Review of THE ISLAND by Adrian McKinty (New Release)

 2.5 Stars

I keep reading thrillers in the hopes of finding one that doesn’t require me to totally suspend disbelief.  Unfortunately, this Australian Deliverance isn’t it. 

Twenty-four-year-old Heather recently married a widower twenty years her senior.  When Tom Baxter, a doctor, attends a medical conference in Australia, he brings along Heather and his two children, Olivia and Owen, 14 and 12 respectively.  One day, in hopes of seeing some Australian wildlife, they take a ferry to Dutch Island, a private island where visitors are not welcome.  Once on the island, there’s an accident which causes them to come into conflict with the O’Neill family which owns the island.  Separated from Tom, Heather has to save herself and her step-children. 

Heather’s intelligence is dismissed by both Tom and her step-children.  Tom, for instance, thinks, “Why had he listened to Heather?  She was a Millennial.  She didn’t know anything” and believes “she had that young person’s thing of saying everything that came into her head.”  Olivia thinks, “Heather was easily impressed.  She wasn’t very smart.  She hadn’t even graduated high school.”  Of course, she proves herself to be resourceful and to have considerable knowledge of bushcraft because of her non-traditional upbringing.  In terms of strength and stamina, she becomes a female Rambo; she is pushed to the limits of human endurance and suffers several injuries but perseveres nonetheless.  Her ability to recover quickly from physical trauma is almost superhuman.  As expected, Olivia and Owen realize they underestimated their stepmother and come to trust her. 

I have difficulty believing that two adults would take children to an island with two strange men they have just met.  One of those men is described as “menacing” and possessing a “wolfish grin” whereas the other is very reluctant to allow them on the island which has no cellphone or internet service.  Then after the accident, Heather and Tom make another stupid decision.  I understand that an inciting incident is needed to bring characters into conflict, but I’d much prefer something more believable.

The plot has several problems.  Much of it is repetitive because there’s a lot of running and hiding.  Because of Heather’s amazing survival skills and cunning, she is able to escape all attempts by the O’Neills who would supposedly know the island much better than she does?  The plot requires too much suspension of disbelief:  the reader is expected to simply go along for the ride and overlook over-the-top implausibilities.  And the author doesn’t play fair.  A chapter from one character’s viewpoint ends with the line, “And then there was no ‘he’ to feel anything at all.”  The fate of that character, even with the foreshadowing in the middle chapter, means the reader is tricked.  Relying on such deception is not acceptable.  On the other hand, much of the plot is predictable; certainly Hans and Petra can easily be identified as redshirt characters as soon as they join the Baxter family on the trip to Dutch Island.  And the ending is so predictable:  by Chapter 35, it is obvious what is going to happen.   

Some of the dialogue is bizarre.  Jenny, the conference rep, takes the family to a house for their stay in Melbourne and as she enters that house, she says, “’Anyone need the toilet?  Fab toilets in here.  Heather?  Looks like you gambled a little on a fart and lost, no?’”  An Australian would reference the Alamo, an American historical event?  Heather tells Olivia and Owen to watch out for a police car on the island? 

This action-packed thriller will appeal to some readers, especially if they enjoy graphic violence.  The Rambo-like heroine, the totally evil stereotypical villains, and the far-fetched plot made it difficult for me to enjoy the book.  Does escapist literature have to require the reader to suspend all analytical thought?

Note:  I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.