The Island by Adrian McKinty | Blog Tour Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received an ebook copy for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

The Island by Adrian McKinty

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: Orion

Publication date: 17th May 2022

Blurb:

After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. A working vacation overseas seems like the perfect way to bring the new family together, but once they're deep in the Australian outback, the jet-lagged and exhausted kids are so over their new mom.

When they discover a remote Dutch Island, off-limits to outside visitors, the family talks their way onto the ferry, taking a chance on an adventure far from the reach of iPhones and Instagram.

But as soon as they set foot on the island, which is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, everything feels wrong. Then a shocking accident propels the Baxters from an unsettling situation into an absolute nightmare.

When Heather and the kids are separated from Tom, they are forced to escape alone, seconds ahead of their pursuers.

Now it's up to Heather to save herself and the kids, even though they don't trust her, the harsh bushland is filled with danger, and the locals want her dead.

Heather has been underestimated her entire life, but she knows that only she can bring her family home again and become the mother the children desperately need, even if it means doing the unthinkable to keep them all alive.

Review:

I really enjoyed The Chain by Adrian McKinty so I was very excited to read The Island. One thing that McKinty does well is write stories with a bit of a chase.

Heather is a 24 year old massage therapist who marries Tom, a doctor who is in his forties with two teenage children - Olivia and Owen. Their mother passed away a year previously.

The family visit Australia as Tom is giving a keynote speech at a conference. The children are a bit bored as they aren't seeing the beauty of Australia. They are invited over to a remote island with only around 27 inhabitants and all the one family, under the premise that they will be able to see native Australian animals in the wild.

Whilst there, an accident causes them to be held hostage and thus insues the chase to free themselves.

I will be honest and say that I did feel a little like it was very easy for the hostage takers to agree with Heather's demands or attempts to talk them out of harming them but I appreciate that the story would be very different were that not the case.

The vivid descriptions really put you in the scenes and you can feel the urgency from the family as they try to escape and get back over to the mainland. I really enjoyed Owen as a character and his diagnoses, I felt, were written very well.

Heather's character arc throughout the novel was definitely one of my favourite parts though!

A massive thank you to Compulsive Readers and Orion for having me on the blog tour. You can find information about the other bloggers taking part in the tour in the graphic below.