3/5 Stars
WARNING: Brace yourself for a long one here, I didn't realise how much this book annoyed me until I started writing.
Blurb:
When eight people go on a cruise in the Bahamas, they plan to swim, sunbathe and relax. Getting shipwrecked is definitely not in the script. But after the yacht blows up they're stranded on a deserted island, and there's a maniac on the loose.
Review:
Island is the story of Rupert, a teenage boy who gets stuck on an island with his teenage girlfriend, her parents and her sisters. Seemingly an accidental explosion of their ship, it soon becomes apparent that someone has set them up. Then people start to show up dead, and they soon realise they're living amongst a murderer.
The book overall kept me interested the whole way through. There was always elements of mystery, even though we knew who the perpetrator was most of the way through. Richard Laymon is clearly a talented writer. He knows how to keep it interesting, despite it being a pretty long book.
Despite how interesting it was, there was also a lot wrong with it in my opinion. First of all, some of it was downright perverted and wrong. Fair enough, this is fiction and the character in question was meant to be sadistic, but I didn't really NEED to know all the details. I found Rupert's obsession with the women on the island totally inappropriate, given their circumstances.
Another thing which spoilt it for me was how it ended. As readers, of course we want the satisfaction of things being wrapped up toward the end. We want to see how it ends - where do the characters end up? Do they ever get off the island? What do they tell people? The author didn't tell us any of this. The story ended with them still on the island, really no further forward.
The sexual pairing of two of the characters also seemed a little weird after everything. Considering the character in question had been raped and abused for some time, why would she want to be sexual toward somebody else? It just seemed as if Richard Laymon was using his female characters as objects, not really giving much thought to how they would be feeling after their turmoil. All the women in fact were very volatile and mouthy, despite everything they were going through. Is that really the greatest depiction of somebody who has been through all that? I think maybe the author needs to do some research on sexual abuse if he's going to write about something so horrific.
It's a massive shame, because if some of that would have been handled better, and Rupert wasn't such a perv, the book would have gotten a higher rating from me.
The book overall kept me interested the whole way through. There was always elements of mystery, even though we knew who the perpetrator was most of the way through. Richard Laymon is clearly a talented writer. He knows how to keep it interesting, despite it being a pretty long book.
Despite how interesting it was, there was also a lot wrong with it in my opinion. First of all, some of it was downright perverted and wrong. Fair enough, this is fiction and the character in question was meant to be sadistic, but I didn't really NEED to know all the details. I found Rupert's obsession with the women on the island totally inappropriate, given their circumstances.
Another thing which spoilt it for me was how it ended. As readers, of course we want the satisfaction of things being wrapped up toward the end. We want to see how it ends - where do the characters end up? Do they ever get off the island? What do they tell people? The author didn't tell us any of this. The story ended with them still on the island, really no further forward.
The sexual pairing of two of the characters also seemed a little weird after everything. Considering the character in question had been raped and abused for some time, why would she want to be sexual toward somebody else? It just seemed as if Richard Laymon was using his female characters as objects, not really giving much thought to how they would be feeling after their turmoil. All the women in fact were very volatile and mouthy, despite everything they were going through. Is that really the greatest depiction of somebody who has been through all that? I think maybe the author needs to do some research on sexual abuse if he's going to write about something so horrific.
It's a massive shame, because if some of that would have been handled better, and Rupert wasn't such a perv, the book would have gotten a higher rating from me.
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