Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane was written in 2003.   It was made into a movie in 2009, but it was a movie I had not watched and so I knew very little about the book.   I had previously read Mystic River and had admired it,  finding the whole reading experience to be moving, but very visceral.   I had done some minor research on Dennis Lehane’s books and resolved to read more, starting with Shutter Island.

This is a book where spoilers (the movie, reviews, word of mouth) may reduce the impact of the novel.    I started the book without those influences and had no expectations.    I was immediately caught up in the plot and characters.   In fact, it was a compelling story throughout.

Over 60 years of continuous reading I have established a strategy with new books.    If I am not engaged by the first third, I put it down and start something else.    With Shutter Island, I was hooked by the first two chapters.

This is a well-written book.   It is hard to predict, and each new twist brings new surprises.    It maintains a “creepy” tone throughout.    It is a thriller, a mystery, a psychological puzzle, a character study, possibly a horror novel, but above all, it is a work of superb storytelling.

Without giving away any of the plot, I can comment that there is great loss and a greater challenge in coping with the loss and its impacts:

“How am I supposed to let you go, that’s all I’m asking. I want to hold you again, smell you, and, yes too, I just want you to fade. To please, please fade…”

This book “stuck to my bones”,  the main reason that this is the first review of this website.    I plan to read it again and again follow Teddy on his investigation, but I will need to be ready to take that journey to Shutter Island again,  for there is despair and  torment there, and having read it once, I know it will not be an easy road to take again.

Few books lead me to close the last page and just say, “Wow.”   This one did.

An audiobook excerpt/sample: