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Author (Platform): Paul Finch (Kindle)
Publisher (Release): Thomas & Mercer (2025)
Length: 343 pages
Genres: Adult; Thriller; Suspense; Whodunit; Horror
❗️Disclaimers❗️:
contains strong scenes of blood and violence
this review contains low-level spoilers
recommendation: vibe check before reading
👍 Pros 👍
Cuttingly brutal
Ragtag group of gritty suspects
Excellent exploration of moral principles
👎 Cons 👎
Action comes a bit late to the party
Revelations are leaps in logic over supported investigation
Stark finale that ignores its primary themes of redemption
👀 Synopsis 👀
A dream holiday. You’d die to be there.
You are offered the getaway of a lifetime on a remote island with a group of strangers. Things have been difficult recently, so you jump at the chance to swim under the summer sun, explore the peaceful woodlands and return to an elegant hotel for a glorious dinner.
As the boat pulls into the harbour, you’re surrounded by crystal-clear water and soon you are alone. Just the peace and quiet you were promised. No phone signal, no internet… no way to call for help. But nothing will go wrong in paradise, right?
As a huge summer storm rolls towards the island, everyone is starting to realise the secrets they’ve been hiding for years seem to have followed them here. And you are no different.
Then one of your group disappears. His body washes up in the picture-postcard harbour, and it’s clearly no accident.
Can you get out alive?
🛎️ Introduction 🛎️
The Island kicks off with a gritty little premise that draws you into a surprising thriller that’s more slasher than suspense (which isn’t a bad thing). Mystery collides with violence, blood, and cuttingly creative deaths to create a mostly satisfying jaunt across an isolated island with a brutal killer that could be anyone. That collision, however, doesn’t quite sit so flush. The Island can’t quite decide if it wants to tell a thrilling whodunit or a thrilling horror, bouncing erratically between the two while jumping to easy conclusions without the strongest trail of breadcrumbs to support them.
🧩 Plots 🧩
The Island sees a shady cabal of crooked cops brought to an idyllic little resort to find their place in the world after betraying it. Flecks of redemption and the morally grey reality of money vs principles inspire the core story’s themes, and, as each character wrestles with themselves in Finch’s third-person, past-tense narrative, a brutal storm traps them all on a beautiful island with a sadistic killer.
Paradise isn’t for everyone
A bloody and brutal whodunit ensues, picking off characters one by one in a thriller more akin to a slasher than the expected suspenseful drama the blurb belies. Action comes a little later than I’d have liked but it’s a welcome addition, shaking up the pace and injecting some adrenaline to focus the bustling that comes with the cast’s investigation. I love a good isolated mystery, and The Island delivers the requisite stress of distrusting the majority of the colourfully grey characters. Trying to guess who’s responsible and why is palpable throughout the story, and seeing guesses be picked off in creatively brutal ways is icing on the deliciously thrilling cake.
That cake, though, is perhaps a bit too sweet as it rushes to a finale with empty calories. Some pretty big leaps in logic are made to reach an obvious, predetermined conclusion that doesn’t support itself well with real evidence. The cast guesses the who and why almost immediately, with very few clues or blind alleys to provide much-needed tension. The close itself is extremely disappointing, with only a little effort to deliver a twist before completely forgetting its themes of identity and redemption in the face of poor choices to end on a stark note that feels rushed and hollow.
‘…more akin to a slasher than the expected suspenseful drama…’
🎭 Characters 🎭
A rough-and-tumble array of disgraced ex-coppers populate The Island with grit and guilt. Finch does an excellent job of creating distinct personalities imbued with questionable choices, haunting betrayals, and guilt-stricken anger that play exceptionally well with the mystery of who’s the Big Bad of the novel. Primarily, we follow Jack and Claudia, recently ousted from The Force after being caught selling their illicit busts back to the criminals for an extra buck. They’re not evil, though, with little sprinklings of the conflict between the Cost of Living, familial obligations and emergencies, and the lacklustre income of those on the front lines of danger and death to soften their disgrace.
Not everyone with a shield protects
Not all of the characters share the same morally conflicting crimes, with the resulting clash in motives providing The Island with most of its tension and suspicion. Character arcs are solid and chiselled from strong emotions, be they of remorse or prideful denial of the consequences of one’s actions, and the resulting exploration of principles vs self-preservation is a rich and thought-provoking aspect of the story.
Like the story, the close for each character is a mixed bag. Some are fittingly delivered from Karma itself while others feel nonsensically rammed into a shape they were never intended to fit. A jarring epilogue follows the finale with very little aplomb, aiming for an enigmatic or brutal conclusion that misses the satisfaction mark. For me, some of these despicable human beings actually deserved better, and the unforgiving nature of the finale feels at odds with the plot’s overall push for redemption.
‘A rough-and-tumble array of disgraced ex-coppers…’
💭 Final Thoughts 💭
The Island is an intriguing little mystery that brings together a ragtag bunch of disgraced police officers to an isolated resort to find their future. It’s a killer premise that leads to a surprisingly bloody battle for survival that shapes the thrilling suspense into a thrilling slasher, leaning on the questionable pasts of its characters and their principles to deliver a decent whodunit.
But the biggest betrayal isn’t within the cast’s past. Instead, for all its murky explorations of redemption, The Island lets its late action drive itself forward far too quickly. The mystery is disappointingly solved with some athletic leaps in logic that dismiss the work done to cast aspersions on certain characters, finishing with a hollow finale that aims for brutality over satisfaction.
The Phoenix Project 