Review: THE ISLAND

THE ISLAND by Adrian McKinty (Little, Brown, 2022)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

It was just supposed to be a family vacation.

A terrible accident changed everything.

You don't know what you're capable of until they come for your family.

Three years ago, Belfast-born author Adrian McKinty’s life changed with the release of THE CHAIN, a heart-clutching thriller that was any loving parent’s worst nightmare, on steroids. That book skyrocketed McKinty into a new stratosphere of readership. He’d long been a critical darling, with a mantlepiece packed with prizes, including the Edgar Award, for his superb novels including his outstanding Sean Duffy series set in 1980s Northern Ireland. But THE CHAIN made him a #1 international bestseller, as well as landing on dozens of ‘best of the year’ lists and winning major awards on three continents.

McKinty was an overnight success, two decades into his publishing career. What next?

THE ISLAND is the answer, and McKinty’s latest tale takes the parental fears of his breakthrough book and twists the terror dial even higher. It’s a rip-snorting, stay-up-all-night read.

Young stepmother and massage therapist Heather Baxter is holidaying in Australia with her husband Tom and his adolescent kids Olivia and Owen. Tom, a doctor, has an important conference to attend, and the family has tagged along. But when a trip in their rental SUV into the Victorian countryside and onto a private island so the petulant kids can try to spot koalas and other Australian wildlife goes horribly awry, Heather must call on everything she has to fight for the lives of her new family.

McKinty delivers a cinematic, ultra-tense tale with a fair wallop of emotional oomph as Heather, her family, and an elderly Dutch couple are trapped on the island with a close-knit clan of locals who are suspicious of outsiders at the best of times. Shades of Deliverance. Masterfully written

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer from New Zealand, now living in London. He’s interviewed hundreds of crime writers and talked about the genre on national radio, top podcasts, and onstage at festivals on three continents. He's been a judge of Australian, Scottish, and NZ crime writing awards, and is co-founder of Rotorua Noir. He's the author of the HRF Keating award-shortlisted non-fiction book SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, and the series editor of acclaimed anthology DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER. You can heckle him on Twitter.