Book Review: Shutter Island

Reviewed By: Jennifer Jordan

Shutter Island     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Dennis Lehane
Class/Genre:   Mystery
2003, William Morrow & Co, Mystery, 352 pages

A double-edged sword, blade honed to razor sharpness. It cuts deep both ways, the cut so fine you dont even know its there until the wound is seeping and its too late.

Shutter Island, repository of the fortress like Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, is a long ferry ride away. U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule head there to find Rachel Solando, an escaped prisoner. A hurricane at their heels, they are in more danger than they could possibly know. And what they know is itself in danger. As the storm grows, questions of psychogenic drug experimentation, radical neurological surgeries are tearing at the fabric of a man tormented by dreams of his past. It is a chess game between the sane and the insane, the truth and a lie. But, who is the player and who is the pawn?

You will belong to this book. Lehane will pick you up and set you down on the island, in the midst of chaos. You will care about these characters; you will want everything to be all right. You know it wont be. The dialogue will have you chortling in the darkest parts, in the midst of everything falling apart. You will barely keep pace with the racehorse plot. I promise, you will have to read the ending at least twice. Wow.

Jennifer Jordan

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jennifer Jordan