The basis for the blockbuster motion picture directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Shutter Island by New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane is a gripping and atmospheric psychological thriller where nothing is quite what it seems. The New York Times calls
Shutter Island
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From Publishers Weekly
Boston-area novelist Lehane has written a terrific suspense novel, an impressive follow-up to 2001's Mystic River. Shutter Island is off Massachusetts's coast, an army facility turned hospital for the criminally insane. When a beautiful-and certifiably crazy-patient escapes, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, are called in to investigate. Embroiled in uncertainties and mystery, the two soon learn there's much more at stake than simply finding one missing woman. Stechschulte gives a stirring performance. His portrayal of Daniels is convincing, and he reads the role with equal parts poignancy and toughness. Stechschulte is particularly adept at reading dialogue. For example, one stormy night at the hospital, Teddy and Chuck are playing cards with two of the hospital's workers. The quartet banters, calling each other's bluffs and having a grand old time, yet tones of racism underlie the conversation. Stechschulte handles the dialogue well, distinguishing between each voice and varying the pace between rapid back-and-forth and thoughtful, drawn out remarks.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Lehane is red hot--his Mystic River (2001) is currently being filmed by Clint Eastwood--and he returns with another blistering page-turner. It's 1954, and U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule arrive at a small island in Massachusetts' Outer Harbor. It is home to Ashcliffe Hospital, a federal institution for the criminally insane, and one of the patients has escaped. Although the two men are new partners, they have already developed a wry, jocular relationship while also swapping personal, painful details. Daniels' lost his much-loved wife two years prior in a fire, while Aule requested a transfer out of Seattle after being harassed over his personal relationship with a Japanese American woman. After interviewing the hospital's medical personnel, both men have the feeling they are being stonewalled, especially by the director, who seems to alternate between a cold authoritarianism and a sudden and sweeping compassion. When the island is hit by gale-force winds and Aule disappears, Daniels must go it alone, beset by the fear that he has been fed psychotropic drugs and the belief that the hospital is performing radical brain surgery as part of a secret-ops program. Lehane throws in one mind-bending plot twist after another in a psychological thriller that will leave readers in suspense right up to the end. A master of the adroit psychological detail, Lehane makes the horrors of the mean streets pale in comparison to the workings of the human mind. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
TEDDY DANIELS'S FATHER had been a fisherman. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
TEDDY DANIELS'S FATHER had been a fisherman. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Lyn Alexander
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This intriguing novel starts quietly, mild conflicts and suggested menace not taking enough form for the reader yet to grasp. I had to read the blurb on the back cover to continue through the first few chapters where nothing on the surface seemed to happen except a vague sense of unreality. But pay attention. Things are happening every minute in all directions.
The writing is stunning. Lehane is a master of the slow, inexorable build-up of subtle pressures, ever wider, ever deeper. The reader must put all his senses on alert, watch every word, especially of the back-story continually woven into the present story. And each time an element of backstory is repeated, another layer is added. It's the construction of a complex edifice one brick at a time. Never have I been so drawn onward by dialogue. You can hear in your ear the staccato, sardonic exchanges between Chuck and Teddy, vital to the plot line, and evidence on the first page of an old friendship between strangers.
The writing is stunning. Lehane is a master of the slow, inexorable build-up of subtle pressures, ever wider, ever deeper. The reader must put all his senses on alert, watch every word, especially of the back-story continually woven into the present story. And each time an element of backstory is repeated, another layer is added. It's the construction of a complex edifice one brick at a time. Never have I been so drawn onward by dialogue. You can hear in your ear the staccato, sardonic exchanges between Chuck and Teddy, vital to the plot line, and evidence on the first page of an old friendship between strangers.
Format:Hardcover
First there were the noir detective books. Then "Mystic River", which was 70-80% different. "Shutter Island" is a 100% switch from either of those. I was fortunate enough to purchase mine at a book signing where Lehane answered questions for about an hour. He has taught writing extensively and is a very patient, cordial and articulate inverview (not all writers speak well). Lehane said something that helps understand all his work, but especially this one. He said his stories are about people who strive and strive for what they want, only to wind up with what they need instead, and is makes their soul whole. "Shutter Island" is a very tight (we know what the main character, Teddy, knows - period), freightening story. Still, Lehane laces his outstanding literary skills and fantastic story line with his usual humorous passages, and his wonderful, punchy descriptive metapors. "Shutter Island" is not literally a haunted castle story. All the characters are "real" (human) and there are no ghosts or other-world beings. But it is absolutely, positively the best haunted castle tale I have ever read. This book goes on my list of all-time favorites.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By R. Hansen
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I've just finished reading this page-turner and it was absolutely mind-blowing. I couldn't put it down, and after I finished it, I went back and re-read the first few chapters to pick up on clues I missed.
The book starts out slow over the first few pages with a flashback and Lehane uses many more flashbacks during the novel that I initially thought slowed down the story.
I won't spoil anything, but the story is crafted wonderfully and every scene becomes relevant as the ending unfolds.
This is a great book for the reader who likes a surprise. I thought I had guessed the outcome of many situations and the author managed to flip them around on me still.
I definitely recommened Shutter Island (and I agree with a previous reviwere who suggested finding someone else who has read the book so you can discuss it when you finish). It is something that you will think about long after finishing.
The book starts out slow over the first few pages with a flashback and Lehane uses many more flashbacks during the novel that I initially thought slowed down the story.
I won't spoil anything, but the story is crafted wonderfully and every scene becomes relevant as the ending unfolds.
This is a great book for the reader who likes a surprise. I thought I had guessed the outcome of many situations and the author managed to flip them around on me still.
I definitely recommened Shutter Island (and I agree with a previous reviwere who suggested finding someone else who has read the book so you can discuss it when you finish). It is something that you will think about long after finishing.
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4.1 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An incredible psychological thriller
A couple of Federal Marshalls arrive on an isolated island that houses a high-security Federal prison for criminally insane. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Dr. Bojan Tunguz
4.0 out of 5 stars
A solid psychological thriller
Though possibly better known for his Kenzie and Gennaro series of mystery novels (recommended to any fan of Michael Connely's or Jonathan Kellerman's), here Lehane leaves the tough... Read more
Published on Jan 23 2011 by Andre Farant
4.0 out of 5 stars
THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM...
This is a highly original thriller with gothic overtones. Taking place in 1954, it is quite atmospheric and redolent of the times. Read more
Published on Jan 3 2011 by Lawyeraau
5.0 out of 5 stars
`How much violence, Marshal, do you think a man can carry before it...
In the summer of 1954, US Marshal Teddy Daniels travels to Shutter Island, home of the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Read more
Published on Dec 27 2010 by J. Cameron-Smith
1.0 out of 5 stars
Defective
I rate this product zero because it was defective and the book was printed wrong so it could not be read. Read more
Published on Dec 2 2010 by Ashley
5.0 out of 5 stars
gives an erie feeling
this book is chilling and suspensefull
i read it in two days and it played on my mind relentlessly for days afterwords. Read more
i read it in two days and it played on my mind relentlessly for days afterwords. Read more
Published on Mar 23 2010 by Christine Boyd
5.0 out of 5 stars
Taut and gripping
This is a prime example of an author who truly knows the value of good storytelling. Dennis Lehane has spun a masterful tale, providing colourful description to create engaging... Read more
Published on Feb 19 2010 by Liana
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shutter Island
Dennis Lehane's books 'Mystic River' and 'Gone Baby Gone' have been made into movies that I have enjoyed tremendously and so I decided to read one of his books before it was turned... Read more
Published on Nov 14 2009 by Book Worm
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Thriller
There's always something about asylums that have always given off an uncomfortable feeling. The way Lehane writes in this novel really expresses the uneasiness and queasiness about... Read more
Published on Oct 7 2009 by Karoline
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superbly written, intensely disturbing
After reading Mystic River, I was eager to get my hands on Shutter Island. I wondered if it would be as compelling, and thought that perhaps Lehane had already set his bar so high... Read more
Published on Mar 26 2006 by Freda Loro
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