Belfast-born author Adrian McKinty didn’t start writing his critically acclaimed, award-winning Sean Duffy series set against ‘the Troubles’ era of his Northern Irish childhood until he was living half a world away, in St Kilda. Perhaps he needed the distance. And now that he and his family have uprooted to New York after a decade Downunder, the three-time Ned Kelly Award winner has returned to his more recent home, on the page.
In The Island, young stepmother Heather Baxter is holidaying in Melbourne with her husband Tom and his adolescent kids Olivia and Owen. Tom, a doctor, has a conference to attend, and the family has tagged along. But when a trip into the Victorian countryside then onto a private island so the truculent kids can try to spot koalas and other Australian wildlife goes horribly awry, Heather must fight for the lives of her new family.
McKinty delivers a scorching tale with echoes of Deliverance. Long admired by crime aficionados and awards judges, he shot to wider global acclaim with his 2019 standalone The Chain, a heart-clutching tale of parental nightmares. The Island takes that terror and twists the dial even higher in a fast-paced, ultra-tense tale with a fair bit of emotional heft. You could easily envisage it on the silver screen, but for now it’s a heck of a read.
Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adrian McKinty is a Northern Irish writer of crime and mystery novels and young adult fiction, best known for his 2020 award-winning thriller, The Chain, and the ‘Sean Duffy ‘novels set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.
