An isolated island, a raging hurricane, a locked room, secret codes, a mental hospital, and rumors of mysterious medical experiments frame the story. Written in a very different style compared to Lehane's previous novels Mystic river and Gone baby gone. The plot is not the simplest of plots, i was scratching my head intrigued because the story flips through past present and surreal. It is a disorienting, complex story grounded in the reality of the times...cold war USA in 1954. From pondering o More...

I'm not even sure what to say about this book without giving anything away. US Marshal Teddy Daniels shows up at rocky island that's an asylum for the criminally insane to track a patient that disappeared from a locked cell. While on the island, he gets the sense that the doctors are hiding something and sets out to obtain evidence that they are experimenting illegally on patients. As Daniels uncovers secrets, you become more confused about what is actually happening at the hospital.

I'm vague to More...

Dan Brown, The DaVinci Code (Dubleday, 2003)
Dennis Lehane, Shutter Island (Morrow, 2003)
William M. Valtos, The Authenticator (Hampton Roads, 2000)

Rarely, when I read, do three books come together so very well for one review. But such is the case here with The DaVinci Code, The Authenticator, and Shutter Island.

Imagine, if you will, a kind of number line of style, with the very best writers at the rightmost extreme and the very worst at the left. On the right are those authors who pay great atten More...

Forget Mystic River. Shutter Island is the Dennis Lehane book to read. Set in the mid 1950's on a secluded island that serves as a mental institution for the criminally insane, Shutter Island combines elements of psycho-drama and horror with a good mystery and well-rounded characters. U.S. Marshals Daniels and Aule come to the island to investigate the mysterious escape of a violent patient from the hospital, only to be trapped on the island by the worst hurricane in thirty years. The two Marsha More...

My brother and I were at the hospital, waiting our mom’s knee surgery when I started Shutter Island. Little bro looked at my book and exclaimed, “Crap! The movie was total crap and I figured everything out five minutes into it. Do you want me to tell you the secret?” Of course I didn’t want to know the ending before I got there myself. This story follows U.S.Marshal Chris Monsanto Teddy Daniels as he travels to an island which is home to nothing but a possibly dangerous and experimental penitent More...

"Shutter Island" started off lame. Then it got better. And then it reverted to a convoluted plot recycled from pretty much any psycho-thriller out there. This is the first and likely last Lehane book I've read and I've surmised that he, like Stephen King and John Grisham, simply writes screenplays disguised as novels, probably writing the story while fully aware that it will be purchased by a movie studio within a year of being published. Lots of cliffhanging chapters, laughable dialog, a little More...

I have absolutely no idea what happened in this book. Perhaps that makes it an effective story?

This is not a standard Lehane novel; yes, it's set in Boston, but not the mean streets of Dorchester or Southie. It's set on an island in the early 1950's, and psychological and psychopharmacological studies are taking place. Pretty interesting. I'm curious about the movie that's being filmed in MA.

One thing, though: I don't think audio is the best format for this one because of all the codes. I had More...

The night I finished this, my mind was left reeling from it for a couple of hours and the next day I was unable to get it out of my head.

Shutter Island is a departure from the Kenzie/Gennaro series and
it's one of those novels that will certainly leave you pondering the whole story once you're finished it.
The less you know about the story, the better. Suffice it to say, this is an excellent read and there are very few novels I have read that made my head buzz for hours after.
Don't miss this, re More...

رواية مُمتعة كدت أن أجزم أنها لداون براون لولا إنعدام الرمزية فيها هههههههه
#من ناحية الحماس وإنشداد العينان لمعرفة الأحداث بالتأكيد ^^

جميلة هي بغموضها وحبكتها العجيبة، القصة حيث تدخل وتخرج من الماضي إلى الحاضر وكيف تم إستغلال ماضَ الجنرال "أظن أنه جنرالاً ؟ لا أعرف لقد نسيت " ضده في الجزيرة

رواية ممتعه ومُذهلة بنهايتها المثالية \١ ببساطة لم أتوقع نهاية كهذه \١ أُصبت بدهشة عظيمة وكادت عيناي أن تخرجا من محاجرهما ذُهولاً !
حقاً تستحق القراءة لإستعادة نهم القراءة :$

Shutter Island isn't as good as Mystic River, which I read just before this. Mystic River is an entire neighborhood of fleshed out characters that propelled its tragic plot. Shutter Island isn't so three dimensional. What it does have going for it is a taut plot full of suspense and mystery. This is a puzzle novel. Not a novel puzzle like The Davinci Code where the puzzle is the thing and everything else is secondary. The puzzles of a first-rate thriller exist not as the primary purpose but to p More...

Stephen King recommended author.

Another book that just floored me! Very craftily written and it leaves to thinking at the end... what really DID happen? I read this book in one day; I just couldn't put it down, so stayed up late to finish it. Now I want to see the movie!

read it now

LeHane is one of my favorite authors. This was more than mystery—it’s full of twists and turns and utter surprises. I couldn’t put it down. Amazing story telling.

Could not put this book down, Lehane had me on edge until the very end.

This was one of those books that stunned me in the end! A jaw dropper.

I decided it was about time I read a Lehane novel BEFORE the movie came out and made me think, "Oh, I've already seen the movie, I should read a book where I don't already know the ending instead."

And what an ending it was, although one I saw coming. I think it's because I've read (or maybe watched) similar stories before, and Lehane did a good job setting up some clues.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes atmospheric mysteries. The whole setting is very creepy, and the previews for the movie More...

Un buon libro che scende in gola come un bel bicchiere d'acqua fresca in una giornata assolata.

La storia scorre apparentemente veloce in prima lettura verso il finale decisamente a sorpresa, e quando intendo finale dico proprio l'ultima paginetta, che vi farà correre indietro per tutto il libro a cercare e a reinterpretare dialoghi, situazioni, azioni per arrivare a capire ciò che effettivamente sia successo e a dubitarne in ogni caso tutte le volte che ci ripenserete e cercherete di focalizzar More...

How to review this book without giving out any spoilers, that's going to be a challenge.
Well let me start by saying that when I finished reading the book, I just kind of sat here dumbfounded for a moment or two and sort of replayed the story through my head, trying to let all the pieces fall into place. In a way I was taken by surprise with the ending, but then after sitting and reflecting on it, I don't think it could have gone any other way. Teddy's character has so many layers you really feel More...

I picked up Shutter Island after seeing a movie trailer that made it look intriguing.
Lehane is a story-teller and the book was like a game of Clue. There were many groan-out-loud similes which took the place of good writing as did the macho language used by Daniels and the officials at the hospital. Most of the other patients were the to-be-expected goons.
Teddy Daniels, a US. Marshal, goes to Ashecliffe Hospital on Shutter Island to find the murderer of his wife. There are all the usual trap More...

Dennis Lehane NEVER ceases to amaze me with the gift he has. He evokes so much emotion from his readers...simply by the way he strings his words together to make sentences and paragraphs. For example, right off the bat in the prologue the reader is painted this incredible picture:

"If time for me really is a series of bookmarks, then I feel as if someone has shaken the book and those yellowed slips of paper, torn matchbook covers and flattened coffee stirrers have fallen to the floor, and the dog More...

I read this book in one day, coming back from Hawaii with the worst flu I've ever had. I'm sure my delirium added to the amount that this book freaked me out, but I literally still get crawling skin when I think about this book. Just reading the names of the characters makes me skin crawl. I felt so sick and freaked out when I finished it that I felt totally out of myself for a few days.
I COULD NOT put this book down. I don't remember ever being this sucked in to a book.
I've wanted to actually More...

I was interested in watching the movie, but decided to read the book first. I was supposed to be working that weekend, but decided to start Shutter Island. Big mistake! I read it in one day. It was my first Dennis Lehane novel - I was really impressed with how easy, it was to read - how it flowed. I had my suspicions, but Lehane had me caught up in the conspiracy theory. When all was revealed I was like no - no -no. The ending was sad, but it was a great ride.

Airport fiction is bizarre. Glossy covers of black and neon with the author's name larger than the title - and then you flip through eight or nine pages of superlatives in all capital letters written by raving nutcases employed by our nation's newspapers.

And then FORESHADOWING and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT and CLIFFHANGERS at the end of each chapter. And then the EARTH SHATTERING CLIMAX and REVEAL, that usually involves the truth about the death of one of the characters.

Some people read this stuff c More...

Wow....go out and get this book. At about 60% I was enjoying it, but still not sure what all the hype was about...sure it was ok, but not the best of books...then the real mind games started.....hey!!!!! why are you still here reading this review!!!!!!????????????? Didn't I just tell you to go get the book???????????????? Vamanos!!!! go on and get it....you won't be disappointed!!! thanks Blythe for making me read it.....

It too long before this novel to starts to go anywhere and when it does, you are a little over caring. Seriously by page 40 they have just arrived on the Island...come on! I didnt care about Teddy on any level and the ending.....somewhat cliched. I found Lehane's writing to be a little clunky and not very smooth. He had a terrible habit of having free flowing speech without indicating which character was saying what. A skilled writer is able to pull this off as the reader always knows who is tal More...

I read this knowing very little about the story, which I often find is the best way to read a book, without anyone else's plot summary or opinion clouding your judgment. If you aren't familiar with it or just haven't read it yet, but you enjoy any combination of suspense, mystery, and thrillers, stop reading reviews and just READ THE BOOK. It is a fast paced story, easy to get lost in, and hard to put down. Such fun, and one of very few books that I've ever felt the urge to read all over again i More...

This was my first book by Dennis Lehane. I'd been wanting to read him for a while and one of the reasons I read Shutter Island first was all the shining reviews about the big twist you'll never see coming.

I hate to be that person, that party pooper saying "I saw it coming from a mile away" but I was expecting a slap in the face and all I got was a wink. I'd been in on it.

I can't give a mystery novel five stars unless it blows me away and since I nearly had it figured out this one didn't do that More...

Gloria recommended this book, so I'm going to give it a try. It's already quite intriguing--a mentally ill woman who had killed her children is missing from her room, which was locked from the outside and had only a small window with bars on it. The hospital for the criminally insane is located on a small island, so even escaping from the island would be tricky, Here's an update: if you like mysteries this is a good one. It is by the same author who wrote Mystic River, if that tells you anything More...