Rating: 
Summary: Great Lehane once again
Review: After having been exposed for the first time to Dennis Lehane last year with his terrific mystery Mystic River, I've read all that he has written. Since that point he has yet to disappoint me. "Shutter Island" is no different. Lehane's novel is set in 1954 and told from the point of view of Teddy Daniels, a federal marshal sent to investigate the escape of a patient from the mental hospital on Shutter Island. As Teddy gets deeper into his investigation, the list of people the reader can trust gradually diminishes. Lehane keeps you guessing throughout the book and may even fool you at the end. My only disappointments came at the length of the book (325 pages), simply because I was really enjoying it, and that it *screams* for an eventual movie adaptation. At some points it seems to read more like a script. I was entertained from page one, however, and definitely think that any mystery fan would enjoy this novel. Highly recommended, especially to fans of Lehane's earlier work.
Rating: 
Summary: Rated X for........................
Review: We bought the audio version based on the ratings found here on Amazon. This was also our first exposure to Dennis LaHane's novels. Are they all filled with the F word? When you say psychological thriller does that mean bizarre sexual fantasies are described? Who needs this?
Yes, there was a twist at the end, but we were basically disappointed and found the book offensive to listen to. I would NEVER, for example, loan this audio cassette to my parents or to my children or to my friends.
Rating:
Summary: Dennis "Hollywood" Lehane
Review: Just finished reading Shutter Island, the latest Dennis Lehane novel for which I've waited two years and scooped up in hardcover -- I won't be doing that again! His latest novel has a terrific pretense...two federal marshals are summoned to an insane asylum on a fortress island during a hurricane -- what could be better for chills and thrills, right? Wrong. The fact that I waited two years for a novel which could be finished in three hours (325 pages with lots of dialogue) seems more like a novella than an actual novel. BUT that aside, the story was okay at best. I know that the author is spending much of his time working on the movie adaptation of Mystic River, as well as trying to buy back the movie rights to the first Kenzie/Gennaro novel, so perhaps that explains why so little effort (apparently) went into this latest story. While it had unlimited potential, the story came across as farfetched -- extremely farfetched -- with holes you could drive Sean Penn's trailer through. The ending was the best part of the book, but still it had a cliched ring to it. It just didn't jibe. The story meanders along for the first half and then the reader is taken along for a twisting ride which culminates in a dead end -- with a handful of implausible scenarios thrown in for good measure. I won't ruin the ending, but when you get there, you'll know what I mean. Dennis Lehane should go back to the characters that made him great -- Kenzie & Gennaro -- and concentrate on his "art," not his Hollywood hype.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and Haunting
Review: I could not put this book down! Lehane's descriptions are hard edged and biting. He doesnt let you go for a second. The last chapters were a surprise but DUH! what did I read it for! You wont sleep soundly for a night or two just thinking this one over, but its worth every second. Good on ya, Dennis
Rating:
Summary: Profoundly Devastating
Review: The historian Joyce Appleby said: "Our sense of worth, of well-being, even our sanity depends upon our remembering. But, alas, our sense of worth, our well-being, our sanity also depend upon our forgetting." Shutter Island is simply devastating. Dennis Lehane again demonstrates a real depth of understanding to the true costs of catastrophic loss. He is one of our finest writers. I anxiously await his next masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Cliched and Uninspired
Review: While I can't be certain, I am fairly sure that Lehane is trying to write with the depth and imagination of Thomas Cook--both in Shutter Island and in his previous novel, Mystic River. Lehane can write coherently, but he really doesn't have anything to say. Mystic River was boring and Shutter Island "appears" to be somewhat exciting, but if you read carefully it is really quite dull. Just writing about a weird island where outrageously insane people are treated doesn't make a persuasive novel. I found the ending highly predictable. Lehane could have written this novel in one sentence: "There are crazy people in this world who are not amenable to medical treatment."
Rating:
Summary: Not his best
Review: Unfortunately, Lehane follows his best book, Mystic River, with his weakest effort in Shutter Island. I won't give the plot away, only to say that the entire construct depends on the end, which is reminiscent of about a half-dozen movies I've seen recently. It is well-written, but lacks the visceral punch of Lehane's best work. While the ending isn't completely predictable, it has a been there, done that feel, and most of the "secrets" can be solved with a minimum of thought (I figured out the main "mystery" in the book nearly by accident). The book also reads very, VERY fast like a screenplay--sometimes it read more like something from Crichton or Grisham (that isn't a compliment). More disappointing is the lack of crisp, standout dialogue that marks Lehane's novels. It's a shame--at his best, Lehane's work sticks with you long after you're done reading (I've read and re-read portions of "Gone, Baby gone" more times than I can remember). But Shutter Island is more of a diversion than anything: quickly read, and more quickly forgotten. Don't mean to be too critical--His writing skill nearly brought my review to three stars, despite the fairly weak characters. His other books are excellent, and I look forward to his upcoming trilogy. But for me, this was a misfire.
Rating:
Summary: TEN STARS!
Review: Lehane, long a favorite author of mine, has completely outdone himself with "Shutter Island." This was one of those rare books that avid readers pine for...the ones where the last page comes far too soon. Taking a dark and surprising twist on the standard mystery/thriller, "Shutter Island" lures you into its story, making you believe you're in for a pleasant and well-written mystery. Somewhere around 2/3's of the way through, you begin to realize that you've been taken to a place you never expected, like the middle of a creepy, dark woods, and left to fend for yourself. To say what this book is about would be to spoil it for anyone brave enough to venture in....so I'll leave it at: READ THIS NOW! You won't be sorry!
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written, but story is weak
Review: Mr. Lehane has chosen an interesting topic: insanity and cruel methods of treating it. Unfortunately, the story is flat and uninspired. The ending is supposed to be a big surprise, but,at least for me, the ending is a dud. I do not want to give away the plot, but one of the climactic scenes is ruined when the hero fails to kill his nemesis ( Dr. Cawley)when he could have simply hit him with his gun, even after it failed to shoot the doctor. I felt there was a lot of surface cleverness; I think Lehane wanted to create a Thomas Cook "deep" story, but he simply doesn't bring it off. Same thing happened with Mystic River, a totally overrated novel. Also, lithium is improperly described and manic-depressive disorder is equated with psycosis; a very few manic-depressives may be psycotic, but it is not normal. Finally, the main dr. wants talk therapy to prevail over surgery and drugs. This makes no sense since with severely mentally ill patients (like the ones on Shutter island) talk therapy is useless. A very disappointing book.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, man. Read it. A shocker and a surprise.
Review: Shutter Island came to me by accident; I ordered a different book, the bookstore sent this one, then discovered their mistake and told me to keep it anyway. So I read it - and became instantly engrossed, as well as an instant fan of Dennis Lehane.
The plot revolves around the investigation into the almost magical, surely impossible disappearance of a woman from a heavily guarded hospital for the criminally insane. Set in the milieu of the 50s, that decade of The American Dream, there's an inherent innocence at play in the background, a sense of truth, but something dark and maybe deadly is going on. Then comes the threat of a hurricane and a prison riot...
It'll keep you up all night, no lie.
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