 "Instant Fan" | 2009-11-05 |
| - Reviewed By khogan1652 |
Shutter Island is a great sales piece for Dennis Lehane. I had never read one of his books before and he has won an "instant fan." I was not able to put this book down except to sleep (which was a bit of a task in itself!. The other reviewers have done a nice job at describing a true psychological thriller that left me with my jaw open at the end of the book. The lead character is brilliantly painted and not with broad strokes. Plotting is excellent the story is utterly believable especially when thinking about it from the last page...back to the beginning.
Pick up Shutter Island. Absolutely fantastic read.
Kevin Hogan, Author of The 168 Hour Week: Living Life Your Way 24-7 |
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| "A masterpiece of suspense." | 2009-11-05 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1GDIXOETE0EGM |
| This is the first book by Lehane I've read and I have been missing out. This book's suspense and slow reveal is impossible to put down. Just when you think you got it figured out you realize you been tricked all along! As soon as I reached the mind-bending conclusion all I could think about was flipping back to the first page and taking the trip to Shutter Island all over again. |
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| "What carnage we'll achieve...." | 2009-11-04 |
| - Reviewed By brettstarr |
Dennis Lehane is has written alot of great novels, unfortunately to this point I hadn't read any of them. I enjoyed both movies that were made so far based off his books Mystic River (Widescreen Edition) & Gone Baby Gone. For my 1st Lehane experience, I chose to read this stand alone thriller "Shutter Island"!
"Shutter Island" is a thriller in every sense, it has mystery, alot of suspense, action and is constantly making you think. Of the 450 some reviews here at Amazon, the book has a four star average, now thats quality.
The book won't scare you silly, but it will raise the hair on the back of your neck once or twice. Their is alot of dialogue throughout the book between the main character U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner Chuck Aule. Lehane threw in alot of humor throughout and it ends up being relaxing to read. The twist ending was great and alot of reviewers claim to have seen it coming, maybe they did, I didn't and either way its so far twisted no one could possibly know it exactly.
I devoured this book in a day or two and I'm definitely looking forward to the movie with Leo DiCaprio & Mark Ruffalo due out in early 2010. Dennis Lehane is a great author, if you haven't already done so, pick up one of his books soon.
Highly, highly recommended!
Enjoy~ |
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 "First experience with Lehane- loved it!" | 2009-11-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2VMJ6JB37YK57 |
| I'd never read one of Lehane's books before but was told by a friend that I'd like it. She was right. I loved it! I didn't see the ending coming. I like when a book surprises me. Too often the author assumes we readers are stupid and beats us over the head with ridiculous amounts of foreshadowing. This is not the case here. The only hint at the ending is the prologue. I won't spoil it for you. I loved this book and am curious to see how it will translate to the big screen. |
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 "Engaging despite its flaws" | 2009-11-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A11JPX6G5QEOPD |
Dennis Lehane is one of my favorite writers, and as an aspiring writer myself, I have tremendous respect for his craft. That said, this book deserves a mixed review. On the positive side, the concept and and set-up of the story are very compelling, if somewhat contrived. Lehane does an excellent job of creating a foreboding atmosphere, at least at the beginning of the book. He also does a good job of portraying Teddy, the main character, as a man whose struggle to live with his own psychological wounds proves far more daunting than any challenge presented by his adversaries. Thus Lehane moves the novel from ordinary crime/cop drama into the realm of complex psychological thriller. Despite the complexity, and contrary to the criticisms of some other reviewers, I do feel Lehane meticulously plotted this book so that all the strands hang together in a cohesive whole. To the extent there are some loose ends, the conclusion either resolves, explains, or obviates them. On the negative side, Teddy somehow fails to gel into much more than a vessel for his internal conflicts. He remains a collection of traits, attitudes, and back story, rather than a fully-formed character. I'm not sure how that happened, since the story is told almost exclusively from Teddy's point of view by a third-person omniscient narrator. In any event, I never became fully invested in Teddy, and therefore found the conclusion less shattering than others apparently did. ***SPOILER FOLLOWS***
The ending is not original--we learn that Teddy isn't who we thought he was, so we can't trust what we saw through his eyes--but I did find the final revelation striking in that it illustrates the profoundly f***ed up nature and effect of delusional psychoses. Teddy's doctors, in a final, desperate attempt to save him from his own mind, have constructed an elaborate reenactment of his delusional fantasies. By demonstrating to Teddy that his delusions ultimately collapse in the face of reality, the doctors try to appeal to the rational remnants of Teddy's mind, hoping his reawakened reason will overcome the psychosis triggered by his emotional anguish. Or something like that. My question is: Even back in 1954, would a psychiatrist have thought it was a good idea to indulge a psychotic's delusions, particularly when the central fixation of the delusion is a desire to obliterate one's own, true identity--i.e., for Teddy to kill Andrew Laeddis? I kind of doubt it, and the problem is, without the doctors allowing Teddy to enact his fantasies, most of the story never happens.
Regardless of its flaws, this is a good, even memorable novel that I found both entertaining and provocative, and you might find it that way, too. |
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