a little to easy and guessed the twist in about 100 pages. Anyone who digs word games probably will do the same. However by then, I was hooked on the main protagonist, Teddy Daniels and his slightly too clever sidekick, Chuck Aule (say the name fast). Even if you guess the ending, the journey itself is full of detours and traps that will keep you involved. As someone who worked in mental health facilities, I was also fascinated by the depiction of mental health treatment in the 50s. Over-all I found this novel to be an highly exhilarating ride full of dips and turns."
"I sat down and read this book from cover to cover in one sitting. I was really excited to read it, and for the most part, I wasn't disappointed. It is engaging, well-written, and exciting. But I actually ended up being a little let down when the solution to the mystery was revealed. A little cheated. I had been built up to believe that it would be something mind-blowing and crazy, but it actually turned out to be more like watching M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" - "Are you serious? Was that really the best he could do?" is what I thought. A heart breaking and profoundly depressing conclusion, I'll concede, but in the end, actually very ordinary.
That's the only reason I didn't give the book 5 stars, and my only real hang-up is the foul language. I get that Lehane was trying to be realistic, but sometimes it was just distracting. Still, the dreams Daniels describes are eerie and haunting - the kind of stuff that stays with you while you're trying to sleep. I can't imagine how creepy the movie will probably be."
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