The Island - C.L. Taylor

Reading Challenge Category: Free ARC from NetGalley

Official Blurb:

Welcome to The Island.
Where your worst fears are about to come true…
It was supposed to be the perfect holiday: a week-long trip for six teenage friends on a remote tropical island.
But when their guide dies of a stroke leaving them stranded, the trip of a lifetime turns into a nightmare.
Because someone on the island knows each of the group’s worst fears. And one by one, they’re becoming a reality.
Seven days in paradise. A deadly secret.
Who will make it off the island alive?

My Thoughts:

I started reading this at midnight thinking I’ll just get it started, read 5% and then go to sleep. BIG mistake, before I knew it it was, 2 am, and I’d read 25%, oops!
It was gripping and different right from the start. I’d been unsure about this book as I’d learnt after I’d requested it on NetGalley, that it wasn’t the author’s usual book, but young adult fiction instead. However, I needn’t have worried as it is the fantastically high standard you would expect from this author, and regardless of the target audience, any age can read this and enjoy it.
It is based on six seventeen-year-olds that go on an adventure and get more than what they signed up for. It reminded me a lot of ‘Gone by Michael Grant’ where kids suddenly find themselves having to survive without any adults to help.
We have an alternating point of view between two of the characters, Jessie and Danny. I did wonder why we weren’t getting to see everything from all the POVs, but I suppose that would have over complicated things and maybe made the book too long. However, it wasn’t entirely made apparent why these two and not the other four (although there is one random chapter from Honor).
The ending is done and dusted very quickly, one minute you are in the jungle and the next you are back home dealing with the aftermath. I would have liked this padded out a little more. Even though we get all the answers, I didn’t quite feel ready to give this story up just yet. Especially, after I’d devoured it over such a small space of time, I felt like it was ripped out of my hands at the end.
It was a delightful read, though, and very different from anything else I’ve read recently. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t quite believe how quickly I read it!

Buy Now on Amazon