Saturday, May 1, 2010

Book Review: Shutter Island

Title: Shutter Island 
Author: Dennis Lehane
Pages: 369
Format: Paperback
Genre: Thriller
Star Rating: 3/5
Network: Shelfari | Goodreads | Librarything
Buy: Amazon

My Summary: U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule are called to Shutter Island, the home of Ashcliffe hospital for the criminally insane. A dangerous murderess has escaped and is loose on the island, having simply disappeared from her cell. There is no way that she can get off the island, and it is the job of Marshals Daniels and Aule to find her before it's too late.

My Thoughts: This was a very predictable book. It began slowly in the first two chapters, which seemed nearly interminable at first, but once the pace of the book began to pick up, I found it easy to determine the outcome of the novel before I had finished with Day 1 (or Part 1).

Dennis Lehane has talent: there is no question about that. He pulled me through the book skillfully and I finished it in a record day and a half (something I haven't done in years). My problem is that I felt as though the book was fairly typical for the genre, and didn't bring anything new to the party. I was hoping for something somewhat more original from Lehane, though I will probably try another of his books in the future.

Note to my Followers: If this book is on your TBR list, keep it there. It's worth the read. Don't let my 3 star rating discourage you in the least. I enjoyed the novel enough to rip through it in less than two days. It kept me going, regardless of my tendency to figure things out perhaps a bit too easily!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Becki, I just gave you an award - the Prolific Blogger award. I just posted about it tonight. Now you have to choose 7 blogs to pass the award on to;). This is just to let you know I appreciate your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am still torn about adding this to my TBR. Thanks for sharing Becki!

    ReplyDelete
  3. @bibliophiliac: Wow, thanks! I'm very touched and honored -- that's two awards in one day! :)

    @Julie: I'm very torn on whether or not to recommend the book to you. Since you are such a fan of thrillers, I'm inclined to suggest that you skip it, because I think you'll probably find it as predictable as I did. It was an enjoyable read, but it did not keep me guessing at all.

    If you need something quick and easy, this isn't a bad choice. There was some excitement, but none of the "thrill" I normally get out of incorrect guesses. lol

    ReplyDelete
  4. I thought is was very predictable, too, for a little while.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Becki,

    Here's another award for you-- The Sunshine Award!

    Swing by my non-book blog to pick it up.

    http://bonsvivantsblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/sunshine-award.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi
    I found you on blogfrog and I had to check out this review on Shutter Island. Did you read Mystic River? I just finished it. Dennis LeHane is very talented.

    ReplyDelete