Product Description

Summer, 1954. US Marshal Teddy Daniels has come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Along with his partner, Chuck Aule, he sets out to find an escaped murderess named Rachel Solando as a hurricane bears down upon them. But nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it seems, and neither is Teddy Daniels. Is he there to find a missing patient? Or has he been sent to look into rumours of Ashecliffe's radical approach to psychiatry? Rumours that hint of drug experimentation, surgical trials, and lethal countermoves in the shadow war against Soviet brainwashing...As the investigation deepens, the questions mount. How has a barefoot woman escaped an island from a locked room? Who is leaving them clues in the form of cryptic codes? Why is there no record of a patient committed just one year before? What really goes on in Ward C? Why is an empty lighthouse surrounded by an electrified fence and armed guards? The closer Teddy and Chuck get to the truth, the more elusive it becomes, and the more they begin to believe that they may never leave Shutter Island. Because someone is trying to drive them insane...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #201755 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Shutter Island is something of a departure for Dennis Lehane. It is not like the private eye novels with which he made his name and it is not especially like Mystic River, his distinguished crime novel about murder, loyalty and revenge. Instead, he gives us a classic of psychological suspense--US Marshal Teddy is summoned to a remote hospital for the criminally insane to look for a missing patient and finds his own future and sanity on the line. It is the 1950s and experiments with drugs, conditioning and brain surgery are all the rage both in the psychiatric profession and in the shadow world of government agencies.

Teddy rapidly becomes aware that no-one he is talking to is remotely telling him the truth and that he cannot be wholly sure even of his charming new partner. As the island hospital is isolated by a hurricane, we find ourselves unable to trust a single thing that the narrative tells us--Lehane displays a gift for sleight of hand which is showily disorienting. At the same time, this is not just a box of tricks. We find ourselves caring deeply for Teddy and his partner Chuck, whatever is going on and whoever they really are.--Roz Kaveney

Publishers Weekly
'Lehane's new novel carries one of the most aesthetically right resolutions ever written...A tour de force'

Mirror
'Chilling, thrilling and so clever you'll be chewing it over long after the final page'

Customer Reviews

You Think You've Figured It Out and..then..
You Think You've Figured It Out and....then
Dennis Lehane is a master of writing and surprise. He is one of the best writers of today- his possession of language and description surpass none. His new novel "Shutter Island" is one of the best. Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, U.S.Marshalls, are asked to go to Ashecliffe Hospital for the Mentally Insane to find an escaped patient/killer, Rachel Solando. Ashecliff is on an isolated island off the coast of Boston. From day one none of the staff are very helpful- always below the surface is a subtle message- we don't care, we are going through the motions from those who inhabit this strange island. The worst hurricane of the season occurs, and Teddy and Chuck going nowhere with this investigation, fear for their lives. Will they get off the island, will they find the killer, what is going on in the tower, and why does Teddy have such a hard time forgetting his dead wife? Will any of these questions be answered? Unless you have a tortured, twisted mind- the ending will clear the air. prisrob

A Must Read
What a book. After Mystic River, my first Dennis Lehane,I thought that he could do no better. I was wrong. This is a cracker . A mystery that keeps the reader on his/her toes throughout. Take an institution for the criminally insane on an island off Boston during a storm circa 1954 then throw in a missing "patient",two young U.S. marshals who have baggage and have never met before, a variety of unusual guards and medics. The result in the hands of a real story teller like Mr. Lehane is a book that you can't put down.
As with all good writers you soon become involved with his characters and really care what becomes of them.
It would be unfair to be too specific about the twists and turns as the story unfolds as this could ruin it for potential readers. Suffice to say that just as you think that you have worked it out you soon learn that you have not and have to rethink again and again right up to the final revelation.
I would go so far as to say that this is the best work of its kind that I have ever read. I wish that I was starting it anew.

In a league of his own!
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! :)