REVIEW:

It’s a good thing U.S. streaming service Hulu is already adapting Adrian McKinty’s latest adrenaline thriller, The Island, because this bananas book just bursts off the page. If it’s a faithful adaptation, here’s what viewers have in store:

• Super sweaty people running amok, chasing and being chased, across a private Australian island.

• Deliverance-in-the-outback meets (female) Rambo vibes.

• A 24yo woman, married to a 44yo widow, parenting his sassy tween kids.

• Perils such as red ants, snakes, machetes, and nooses.

• Dogs getting shot. (Boooo!!!)

This is a real nail biter that’ll have you sailing through its pages. It’s the yin to any “slow burn” thriller’s yang. I don’t need to read a ton of books like this, but once in awhile it’s refreshing to just go along for the crazy ride.

My thanks to the author and Little, Brown & Company for the gifted advance copy to review via NetGalley. The expected US publication date is May 17, 2022.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

IT WAS JUST SUPPOSED TO BE A FAMILY VACATION.

A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT CHANGED EVERYTHING.

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE CAPABLE OF UNTIL THEY COME FOR YOUR FAMILY.

After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. A working vacation overseas seems like the perfect way to bring the new family together, but once they’re deep in the Australian outback, the jet-lagged and exhausted kids are so over their new mom.

When they discover remote Dutch Island, off-limits to outside visitors, the family talks their way onto the ferry, taking a chance on an adventure far from the reach of iPhones and Instagram.

But as soon as they set foot on the island, which is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, everything feels wrong. Then a shocking accident propels the Baxters from an unsettling situation into an absolute nightmare.

When Heather and the kids are separated from Tom, they are forced to escape alone, seconds ahead of their pursuers.

Now it’s up to Heather to save herself and the kids, even though they don’t trust her, the harsh bushland is filled with danger, and the locals want her dead. Heather has been underestimated her entire life, but she knows that only she can bring her family home again and become the mother the children desperately need, even if it means doing the unthinkable to keep them all alive.

SOON TO BE A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES