📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ The Island by Ben McPherson

  

📖 On Publication Day 📖

Harper Collins UK
7 January 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my e-copy of this book

A shocking act of violence…

It should have been the safest place on earth. A summer camp for teens, on a beautiful island off the coast of Oslo. But what started out as a haven becomes hell on earth as two men start shooting.

A family torn apart…

With Norway in shock, the families gather, desperately hoping their children have survived. Some have their prayers answered. Some must confront their worst nightmare. But for one family, this is just the beginning…

A daughter gone missing…

Cal and Elsa’s daughter Licia was on the island that day. But the police can find no trace of her – dead or alive. Stuck in limbo, Cal and Elsa delve into their daughter’s life. The secrets they uncover are shocking. But they still don’t know – did Licia survive the shooting? Or is she gone forever?

📖 My thoughts..

Cal and Elsa’s worst fears are realised when a nightmare scenario takes place on an idyllic Norwegian island. Two gunmen start shooting indiscriminately at a group of teenagers who are attending a summer camp. In the aftermath of this appalling national tragedy, Cal and Elsa discover that their daughter, Licia, is not amongst the survivors. Gradually, over the course of the story, it becomes more and more clear that there are deadly secrets to be revealed about just what happened to Licia.

The powerful first chapter is dark and complex and sets the scene for a tense family drama. The author writes well, and keeps the suspense high, thus bringing to life a nightmare set of circumstances which reveal a family in chaos. There are so many secrets between them that the investigation becomes like slotting together a jigsaw puzzle as Cal and Elsa desperately try to piece together flimsy fragments of information about what could possibly have happened to their daughter on that ill-fated summer day.

The Island is an intelligent and thought provoking read which shows the deep cracks which can appear inside a family who, on the surface, seem to know everything about each other, and yet when it comes right down to it, they know absolutely nothing at all.

📖 About the Author 📖

Ben McPherson’s debut novel was the highly acclaimed A Line of Blood. He is a television producer and director, as well as a writer, and for more than ten years worked for the BBC, among other outlets. He is also an occasional columnist for Aftenposten, Norway’s leading quality daily, and lives in Oslo with his wife and two children.

Twitter @TheBenMcPherson #TheIsland

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