Primeval: The Lost Island

Primeval #6

by Paul Kearney

Primeval sees evolutionary zoologist Nick Cutter make the terrifying discovery that prehistoric creatures are alive and well in the twenty-first century. The natural world is turned on its head and humanity faces extinction as unexplained anomalies rip holes in the fabric of time and allow creatures from the earliest stages of Earth's development to roam the modern world.

Set on a mysterious island in the perilous Irish seas in this brand new Primeval adventure Cutter, Stephen, Abbie and Connor face a terrifying new challenge…

A heady mixture of action and adventure, Cutter and his team are forced to confront terrifying creatures from the past and the future with gripping consequences.

Genres: Science Fiction, Dinosaurs, Time Travel, Fiction, Media Tie In

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 25, 2008

About the author

Paul Kearney was born in rural County Antrim, Ireland, in 1967. His father was a butcher, and his mother was a nurse. He rode horses, had lots of cousins, and cut turf and baled hay. He often smelled of cowshit.

He grew up through the worst of the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland, a time when bombs and gunfire were part of every healthy young boy's adolescence. He developed an unhealthy interest in firearms and Blowing Things Up - but what growing boy hasn't?

By some fluke of fate he managed to get to Oxford University, and studied Old Norse, Anglo-Saxon and Middle English.

He began writing books because he had no other choice. His first, written at aged sixteen, was a magnificent epic, influenced heavily by James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Robert E Howard, and Playboy. It was enormous, colourful, purple-prosed, and featured a lot of Very Large Swords.

His second was rather better, and was published by Victor Gollancz over a very boozy lunch with a very shrewd editor.

Luckily, in those days editors met authors face to face, and Kearney's Irish charm wangled him a long series of contracts with Gollancz, and other publishers. He still thinks he can't write for toffee, but others have, insanely, begged to differ.

Kearney has been writing full-time for twenty-eight years now, and can't imagine doing anything else. Though he has often tried.

Reviews

[Evan K · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pacing is good. The descriptions, dialogue and characterization are all good. The creature selection was a bit predictable but it provided a fitting level of action. I liked this though, and I can see myself reading it again.

What I like about this book is that it actually adds interesting lore to the world we know from the TV show. Cutter's emotional introspection regarding his relationship with Stephen is something to be appreciated by long term fans. The team also learn that the anomalies were studied long before the ARC, which really gets you wondering.

[Leontien · Rating 4 out of 5]

TV tie-ins always seem to be either good or horridly bad :) This would be the first Primeval book I've read, and while I think it was a really nice read, there's one negative point, it ended far too quickly all of the sudden. Like the one moment, they're trapped someplace, the next, everyone's rescued and safe etc, the end. Aside from that, if you like Primeval or dinos I'd totally recommend it to you.

[Andrew Beet · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book and good story the edition i read of the lost island was published in january 2011 and is 265 pages as i say good story it was good to see the character of Lester get away from the ARC. i liked it when they got to the base and they found it was a bunker that was built 50 years ago but overall great story and definitely a book i would read again.

[N.S. Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

When several anomalies seem to be showing at once on the disputed Guns Island, the team are sent out to find out what’s going on and to keep it from going public. Easier said than done when the soldiers on the mission haven’t yet encountered primeval creatures and the island in question is hotly disputed by the English, Irish and French meaning sending armed people here is going to raise red flags.

I couldn’t put this one down, the author captured the t.v characters brilliantly and I love how he wrote about Cutter trying to deal with the Claudia/Jenny dilemma and having a fractured relationship with Steven after the reveal of his affair with Helen. The action was great, dark and gritty with a lot of hairy moments even before the creatures appeared, gory in parts as a warning for would be readers. Personally, considering everything they were dealing with, it made sense to me for there to be real moments of horror and violence.

I also loved the character of Captain Willoby, made me nostalgic for Captain Ryan. Alas, the other soldiers weren’t developed quite so much but every additional character was allowed one or two traits to differentiate them enough and raise them to a little more than cannon fodder.

I really enjoyed how Jenny was thrown into the action as well. She was written quite well as a tough woman when in her element of politics, attractive and admired by most of the men she came up against.

It got a little OC towards the end with Lester and slapped an ill-placed happy conclusion to an otherwise grim and graphic tale. Even though you knew the central characters had to make it out considering it’s set before certain events on the show they didn’t get away unscathed, which again I liked because considering what they’re up against it doesn’t make sense for them to always be uninjured.

I would’ve changed a couple of things but only because of my attachment to Willoby. I also found the constant implication of Connor being a kid odd, he’s childish at times on the show but clearly in his late twenties.

Overall, for being a spin-off of a t.v show which I’m always wary of, it was very faithful to the show’s characters and following along the plot line of Cutter coming back through the anomaly to Jenny and not Claudia. It was very descriptive, gritty and full of excitement and adventure.

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid Primeval novel, set in the show's second series (and after Shadow of the Jaguar).

Multiple anomalies open up in a remote island in the North Atlantic - The Island is contested by both the French and the Irish (neither of whom the British government want to tell about the anomalies) and it was also a bio-weapons test site during the war. Cutter and his team plus military support have to go in and sort out the problem.

This is lightening paced (I read it in practically one sitting) - Its very much a boys adventure story with various dinosaurs, soldiers, guns and a very high death toll. It's biggest let down is the end.... It just kind of stops, and because its been high adrenaline, adventure after adventure the abrupt ending is a real let down - we certainly don't go out with a bang.

The characters are all on point - Lester at the end is particularly cool. Steven gets more to do in this one, he gets severely injured towards the end as well which makes the reader sympathetic - We don't develop his character much, but at least he's not completely wasted as he was in Jaguar. If anyone's on the sidelines in this one its Abby - It's very much a boys adventure, and while she's there as part of the team she isn't given anything that shows off her skills or character. Jenny gets a some nice moments - I love it when she gets held by the Irish police and when she crash lands via helicopter.

In terms of the Primeval Universe - we have multiple anomalies, outside mainland UK and I like the fact that there was a research centre built around an anomaly 50 years ago to study it - begs the question who was studying it and where's their data?

I thoroughly enjoyed this one - Its edge of your seat exciting for most of it - there's sea monsters, helicopter crashes, international politics, dinosaur chases. It doesn't add much to the depth of the characters or relationships, or the expand on the lore of the show, but its a lot of fun and pretty solid as TV-Tie-In novels go.

[Alyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down once I got started. I'm a big fan of novelisations of my favourite franchises and this book lived up to that.
The characters were written so well that had someone with no knowledge of primeval and its characters read it they would be immediately adept in all the characters nuances and for those who are already familiar with them it doesn't feel like obvious character description.
I thoroughly enjoyed the premise of the story and the whole thing was an exciting adventure from start to finish. It managed to keep up the suspense and keep introducing twists in the plot -right up to the end- so that I couldn't guess what would happen next making it harder to put down.
I would agree with other reviews that it does finish very suddenly at the end and maybe could have benefitted from an additional chapter going into more detail on the aftermath.
Would absolutely recommend this book to any fans of primeval, dinosaurs or sci-fi in general.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another brilliant Primeval novel. Again, if you’re a fan of Primeval, read these books.

Much like the previous author, Paul Kearney is able to write within the world of Primeval well. Reference to previous events included. The characters and storyline are believable, moving as they would do in an episode, with the sped-up ending.

The book is set between episodes 3 and 4 of season 2, and after Shadow of the Jaguar.

[Chance · Rating 2 out of 5]

It toke me awhile to find a copy of this book to read, and truthfully it was a Hugh waste of time the story was unnned gave nothing new the primeval universe expect to go on a sea adventure. Nothing was really good but it wouldn’t say isn’t really bad just bad.

[Mr Gordon Parmenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

Good coherent story with climaxes and description. Very enjoyable as a primeval fan so would recommend for other primeval fans.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

See Shadow of the Jaguar review

[Graham Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raced to an ending that was too unbelievable to anyone who watched the TV show by the Same name!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hanging between a three and a four for me. I really liked it, could barely stop reading it, but there were pros and cons.

Cons: My favorite non-show character died. :(
Cons: The whole plan was 'get to the island' and as soon as they landed it was 'get off the island.' I mean, they do stuff while on the island, but that was their mindset the whole time.
Con: Note #1 below

Pros: Connor gets to be KICK ASS in the final battle and is pretty important the whole time.
Pros: Lester is a bad ass in this.
Pros: Not all the non-show characters die! >.>
Pros: Note #2 below

#1: If this wasn't a canonical book, I'd say this fanfic writer couldn't decide what shit to make the characters go through. Think of what could possibly go wrong on such a mission....and it went wrong. Kudos for getting the whole team to the island when only the field members were supposed to go.

#2 Slight spoiler: near the beginning, when the team first learns they're going to Guns Island, Connor does something while no one is looking. Not saying what, for those who haven't read it yet. You kind of forget it, but sometimes you remember and go 'that's got to come in some time. it's sort of important, right?' and then at the end BOOM! It comes in and leads to Connor's badass-ery!

And I loved that (#2): that they gave a small detail you could overlook and then brought it back in a big way. Good job Mr. Kearney. Good job.

And of course Connor being awesome was, well, awesome.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good story involving the characters and some anomalies that have appeared near and on an island that is in contention between Ireland and France. A boat is destroyed and people killed. Lester sets up a clandestine trip to the island but things go horribly wrong. The weather is horrible, and prehistoric monsters seem to be pouring out of the anomalies. The group gets trapped in a WWII bunker and has to go through an anomaly that is in the building and escape into the past in order to have any chance of survival.

In the past they have to fight more monsters and the casualty rate rises quickly. Meanwhile Lester is trying to keep everyone from finding out just what is happening while also trying to balance the needs of England against the Irish and French who both claim the island.

This is probably the most action-packed story of the series that I have read so far, yet the story itself is so good that the action doesn't overwhelm it. It's so good that I am definitely going to get the rest of the books in the series.

[T.M. Carper]

It was really easy to visualize the story. You could almost feel the cold and wet. Plus there was a lot of great lines and the characters were very in character -- such as Connor deciding to upgrade the ADD much to Lester and Cutter's chargin and him being denied a gun over and over again; Cutter seeing Jenny as Claudia (this is still very early series 2 time-wise); Stephen trying to be macho even after being injured; and Abby messing around with Connor and getting yelled at by Cutter. I pretty much read it one sitting. It's fast-paced and very interesting. It's an original adventure -- not a novalization of an episode.



There's also some hints toward the series 3 finale... which I thought was very interesting. Only Connor would want to end up in the Cretacous period... There's a few other hints toward the future including Connor's idea of controlling anomalies.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this book, it sees the team travelling to an anomaly in an island disputed between the French and the Irish, and a covert operation needs to go ahead. But as seems to be the mood with Paul Kearney's Primeval books, most of it was filled with doom and gloom, and barely any light at the end of the tunnel. There was still some graphic blood mentioned, nowhere near as much as the previous book, but still enough to make me feel uncomfortable. Saying that, it flowed a little better than Shadow of the Jaguar. The characters were still very accurate, and it was still nice to see exactly how the relationship between Cutter and Stephen healed.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anomálie se začnou objevovat na ostrůvku, na který si dělá nárok kromě Británie i Irsko a Francie a proto náš tým vyráží v naprosto příšerném počasí - je potřeba zasáhnout rychle, aby nedošlo k diplomatickým potížím.
Kniha má spád, nemohla jsem se od ní odtrhnout. Kromě dramatických zvratů jsem si užívala i "diplomatické" vtípky (francouzi na lodi s dvěstěčlennou posádkou a zásobami vína, kteří dorazí právě včas , aby přeživší zabalili do dek a napojili posilujícími nápoji).
Miluju seriál a pokud po knize náhodou sáhne někdo, kdo ho nezná, měl by si z hodnocení jednu hvězdičku ubrat.

[Jim C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book based on the BBC series. When reading a book based on a series, the main question is if the author correctly writes the character's persona. The author does this with no problem. I had no problem with each character and the plot of the book reminded me of the show. This could have been an episode. If you were a fan of the show, you owe it to yourself to read this. If you weren't a fan, this is a good read but you might miss some things.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a much more exciting adventure than the previous book (Shadow Of The Jaguar) which had a by-the-numbers feel of the team being joined by a bunch of soldiers only for the soldiers to be fodder for the dinosaurs. However, the political intrigue with the Irish and French added a certain spice to the story (even if there was no real impact). This played out pretty well, though did have a rather abrupt ending.
As a reread, I'd forgotten most of this, but it's fun while it lasts.

[Ariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book! It read very much like an episode. All the characters matched up nicely with their TV counterparts, with the exception of Stephen. The action was fast paced, and the one liners were prevelant.
A nice afternoon read!

[Martasek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Další skvěle napsaný díl.
Vážně obrovská škoda, že tohle je poslední díl, který u nás vyšel :/
Autorovi se povedlo, že jsem si připadali, jako člen skupiny, který je se všemi členy týmu na ostrově.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was great! it was a bit slow at some places but it was great most of the way through! a must-read for anyone who likes primeval! :)

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read if you like the tv series. The books allow more detail than an hour long episode. A fun read.

[Cherilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found that this book started out strong but suddenly finished too fast.

[Deedee]

Available in Peachtree City Library

[Jamie Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgot how good the primeval books were, one of my favourite TV shows too

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written adventure story which any fan of the Primeval TV series should enjoy.