Although I had heard Dennis Lehane, due to his bestselling Mystic River, I had never read any of his books until I picked up Shutter Island. In truth, I would have never thought to read it until I saw the movie previews on television. The previews gave me the impression that the story had some paranormal elements, what with the missing mental patient disappearing through walls.
Shutter Island begins with U.S. Federal Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule visit the Ashcliffe Hospital, an institution for the criminally insane, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Rachel Solando. No one can figure out how she escaped from her locked cell, leaving only a paper with strange codes on it. Soon, Daniels begins to suspect a conspiracy, especially after the woman returns just as mysteriously as she disappeared.
As he is trying to figure out a way to expose the hospital, he wrestles with memories of his late wife, who died two years in an apartment fire. Not only that but he is plotting to kill the man who allegedly set the fire and who happens to be a patient at Ashcliffe. Lehane had me convinced that the hospital was run by sadistic Nazi doctors bent on silencing Daniels and his partner before they could expose them to the rest of the world. Then he wallops the reader with one of the most powerful twists that I’ve encountered in a long time.
You won’t find any paranormal elements between the covers of this book. Lehane dishes out plenty of dark atmosphere, paranoia and page-turning suspense novel. Highly recommended!
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This sounds interesting. I’ve put it on my list.
.-= Karen Lee Field´s last blog ..Book Review: Writing Fiction for Dummies =-.
I think you’ll like this book. It’s got such clever twists. I’ve yet to see the movie, which means that I’ll probably have to wait until it comes out on Netflix in a month or so.