Shutter Island - by Dennis Lehane (Paperback)

About the Book

In a masterful departure from the Boston-based hard-boiled mysteries he's known for, the "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Mystic River" offers an atmospheric psychological thriller set in a 1950s asylum for the criminally insane.

Book Synopsis

The basis for the blockbuster motion picture directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Shutter Island by New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane is a gripping and atmospheric psychological thriller where nothing is quite what it seems. The New York Times calls Shutter Island, "Startlingly original." The Washington Post raves, "Brilliantly conceived and executed." A masterwork of suspense and surprise from the author of Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone, Shutter Island carries the reader into a nightmare world of madness, mind control, and CIA Cold War paranoia and is unlike anything you've ever read before.

From the Back Cover

In the year 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate an unexplained disappearance. Multiple murderess Rachel Solando is loose somewhere on this barren island, despite having been kept under constant surveillance in a locked, guarded cell. As a killer hurricane bears relentlessly down on the island, hints of radical experimentation and covert government machinations add darker, more sinister shades to an already bizarre case. Because nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is remotely what it seems.

Review Quotes

"Combines the claustrophobia of . . . Agatha Christie . . . with the creepiness of a good Stephen King yarn. . . . Good luck putting this one down.--San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

"Nightmarish...it's not a book to start before bedtime. Even if you finish before dawn, Shutter Island will trouble your sleep."--Orlando Sentinel

"Startlingly original...instantly cinematic... unfolds with increasing urgency until it delivers a visceral shock in its final moments."--New York Times

"There is no mystery...about how good this book is; like Mystic River, it's a tour de force."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Fasten your seat belts for a bumpy, breakneck ride...utterly absorbing... is an express train with no local stops...engrossing."--Boston Globe

"The ride this novel provides is as good as entertainment gets."--Miami Herald

"A lollapalooza of a corkscrew thriller...sure to be the most talked-about thriller of the year."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review