Rating: 
Summary: Did I Blink?
Review: Caution, SPOILERS.Please, please, please someone write and explain the ending to me. I truly did not get it (and I'm not usually dumb)!! If we are to believe the ending, how is everything else explained? How did he and Chuck get there in the first place? Was that "made up" too? I thought it was very intriguing until the end. I felt duped.
Rating: 
Summary: Predictable, but lovely. (and a half.)
Review: Dan Brown, The DaVinci Code (Dubleday, 2003)
Dennis Lehane, Shutter Island (Morrow, 2003)
William M. Valtos, The Authenticator (Hampton Roads, 2000) Rarely, when I read, do three books come together so very well for one review. But such is the case here with The DaVinci Code, The Authenticator, and Shutter Island. Imagine, if you will, a kind of number line of style, with the very best writers at the rightmost extreme and the very worst at the left. On the right are those authors who pay great attention to detail, and while they may miss a continuity trick or two, they always have it together. Their prose is readable, though it may be difficult, but it is always impeccable from a grammatical standpoint. (We'll allow a number of spelling errors for editorial mishaps.) Their characters are always well-drawn, the plot when it exists is interesting, the theme never takes over the storyline and slaps you in the face. William Faulkner and Wendy Walker reside on the right end of the line. So does Kathe Koja. Margaret Laurence roved around, but fell close to it all the time, and hit it with The Diviners. Charles Reznikoff OWNED the right side of the line. On the left you have sloppy writing, loose ends, lectures in the middles of books, rampant grammatical errors and conscious misspellings (and, usually, a vehement defense of them), plots that disappear and reappear, glacial pacing, and all the rest of the things that make books unreadable mounds of tripe. So as not to step on any toes I'll let you fill in your own list here; I'm sure any reader has happened upon enough of these writers to fill at least a branch library. Now imagine it has a moving axis. Above the line are those authors who, simply, do their research. Below it are those who either don't research at all or do just enough research to give truth to the phrase "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." Every author can be plotted on the resulting two-dimensional graph. Dennis Lehane sits somewhere in the right center. There's nothing necessarily factual about anything he writes in Shutter Island, save a seamless fifties-era feel and the geographic locations of certain islands off the coast of Massachusetts. Everything else springs fully-formed from the man's demented mind. And it is a true tribute to any author, I think, to be able to say 'this book was predictable, but I kept reading anyway." Yea, I had the plot twist figured out in the first hundred pages. But Dennis Lehane is such a wonderfully readable author that I couldn't have cared less whether I knew what was happening or not. (Warning, any fan of horror will probably get the ending as soon as, or sooner than, I did.) Lehane flirted with his plot twist, in fact it's rather odd that a person who normally writes mystery novels was so blatant with the clues to what was happening; the characters might as well have come out and said it a few times. Which leads me, of course, to the belief that it was all a conscious act. He was letting the reader in on the big joke, too. It's a beautiful thought. U. S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule are on their way to the mental facility at Shutter Island in order to solve the classic locked-room mystery. A patient, Rachel Solando, has gone missing through a locked door and four manned checkpoints without a trace. Confounding the problem is Teddy's constant idea that folks aren't being completely forthcoming when he questions them. This is, quite simply, great noir. And in the tradition of great noir, you know there's going to be a denouement; no one, as it were, gets out of here alive. (No, that's not a spoiler, it's a figure of speech.) And if you've read any horror novels influenced by noir writers like Chandler and Thompson, you know just where this is going. Perhaps it's that safety that allows the reader to keep going, just as romance readers expect the guy to get the girl in the end. The main part of it, though, is Dennis Lehane's wonderful writing style, pure and simple. The man could keep the pages of the phone book turning. ...(continued in the review of The Authenticator)
Rating: 
Summary: Dennis Lehane stretches his talent to something different
Review: In a change of pace for Dennis Lehane, his latest novel apparently asks the questions- "What is reality?" and "What is insanity?" After writing a successful series and then hitting it big time with MYSTIC RIVER- an elegiac work that might work as a coming of age novel, as well as, a murder mystery, SHUTTER ISLAND is unlike anything else he has written before. Initially it is a locked room mystery which becomes an island mystery then finally morphs into a suspense thriller with a surprise ending.
In the summer of 1954, US Marshall Teddy Daniels and his partner Chuck Aule are called to a psychiatric facility, Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane located on a rugged New England island by the name of Shutter Island. They are to look into the disappearance of a female patient from a locked cell in the middle of the night. The escape appears impossible. As Teddy and Chuck look into the disappearance, they are given signals that they are themselves in danger. Teddy, however, has another ulterior motive. He wants to find and confront the pyromaniac responsible for his wife's recent death who is purported to be on the island.
SHUTTER ISLAND has met with mixed reviews. I wonder what readers would say if the author's name was not Dennis Lehane. Given that it is Dennis who wrote this book, I think the readers who complained simply expected more from him. The story is actually quite clever and is of the length that could be read in one long evening. It appears, with superficial reading, to lack the complexity and depth that one expects from Dennis. However, with more careful reading, that complexity and depth is still there. Once the conclusion is reached, the reader will get a sense of the careful construction that went into this work. The novel is a bit risky for Dennis as he continues to expand his army of core readers. However, he deserves credit for stretching himself into something very different and quite satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Totally Gripping
Review: Shutter Island is a totally gripping read--you will not be able to put it down once you start it. As an indication--I read this novel in one day, and it was a work day. A word of advice to anyone reading this novel--try to make sure someone else you know has already read it. That way, when you come to the ending, there will be someone around for you to discuss it with. The novel begins as two detectives are headed towards an small island to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a convicted murderer at a psychiatric institute. The plot just takes off from there. After a couple of twists, you'll wonder just where this whole thing is headed. I had a couple of possible scenarios running through my head. There was one in particular where I thought "If this is where, he's going, I'll be so angry, it won't work." Well, that's Lehane went, but the astonishing thing he makes the ending work. It's ambiguous, for the most part, but that's why I recommend you know someone else who has read this novel before you crack it open. You will need to talk about it.
Rating:
Summary: End Was Expected but Still a Surprise
Review: Throughout this book, I suspected how it would end but kept telling myself surely Mr. Lehane wouldn't do that to his readers. But he did. And even though I expected it, it still caught me off guard and brought tears to my eyes. Lehane is the master at the complexities of the human persona. The book is full of twists and turns and hidden secrets behind the characters comments and faces.
Rating:
Summary: My First Lehane, Won't be the Last
Review: This is the first book by Dennise Lehane I've read and it certainly won't be the last. Since summaries have been given, I'll skip that part, but wanted to add that I found Lehane's writing to be excellent. He was very good at conveying the angst and regret US Marshal Teddy Daniels feels, the creepy personality of Dr. Cawley, and evoking a sense of agitation in the reader as the story builds. Very good story by an excellent author. I do hope it becomes the movie being discussed.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Different, but Satisfying, Thriller
Review: I very rarely read books like SHUTTER ISLAND, but there was so much hype about this one, that I finally gave in. There is no doubt that it is well written, but for a long time I couldn't decide whether I liked the ending or whether I felt Lehane had not been "playing fair" with his readers. In the end, I decided he had been playing fair because, in all fairness to Lehane, there are clues about SHUTTER ISLAND'S ending scattered all through the book.
I didn't care for the prologue. Whenever I see a prologue, no matter how well written (and this one is very well written), I am skeptical of the author's ability to begin a book in medias res. That being said, the prologue of SHUTTER ISLAND works well and doesn't really detract from the book's pace.
The plot of SHUTTER ISLAND revolves around Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US Marshals whom we meet as they are taking the ferry from Boston to Shutter Island. Daniels is the more experienced of the two and, we learn, he does his job well, though he is plagued by migraines and haunted by the violent death of his wife two years earlier.
Throughout the book, there is a bad storm brewing and I think Lehane used this storm masterfully to create just the right atmosphere for his book. This is a very dark book and, had it taken place on a sunny day, the juxtaposition of light and dark would have detracted, rather than added, to the story.
The ferry is headed for Ashecliffe, a maximum security hospital for the criminally insane and it is there that the bulk of the action takes place. Presumably, Daniels and Aule have gone to Ashecliffe to look for an escaped mental patient named Rachel Solando (the name is very important). Another important thing to remember while reading SHUTTER ISLAND is that escape from it is all but impossible.
As the book continues, we learn a lot more about Daniels and the day his wife was murdered and slowly, the pieces begin to come together. I don't want to give away anything of the plot except to say that some readers are going to be shocked by the ending, some are going to feel cheated and some are going to be able to figure it out far before the last page. There are, after all, as I said, clues scattered all through the book.
The quality of the writing in SHUTTER ISLAND is very good, far above that of the typical mystery/thriller and the tone fit the book and its plot very well. Even though I thought SHUTTER ISLAND was a well written book, I doubt that I'll be visiting the genre again soon. It's just not my cup of tea. For those that do love suspense, however, and can tolerate an ending that is quite surprising, SHUTTER ISLAND more than delivers.
Rating:
Summary: In a league of his own!
Review: I love my job but never have I regretted its low wages as much as I do right now because after having read "Shutter Island" (my first Dennis Lehane experience) all I want to do is rush out and buy every single other book he has written. The story takes place in 1954 when two US. marshals arrive on Shutter Island off the Boston coast to investigate the inexplicable disappearance of one of the patients of the hospital for the criminally insane which is located on the island. The chief physician and the rest of the staff are unhelpful to say the least and the more that the two marshals look into the whole affair the stranger it all gets. Something is definitely not as it seems and perhaps their reason for going to the island isn't what it seems either...? Every time you think that you've got it figured out the story takes another turn and draws you in even further and you wouldn't be able to predict the ending to save your life. All of the elements as such have been seen before but it's not what he does that makes this book great, it's how he does it. How he puts it all together and creates a book which is absolutely mind-blowing. Everything fits together just right and is just where it should be and the ending, although it is sad, is the only proper one. There may not be such a thing as "perfect" in literature but this is close enough to kiss. Read it, read it, read it! :)
Rating:
Summary: I'll Be First in Line for the Movie
Review: US Marshall Teddy Daniels is the son of a fisherman, who was unable to cope with the vastness of the sea, instead he became a peace officer and, in the late fifties, finds himself on a mysterious quest on Shutter Island, accompanied by fellow Marshall, Chuck Aule, a man he'd never worked with before. Rachel Solando, has escaped from the confines of the Ashecliffe Hospital, an institution for the criminally insane on Shutter Island and is at large. Teddy and Chuck have been sent to find her and return her to captivity. Teddy can't help but think about Andrew Laeddis, the man who set the fire that killed his wife. Laeddis is also incarcerated on the island. The marshals must guard against Solando catching the ferry back to the mainland in Massachusetts and they suspect there are things they should know that the people on the island are keeping from them. Plus they have to surrender their weapons, despite their official status and if that isn't enough to hinder their investigation, there is the small matter of the biggest hurricane in years bearing down on the island. Rachel has apparently left coded messages for them and Teddy, who worked in Intelligence in the army, cracks the code. Teddy feels there is conspiracy afoot to keep them from finding out the truth about the hospital and the island. Teddy, however, has his own secrets reason for coming to the island. Lehane's characters, Teddy and Chuck, are both tough, vulnerable and very believable. The hospital staff are devious, the patients murderous. We learn what's really going on over time, suspense mounts, tension grows and I must say that when they make this one into a movie that I'll be the first in line.
Rating: 
Summary: time & setting details somewhat off.
Review: This is the second Lehane I read, it was ok and a fast read but it seemed again that little details are wrong. For instance I don't believe people generally bought coffee at newstands in 1950's. The idea of people walking around drinking coffee is kind of new. I went to college in boston & worked in town in the late 60's and that wasn't typical then even (I'm addicted to coffee so I'd remember). Also he made it seem like those harbor islands are remote and inaccessible. There are little islands all over the place and not too far away from each other. I also wasn't surprised. I will read Mystic River before I see the movie however.
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