Rating: 
Summary: Steer Clear of this Island
Review: Set in the summer of 1954, United States Marshall Teddy Daniels is assigned to an investigation involving Shutter Island, located just off the Massachusetts Coast. The island is the home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. In a variation of the classic locked room mystery problem, the Hospital staff has lost a patient. Somehow, Rachel Solando, responsible for murdering her three children by drowning them in a lake, escaped from her locked room and past the eyes of the not so vigilant guards and staff. Teddy and his partner Chuck Aule are sent in to investigate and find the missing patient who theoretically could not have escaped the island alive.What follows is a nightmarish world where reality and mental illness collide. Rumor has it that the Hospital is doing unethical, even for 1954, experiments on patients and engaged in a giant cover-up with links to the government and the Cold War. Teddy has been investigating the Hospital and its people for a long time and the missing Rachel Solando was a convenient excuse for him to get on the island. Once there, with a hurricane coming and no signs of Rachel Solando, it may prove impossible to leave. As one expects from Dennis Lehane, this is another dark and gritty novel. Usually that is his style along with a tight mystery, strong character development and plenty of action. His books maybe very dark at times, but usually for a reason and usually the book are good stuff. None of that applies to this effort. He is dark throughout the novel and there is some action to it. However, one does not expect such amazingly shallow character development along with contrived events like a hurricane coming towards the island. The actual cheap ending is amazingly contrived and considering all the shallowness of the novel, to be expected but leaves this reader feeling very cheated. That along with the overall depressing tone of the work, which deals extensively and graphically with mental illness, and some of the bizarre treatment methods of the past, makes this one to skip. This theme has been done better by others and simply is not even "good" under the standards set by Dennis Lehane in his earlier works.
Rating: 
Summary: Do not peek at the ending!!!
Review: Our daughter read this book before I did, and she did peek ahead at the ending. It kind of spoiled the rest of the book for her. The final resolution to the story is so unexpected, that most people would not ever figure it out on their own. I am now anxious to read it again and see if there were any clues that I missed that would have lead me to anticipate the end. The writing was tight and fast-moving, and the book was hard to put down. I still feel that MYSTIC RIVER is better, but it was entirely different too. I've also read several of Lehane's Elvis Cole mysteries, and he has become one of my favorite authors.
Rating:
Summary: Excellant page turner
Review: While this book has little in common with the Kenzie/Gennaro novels or Mystic River, it does have the one thing that I've come to expect from Dennis Lehane - suspense. The excitement never stops in this well written novel. It was a great read and I'd highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't read fast enough!!
Review: This was a wonderful mystery, full of unexpected twists and turns. I don't want to give away more than has already been described by others, so I will just say that, in addition to the fine mystery, I found especially nice the wonderful picture drawn of the early 1950s. Everything seems just right on target. Anyone who loves a good mystery, full of doubletakes, will love this book. The delimma that is mentioned in the book re the sorts of treatment, surgical vs drugs vs talk, has led to much discussion in my family. I will say, however, finally, that I did kind of guess the end before I was a dozen pages in. But that is not a reflection on the skills of the author -- I just have read lots of stories and there are only so many twists any plot can take. And the author gave exquisite little hints. I plan to read all his works!
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: I have read all of Dennis Lehane's books, and he gets better and better with each outing. This book is incredibly hard to put down, and just when you think you have it figured out - you don't. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been 5 stars if written by anyone else
Review: ... because I have come to expect special things from Lehane. Don't get me wrong. This is a very entertaining book. It reads like gangbusters and you will finish this within a couple of days (OK, the book is disappointingly short). It has all the Lehane signatures - characters carrying their demomns, cackling dialog and the relentless pace. Unfortunately, this speed is also the problem for this book because it does not leave room for the development of tragic dimensions of Mystic River, and my favorite among Kenzie-Gennaro series, Gone Baby Gone. So the book must rely on the plot twist. It is well executed, but, alas, it does not surprise because ... we have seen all this before. I can name a few recent ones on top of my head - "A Beautiful Mind", "Story of Pi" and even "Sixth Sense". At this day and age of conspiracy overdose, the last thing we need is another "nothing is real" story. Of course, not many stories can ever be truly original, but if the main point of the story is a trickery, it better work, otherwise it rings harrow. Lehane should be applauded for breaking out of the mold and trying something different, instead of turning into a book factory capitalizing on his popular characters of Kenzie and Gennaro. But sometimems, I cannot help but missing them for what Lehane does best - writing great stories with the characters that we really care about.
Rating:
Summary: Full of "sparrows' ghosts" flapping their wings.
Review: U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, arrive on Shutter Island, a secure facility for the criminally insane in Boston Harbor, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Rachel Solando from her locked and guarded room. While looking for Rachel, a woman who has murdered her three children, Teddy also plans to investigate rumors that the hospital is performing radical brain surgery as part of its experimental treatments. He has a secret personal motive for this trip, however--to find the arsonist who started the fire in which his own wife died, a man believed to be incarcerated on the island. As Teddy and Chuck begin their investigations, with a total lack of co-operation from the hospital staff, the worst hurricane in thirty years bears down on the island. If the power fails and the generators don't kick in, the electric locks and electrified fences will no longer protect Teddy, Chuck, and the staff from the hospital's murderous inhabitants. In the hands of a lesser author, this might be the setup for a melodramatic and gore-filled pot-boiler, but Lehane artfully creates and maintains a tension-filled atmosphere, full of foreboding, without giving in to the easy temptations of sensationalism as his plot becomes more and more complex. At one point, Teddy describes his fear, as a "sparrow's ghost, pass[ing] through the center of his chest and flapping its wings," a unique metaphor which epitomizes Lehane's vibrant prose and makes it a lot of fun to read. The hospital's orderlies have "deadened faces, as if they hadn't been fed enough as babies," and Teddy, in trying to grasp a partial memory from the past, likens it to a "melody he was trying to remember while the radio played a completely different tune." Lehane's characters, Teddy and Chuck, are simultaneously tough and vulnerable, able to attract the sympathy of readers because they are so normal, in contrast to the devious hospital staff and the murderous patients. Dialogue is snappy. Revelations come slowly, and are constantly thrown into doubt by later revelations, which raise the suspense. As the tension grows, the "sparrows' ghosts" begin flapping their wings faster and faster. This is a well-written can't-put-it-downer, with a story full of unexpected twists and turns, deceitful characters, life-threatening danger, and a blockbuster ending that will satisfy anyone looking for a novel that is out of the ordinary. Mary Whipple
Rating:
Summary: Lehane stubs his toes here
Review: I have read all of Lehane's books. This one is a stinker. It gives an appearance of being convoluted and twists simply for the thrill of it - and not done well. Most of it is beyond being plausible and you get the impression the writer is just filling in the space.
A bit outlandish and not very good. Skip this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Not His Best
Review: I'm a big Dennis Lehane fan, but found this this book to be very confusing. I started skimming the first half of the book. None of the characters really grabbed my attention. The second half of the book was suspenseful with some really good twists. The book had redeemed itself in my eyes until the last two pages where there seemed to be yet another twist which took me days to figure out. If you are a true Lehane fan, I would recommend the book, but if you are starting out with this author, read one of his other (much better) books. True Lehane fans don't expect too much.
Rating:
Summary: Give this book more than 5 stars
Review: This is my first Lehane book and I was more than pleased. A very taut, well written story, Shutter Island gets your attention from the first page and doesn't let up. I was really surprised by the ending which was quite an unexpected turn of events. Enough said; knowing the ending will spoil this great story. I particularly like Mr. Lehane's style. It is very direct, void of superflous narrative and descriptive details. He tells just what needs to be told and no more. Character development is excellent and the plot moves right along with no impediments. I plan to enjoy more of this author's books.
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