Shutter Island: A Novel

I bought this book and it’s a great book and I’m very glad I did! I’m not much of a reader but when I get a book that is a good read and this is well written and I recommend it!

Shutter Island had a strong, twisty ending that definitely made me stop and think—but it took a long time to get there. The first 200 pages dragged for me. There was very little action, and I felt like the pacing was too slow to really keep me hooked. The atmosphere and concept were intriguing, but the buildup didn’t match the payoff until the final chapters. The ending was worth it, but I wish the journey there had been more engaging. It took me way too long to finish this book - I wanted to DNF if - but I couldn’t because it was a book club read

Oh my god. This book screwed with my head so hard. A friend of mine sent an explosion of all-caps texts when she finished and implored me to read this book, so I dubiously bought it on Kindle. It sat there for a while until I was on a trip with not much to do, so I started reading Shutter Island. Unintelligently, I started at 10 pm and therefore was up till 1 in the morning, because I kept telling myself I would stop after the next chapter and that just...wasn't...going...to...happen. About 70% of the way through the book--disappearances and psycho weather and government conspiracies and everything great--I thought it was almost at a resolution. There'd probably be a last tense scene, and then Teddy, the main character, would go expose all the conspiracies and torture experiments or whatnot, and it would end like that. No. No, instead Teddy becomes the most unreliable narrator I've ever come across, and I got more and more tense and freaked out, which ended with me up at 1 am, having just finished the book and lying there, heart hammering, thinking WTF. There are a lot of different ways to interpret the ending, and a lot of reason to want to yell at the author "how the hell can you just drop us here and leave it like this? what kind of literary monster are you??" I won't go into spoilers here. But I've got to say, especially from someone who doesn't read a whole lot of mysteries or psychological books (unless they're political nonfiction), this is one of the most gripping and memorable and thought-provoking and downright alarming books I've read possibly ever. The writing was also not skimped on--it wasn't dry or weak, but actually quite beautiful in places. (I have to say that since it was set in the 1950s, there seemed to be a little racism in some of the characters' mindsets or interactions or the way people were described...I think this may have been intentional, to give historical tone or whatnot, but it was a bit uncomfortable at times, if you're the type to be bothered by that sort of subtle non-PC-ness.) But altogether, I would give this book as many stars as I can.

This is easily one of the best books I've ever read. I was starting to think I was losing my mind. In typical Lehane fashion I was given a brand new perspective on a group of people I never thought I could relate to. I don't want to say too much to prevent spoiling it, even though I might be the only person who is just now reading this.

Shutter Island is the kind of scary that creeps up, slowly, taking its time, compounding the menace. Marshall Teddy Daniels and his new partner Chuck Aule come to Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane in 1954 to find an escaped murderess, Rachel Solando. There are varying levels of patients at the hospital, the worst of them in Ward C. While conducting their search, unaided by top hospital personnel, Teddy mentions the loss of his wife, who died in a fire two years earlier. The arsonist responsible for that fire is currently held somewhere in the facilities, possibly in Ward C. Chuck expresses his concern that Teddy hasn't told him everything about this visit, his possible desire to seek out and confront the arsonist, Andrew Laeddis. Add to the mix a hurricane bearing down upon the island and no outside communications and the stage is set. Then a patient slips Teddy a note that says, "run"... All this is merely window dressing, the bare bones plot. The truth of this terrifying novel is purely psychological and devastating. For this reader, visions of Jacob's Ladder and Carrion Comfort loom, novels equally as frightening in this particular, and exclusive, genre. Lehane is the master and the characters are his puppets, beautifully manipulated through the halls of an institution where mental patients run amok, friends become foes and nothing is what it seems. In a heady mix of possibilities, hallucinogens, Nazi surgical experiments, torture, death and the ready tricks of a damaged mind, Lehane navigates through a mélange of terror that uncovers the most basic of human fears. Teddy Daniels comes face to face with his own demons, realizing too late that he ignored the warnings all along the way. Quickly infected with Teddy's paranoia, the reader is helpless as the intrepid Marshall forges ahead, unstoppable. This is not a story for the faint of heart, but Shutter Island is unquestionably a must read. Just don't make the mistake of thinking you've figured it out...Luan Gaines/2003.

Quite honestly the BEST book I’ve ever read. Hadn’t seen the movie, but will definitely watch it. The most riveting, spooky, twisty and clever story told in a brilliant and compelling manner. Finished it in a couple of days, and genuinely… I’m not sure I properly understand how it concluded …..

Such a good book, never read something better. It’s the small things you don’t understand that will be important in the end. The writer build up the plot twist sooo good

Ein tolles Buch. Sehr spannend. Guter Schreibstil. anfangs etwas schwer wenn man es gewohnt ist auf Deutsch zu lesen und nicht auf Englisch aber man gewöhnt sich sehr schnell daran. Je weiter man in der Story voranschreitet, desto spannender wird es. Die Letzten 150-200 Seiten könnte ich das Kindle nicht mehr aus der Hand legen. Der Film ist ja schon sehr gut, aber das Buch ist einfach viel besser weil einfach die ganzen Gedanken und die Gedankenwelt des Hauptprotagonisten ausführlich beschrieben werden was in einem Film ja nicht geht.

Dennis Lehane es garantía de una buena lectura y este no es excepción. Tenía tiempo queriendo leerlo y por fin se me cumplió!

I don’t think I will be able to sleep. I was not expecting the plots I think everything was done perfectly