Rating: 
Summary: Great book, with a great ending
Review: This is my first Lehane, but not my last. This was a great read. Don't try to figure it out, just read it and enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: A perfect thriller
Review: "Shutter Island"by Dennis Lehane During the summer of 1954, two US marshals traveled to Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island to explore the whereabouts of a missing mental patient (or maybe to investigate whether the hospital was performing illegal surgery on its residents). One of the marshals (Teddy Daniels) may have had yet one other hidden reason for visiting the asylum. This thriller is an unforgettable page-turner. Ultimately, the plot will unfold, secrets will be exposed and the reader will either be pleasantly surprised or overtly shocked by the final outcome. Will Teddy ever escape from the island? Will atrocities and/or illegal experiments at Ashecliffe Hospital be revealed? What happened to the missing mental patient? If you want the answers, you will have to read this book for yourself. An extremely talented author, Dennis Lehane has all the right stuff when it comes to crafting the perfect thriller. Apparently, Lehane's previous novel "Mystic River" has already been made into a hit movie. My Grade: A
Rating:
Summary: The ending drove me crazy
Review: I was pleased to read a really good book and not be disappointed by Dennis. However, I'm following all the clues and thinking I know what's going on and voilla!!!! What happened and who do I know that read it and can confirm it??? I guess I shouldn't have believed everything I read according to the last page. Good read - enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: More of a movie treatment than a novel
Review: This book will make a good movie, and in fact, works better as a movie treatment than a novel. Lehane has been one of my favorite authors for years and when the excellent "Mystic River" was optioned and produced by Clint Eastwood, the last thing I expected was for Dennis to get so wound up in that big bucks scenario that he would fashion his next book not to be a great novel, but to instead be a movie treatment. I see Matthew McConaughey in the lead, and beyond that I just don't care. Since I know the hard-to-fathom ending I won't be running out to the theater to see this one. To be fair, it's a fairly good story and it's not a bad book, but it ain't Lehane at his best and he's no longer on my list on favorite authors after selling out like this. Your mileage may vary.
Rating:
Summary: Shutter Island
Review: THIS IS THE BEST "LOCKED ROOM" MYSTERY I HAVE EVER READ. YES, IT IS A VERY SURPRISING ENDING, BUT THEN AGAIN, THE AUTHOR IS DENNIS LEHANE.
Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunately
Review: I figured out the twist quite early in the novel (almost immediately) and was prepared for the ending. Nevertheless many will find this an entertaining read. Certainly a good book to take on a vacation etc. Decent summer reading.
Rating:
Summary: Lehane's Best Yet
Review: I've read everything Dennis Lehane has published and I loved Shutter Island. He gets better, more complex, more confident with each novel. It definitely belongs in the psychological thriller genre and clearly some of these reviewers who did not enjoy the book are not fans of that genre. The twists and turns were delightful and believable. I read a terrific number of mysteries and am always disappointed if I figure out the mystery mid-book. I did figure out some of the clues, but not the ending. I loved the ending - thought it was the perfect final twist. Entirely appropriate.
Rating:
Summary: Lehane's still better than 99% of everything esle out there
Review: To me, Dennis Lehane is the cream of the crop, an exciting writer who burst on the scene with a detective novel that helped turn the genre on its ear and kept rolling from there. To anyone who hasn't devoured them yet, his Kenzie/Gennaro quintet is superb. In fact, those books inspired me to become a writer. (Read Gone, Baby, Gone and see why...) His popularity climbed with each book; reading the new Lehane became the "in" thing to do. After exhausting his series characters, he took two years and came out with one of the finest novels of the past thirty years, at least. Mystic River is hardly a genre book. It's literary fiction at its finest, and if Lehane wasn't already considered a mystery/crime writer, it'd be put in the same category as Richard Price or Pete Dexter. The mystery tag didn't hurt it, though. MR went on to earn glowing reviews and earned Lehane a reputation as a force to be reckoned with. Then came Shutter Island. If you're like me, you've been waiting two long years. It's a quick read. There isn't as much depth. It's not a literary/mystery crossover or a detective novel. It's a noirish kind of psycho-thriller set in the '50s. But that doesn't make it bad. It's just different. For it's kind of book, it's excellent. Better than anything Patterson or Sanford or even Stephen King has written in a long, long time. Okay, it's not going to win a Pulitzer prize, but Lehane knew it wasn't going to. It was a story stuck in his head that he just had to get out. Some people can accept this and some can't. But remember--not everyone like Mystic River when it came out. A lot of people were disappointed that he wrote a standalone and abandoned his detectives, but now MR is considered a modern-day classic. Give Mr. Lehane a break. He wrote an excellent thriller. A taut, smart read that kept you turning pages. So he didn't go for 400 pages of eloquence. Big deal. Get over it. Who out there is writing anything better these days? So why didn't I give him five stars if I think the world of him? Because Shutter Island is my least favorite book by him. Can't think of anyone else out there who I'd give four stars to for their "worst" book. That, to me, is the sign of a great writer.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have read in years.
Review: I am a Lehane fan, but this book brought his writing to a whole new level. It starts with what seems to be an odd postlog, then moves into the simple detective novel genre. Eventually it becomes one of the most astounding novels I have ever read. "Shutter Island" much more than "Mystic River" qualifies Dennis Lehane as a top notch writer who writes with the type of skill I generally attribute to authors who have written classics. That being said the dark side of this book will prevent it from being included in the high school curriculam. This is an amazing book. An absolute must read for anyone who likes Patterson, Sandford, Connelly, King, or any of the other good (and bad) writers of thrillers out there.
Rating:
Summary: SHUDDER WITH SHUTTER ISLAND
Review: Dennis Lehane has written an outstanding page-turner, one that leaves you dazed and in awe at its unexpected climax. The plot has been examined in other reviews, so I'll stick with what really makes this one such a tour de force.
First of all, the characterization of Teddy Daniels is incredible. Haunted by the untimely death of his wife, his own self-destruction seems imminent and his quest for revenge unquenchable.
But ponder on the intense atmosphere Lehane creates, especially during the catastrophic hurricane that sweeps the island; the lost soulds of the inmates; the disturbing dreams haunting Teddy; the mysterious disappearance of his only ally; the appearance of a female in a cave. Lehane establishes quite an aura of suspense, wonder, and mystery. Go back and read the prologue and see if you can find anything in there to prepare you for the jawdropping climax; read the last chapter again to see if you can determine what happens; think about the white material with the gleam of metal.
This is a thinking man's thriller; but it is full of incredibly suspenseful scenarios.
Undoubtedly, Dennis Lehane is at the top of his craft, and we readers are to be thankful for such an original voice in the world of whodunits!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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