Pig Island - by Mo Hayder (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

A "profoundly creepy and creepily convincing thriller" of religious fanatics and hoax debunkers from the Edgar Award-winning author of Hanging Hill (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Journalist Joe Oakes makes a living exposing supernatural hoaxes, but when he visits a secretive religious community on a remote Scottish island, everything he thought he knew is overturned.

Following the trail of a strange creature caught briefly on film, so deformed it can hardly be human, Oakes crosses a border of electrical fencing, toxin-filled oil drums, and pig skulls to infiltrate the territory of the groups' isolated founder, Malachi Dove. Their confrontation, and its violent aftermath, is so catastrophic that it forces Oakes to question the nature of evil--and whether he might be responsible for the heinous crime about to unfold . . .

This latest entry from the acclaimed British author of the Jack Caffery novels "taps into the current fascination with all things supernatural and questions our assumptions about a number of subjects, from faith healing to cultish religious groups and society's definition of evil" (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review).

"[Hayder] remains one of our most adventurous, unpredictable and ambitious writers." --The Guardian

"Hayder offers both a riveting story and a nuanced, distinctly modern look at secrecy and publicity, belief and skepticism, normal and taboo, (in)sight and blindness." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"An adventurous, edgy, literate writer." --Kirkus Reviews

Review Quotes

Praise for Pig Island:

"A piercing look at the long and lingering tentacles of war . . . Dunmore writes with elegant authority." --Entertainment Weekly

"Though gruesome enough to satisfy even the most hardcore horror fan, this rigorously imagined novel is also full of apt (if bleak) detail and graced with a perfect plot twist at the end. Hayder (The Devil of Nanking) offers both a riveting story and a nuanced, distinctly modern look at secrecy and publicity, belief and skepticism, normal and taboo, (in)sight and blindness." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Disturbing . . . Hayder has a gift for the hard-boiled language necessary to put her horror plot over; her words crunch satisfyingly in [Joe] Oakes's mouth." --Mikael Wood, Time Out New York

"Hayder proves to be a maestro of the sinister . . . Pig Island is never less than intriguing and . . . thrillingly horrific." --Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News

"Pig Island mashes up the horror and detective fiction genres to create a fascinating and often unsettling book ... For a gruesome twist on the traditional mystery, this book will definitely deliver."--Stephen Lovely, Murder & Mayhem

"The elaborate shock effects that define Hayder's savage style ultimately serve their purpose in a novel that taps into the current fascination with all things supernatural and questions our assumptions about a number of subjects, from faith healing to cultish religious groups and society's definition of evil." --Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

"Pig Island is another astonishing mutation of the crime thriller. . . . The novel masterfully exposes not only the horror but also the human frailty at the story's core." --Anna Mundow, The Boston Globe

"Not afraid of the stench of blood. In fact, it's an abattoir. . . . Prepare to sit up all night in a well-lit room, because this British grandmaster of shock-suspense is back at it--this time asking her readers to question reality in an entirely new and thoroughly unnerving way." --Kel Munger, Sacramento News and Review

"A convincing thriller that deftly explores the degree to which skepticism can become its own sort of blind faith." --Octavian

"Mo Hayder has a profound ability to shock and surprise her readers, and Pig Island surpasses anything she has written before. She's the bravest writer I know." --Karin Slaughter, author of Triptych and Faithless

"So fast-paced and horrifying that I had to sit up until the early hours to finish it." --The Daily Telegraph

"Hayder offers both a riveting story and a nuanced, distinctly modern look at secrecy and publicity, belief and skepticism, normal and taboo, (in)sight and blindness." --Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette

"Briskly paced and fluid . . . The twist comes like a hammer blow right at the end, clever and unexpected." --The Times (London)

"One of our most adventurous, unpredictable and ambitious writers." --Peter Guttridge, The Observer (London)

Praise for The Devil of Nanking:

"It is seldom one has to read a novel with a fist stuffed in one's mouth to contain the gasps of horror." --Daily Express

"Wrenching . . . A beautifully controlled thriller." --Douglas Wolk, The New York Times Book Review

"Mo Hayder knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat right up until the moment she pushes you off screaming." --Peter Mergendahl, Rocky Mountain News

"A major talent that transcends thriller writing." --Time Out (London)

About the Author

Mo Hayder won the Edgar Award for Best Novel for Gone and the 2011 Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library Award for outstanding body of work. She is also the author of Birdman, The Treatment, The Devil of Nanking, Ritual, Skin, Hanging Hill, Poppet, and Wolf. She lives in England.