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Escape from Lost Island #1
Stranded
To: All Base Commanders Pacific Region
From: Pacific Command
C-47 en route Oahu from Marshall Islands lost from radar at 0100 hours today. Twenty-two juvenile delinquent military dependents on board.
Plane down in Omega quadrant. Site of abandoned Proteus experiment. Subjects believed alive in area. Highly dangerous.
All planes forbidden from entering Omega quadrant. Rescue effort impossible.
When seven boys wash ashore on a beautiful tropical island, they must fight for survival against an enemy more fierce than they ever could have imagined. Follow the boys’ incredible adventures in this heart-stopping series.
From: Pacific Command
C-47 en route Oahu from Marshall Islands lost from radar at 0100 hours today. Twenty-two juvenile delinquent military dependents on board.
Plane down in Omega quadrant. Site of abandoned Proteus experiment. Subjects believed alive in area. Highly dangerous.
All planes forbidden from entering Omega quadrant. Rescue effort impossible.
When seven boys wash ashore on a beautiful tropical island, they must fight for survival against an enemy more fierce than they ever could have imagined. Follow the boys’ incredible adventures in this heart-stopping series.
144 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1990
5 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 12, 2025
Update, 3/11/25:
I met Clay Coleman just over a year ago. Unfortunately it's not the one who wrote this book series, or the poor man has amnesia. (It could be intentional amnesia given how the last book or two really went off the rails.) Anyway, he's actually my new boss at work. I told him about the book series he wrote, and how much I enjoyed it, but he claims to know nothing about it. Hoping to help him with his memory loss, I loaned him this one last January or so. He still hasn't read it, but he swears he'll get to it one day, and I believe he will. By complete coincidence, he told me about it today as he was leaving. It's coincidental because it was exactly nine years ago today that I reread this, and he even pulled it out of his bag to show me he still had it.
Yeah, me neither. But still, what are the odds of there being two Clay Colemans among the 8.2 billion inhabitants on God's green Earth, and that one of them would live just a few miles from me, and end up working where I work, and being my boss, and he would meet one of the three or four people who actually read the book that his doppelganger wrote?
Oh, really? Freaky...
Reread, 3/11-3/14, 2016:
(Since these books are so obscure that goodreads can't provide a cover for them in their avatars, I'll post pics of my own. Can't rely on anybody these days; gotta do everything yourself.)
Ah, what a blissful stroll down memory lane. This was one of my favorite series in middle school. I now remember that I read the first three books in seventh grade because I got them for Christmas. I got the last three later, and think I read all six in eighth grade... not that anyone cares. Mental notes for myself... or I guess social media notes for myself.
Anyway, I'm sticking with my four star rating. I cover the plot of this book in my original review below. As for the writing, it's not super great, though certainly not bad by any stretch. I guess I rate it "good." It's perfect for young adult material as it's not too weighty, but also not dumbed down. The sentences are short, and that gets a little annoying after a while, but I've been immersed in classical literature the past few years, so that's influencing my perception.
The pace is fast, especially once you get into the heart of the matter. The pages just kept on turning. I'm remembering the plot as I read along, but it's been long enough ago that I can't remember what happens until I get to it. Regardless, I'm loving it.
It's a shame Clay Coleman never wrote anything else. In fact, I can't find anything at all about the guy on the internet. I wonder if I wrote to HarperCollins if they'd know anything? I'd just like to send him a letter saying how much I loved these as a kid and that I'm enjoying them just as much as an adult. I think it's a shame this series was there and then gone like a one hit wonder. I'm sure a lot of kids would enjoy it had it been marketed more. I remember suggesting to Mrs. Norton, the middle school librarian, that she get a set for the library. I don't know if she ever did, though.
I'm glad Santa brought them to the house one Christmas so I could read them, though I gave my set away to a middle school aged kid in 2007. I eventually regretted that, and wanted to borrow them again, but I think he had passed them on to someone else, or packed them up, and I never see him anymore anyway, so I bought them all again. It was surprisingly difficult to find them, but I succeeded. Most of them cost $0.01 + $3.99 shipping from used bookshops, ha ha, but it was worth it.
So, if you like adventure stories and want to go through the trouble of finding these gems, do it, do it, do it, man. I don't know how much of my love for these is tainted by nostalgia, but I think they're great. Another friend of mine had them, too, and he also thought they were awesome. I wonder if he still has his? You know, I might have his now... I'm not sure that we weren't the only two people in the world who owned these books when they came out.
Original Review, August 26, 2010:
Originally read sometime early 1991
There were six books in the Escape from Lost Island series, and they are as follows (links go to my reviews): Stranded!, Attack!, Mutiny!, Discovered!, Revenge!, and Escape!.I'll let this review stand for all six. I read these around eighth grade, I think. I thought they were excellent. It's about some kids (several from some kind of juvie center) whose plane crash-lands on an island. Two kids who aren't from the juvie place, but whose parents are too cheap to get them tickets on a real plane, serve as the main characters. The pilot dies (no, I swear to you that this was written way before the LOST TV series came out), and the kids are left on their own to fend for themselves. Turns out the island is part of a small group of islands where experiments were done on hardened criminals for rehabilitative purposes. The experiments failed, and the criminals came out meaner than ever, turned on the scientists trying to help them, killed everyone, yadda, yadda, yadda. The series involves the kids trying to get off the island. Many die, I think. (No, I told you. This was before LOST. It's hardly an original concept, after all). I thoroughly enjoyed it when I was a kid, and recommend it to anyone in the "young adult" age range who enjoys adventure books.
I met Clay Coleman just over a year ago. Unfortunately it's not the one who wrote this book series, or the poor man has amnesia. (It could be intentional amnesia given how the last book or two really went off the rails.) Anyway, he's actually my new boss at work. I told him about the book series he wrote, and how much I enjoyed it, but he claims to know nothing about it. Hoping to help him with his memory loss, I loaned him this one last January or so. He still hasn't read it, but he swears he'll get to it one day, and I believe he will. By complete coincidence, he told me about it today as he was leaving. It's coincidental because it was exactly nine years ago today that I reread this, and he even pulled it out of his bag to show me he still had it.
Yeah, me neither. But still, what are the odds of there being two Clay Colemans among the 8.2 billion inhabitants on God's green Earth, and that one of them would live just a few miles from me, and end up working where I work, and being my boss, and he would meet one of the three or four people who actually read the book that his doppelganger wrote?
Oh, really? Freaky...
Reread, 3/11-3/14, 2016:
(Since these books are so obscure that goodreads can't provide a cover for them in their avatars, I'll post pics of my own. Can't rely on anybody these days; gotta do everything yourself.)
Ah, what a blissful stroll down memory lane. This was one of my favorite series in middle school. I now remember that I read the first three books in seventh grade because I got them for Christmas. I got the last three later, and think I read all six in eighth grade... not that anyone cares. Mental notes for myself... or I guess social media notes for myself.
Anyway, I'm sticking with my four star rating. I cover the plot of this book in my original review below. As for the writing, it's not super great, though certainly not bad by any stretch. I guess I rate it "good." It's perfect for young adult material as it's not too weighty, but also not dumbed down. The sentences are short, and that gets a little annoying after a while, but I've been immersed in classical literature the past few years, so that's influencing my perception.
The pace is fast, especially once you get into the heart of the matter. The pages just kept on turning. I'm remembering the plot as I read along, but it's been long enough ago that I can't remember what happens until I get to it. Regardless, I'm loving it.
It's a shame Clay Coleman never wrote anything else. In fact, I can't find anything at all about the guy on the internet. I wonder if I wrote to HarperCollins if they'd know anything? I'd just like to send him a letter saying how much I loved these as a kid and that I'm enjoying them just as much as an adult. I think it's a shame this series was there and then gone like a one hit wonder. I'm sure a lot of kids would enjoy it had it been marketed more. I remember suggesting to Mrs. Norton, the middle school librarian, that she get a set for the library. I don't know if she ever did, though.
I'm glad Santa brought them to the house one Christmas so I could read them, though I gave my set away to a middle school aged kid in 2007. I eventually regretted that, and wanted to borrow them again, but I think he had passed them on to someone else, or packed them up, and I never see him anymore anyway, so I bought them all again. It was surprisingly difficult to find them, but I succeeded. Most of them cost $0.01 + $3.99 shipping from used bookshops, ha ha, but it was worth it.
So, if you like adventure stories and want to go through the trouble of finding these gems, do it, do it, do it, man. I don't know how much of my love for these is tainted by nostalgia, but I think they're great. Another friend of mine had them, too, and he also thought they were awesome. I wonder if he still has his? You know, I might have his now... I'm not sure that we weren't the only two people in the world who owned these books when they came out.
Original Review, August 26, 2010:
Originally read sometime early 1991
There were six books in the Escape from Lost Island series, and they are as follows (links go to my reviews): Stranded!, Attack!, Mutiny!, Discovered!, Revenge!, and Escape!.
March 8, 2020
I read this mostly for nostalgia. The Escape From Lost Island series was my first love as far as books go. It really started my love of reading. I saw the series was available in ebook format and had to check them out again. Very glad that I did.
April 10, 2025
This might be the best book series I have ever read it is also way more violent then I thought it would be
June 22, 2008
Escape from lost island series is along the lines of "Lord of the Flies" but without the Devil worshipping. I read this series when I was in Jr. High and recently reread them through interlibrary loan at the library. Well worth the time.
In a nutshell: Evil mutants live on an island that is owned by the military (experiments gone wrong). Plane of young boys get stranded and must try to survive until someone can rescue them or they find a way to escape.
Great set of books I wish the series would be reprinted.
Series includes: Stranded! Attack! Mutiny! Discovered! Revenge! and Escape! by Clay Coleman
In a nutshell: Evil mutants live on an island that is owned by the military (experiments gone wrong). Plane of young boys get stranded and must try to survive until someone can rescue them or they find a way to escape.
Great set of books I wish the series would be reprinted.
Series includes: Stranded! Attack! Mutiny! Discovered! Revenge! and Escape! by Clay Coleman
December 15, 2015
I remember reading this series as a teenager and thoroughly enjoying them. Great story of a plane crash and what some kids find on an island that was used as a genetic research lab.
May 10, 2023
I loved this book series when I was a pre-teen (12 years old or so).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews