Book Review: Shutter Island

Vacations are usually great for many things, but part of it is the airplane flight in which, if you are lucky, you find a good book to pass the time.

Luck was on my side this past vacation to the surprisingly pretty state of Texas (at least the eastern side). Scott who blogs over on Career Waymark, gave me Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane who also wrote Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, both turned into movies already. I’ve seen both of them and even wrote a review on Gone Baby Gone, but haven’t really read any of his books yet.

Until Shutter Island.

This book is also going to be made into a movie and Leonardo DiCaprio will be the star of it, playing Teddy Daniels, along with Mark Ruffalo as Chuck Aule, his partner. It’s set for a 2009 release.

The main plot of the book revolves around an island with a psychiatric ward on it for criminals who are not only some of the worst killers out there, but also mentally ill. It’s fenced in, with soldiers and guards all over to make sure no one gets out. Think Shawshank Redemption meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Now, that could be a very wrong comparison, having never seen it, but I think it’s kind of accurate.

Kind of.

The book revolves around Teddy and Chuck, two U.S. Marshals who meet on a ferry over to the island as they are called in to find a woman named Rachel Solando who has escaped from her cell and is loose on the island. At least, that’s the only place she could be…

Except, breaking out of the cell required her to overcome some insurmountable odds. And then the search for her results in nothing. Getting off the island without a boat is impossible, as the tides and currents wont allow it. There is a brief preface in the book that talks about rats trying to swim for a far off rock and never making it.

So where is she? Teddy and Chuck discover codes and clues in trying to solve the mystery, all the while trying to avoid the massive hurricane that hits the island. There is a mysterious lighthouse and a Ward C where they aren’t allowed in. The seriously insane criminals are there and it’s off-limits.

The longer they are there, things start to get strange…and even more mysterious. Who left the codes? What is the hospital trying to hide? Who is patient 67? Where is Rachel Solando?

That’s about as far as I’ll go in this review. I will just say that the book will give you a fantastic payoff. Things start twisting the deeper you get and you suddenly aren’t sure what you are reading, what is real and what is not. Lehane drops clues along the way that will help you…if you know what to look for.

If you love twists and turns in a book or movie, you gotta get this one. M. Night Shyamalan could have written it, back when he actually wrote good movies.