STORY SUMMARY
Lyla is a post doctorate research scientist in the field of virology. Sadly, her research has fizzled out and her job is in a rut. She's fairly certain that the university she works for won't renew her contract. To top it off, her relationship with her boyfriend Nico, an aspiring actor, isn't going very well. They live together in a flat in London.
Nico gets an opportunity during the winter to join the cast of a brand new reality tv show called One Perfect Couple. He talks Lyla into trying out with him. There is a whirlwind audition and they find out that they have made it! They will be taken by boat to a deserted island in the Indian Ocean, about 20 hours from Indonesia. The name of the island is Ever After Island. Nico and Lyla will compete against 4 other couples: Santana and Dan; Angel and Bayer; Joel and Romi; Conor and Zana. The winner gets a huge cash prize.
Shortly after they all arrive on the island, everything begins to go wrong. The first challenge leaves everyone shaken up and angry and then an overnight storm turns from bad to worse. They are cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean. They have been deprived of their phones and all other electronic devices per the show's contract and so they are unable to contact the production crew that brought them there. There was one crew member left on the island but she is now dead due to the storm and the radio isn't picking up any signals. When they do get a signal, no other boat responds.
The group must band together to survive. They have very little food and only enough water to last for about 3 weeks. Tensions run high....and people begin to die....and Lyla finds that this TV show is all too real----the stakes are life or death.
Who will survive??
MY THOUGHTS
I really enjoyed this book. It's a fast paced suspence thriller and the setting is exquisite. The details of the characters are so well done. You quickly learn who to love, who to dislike, and who not to trust. The author is excellent at psychological suspense and this one doesn't disappoint in that regard.
Sadly, the author felt like the F word was necessary in several characters' speech and this was a huge turn off for me. Also, there were many editing mistakes. MANY. Mainly in regards to grammer or extra words thrown in that didn't make sense. Are there no good editors any longer???
Some themes in this story include: male/female relationships; anti-gay bias/some implicit bias regarding gays and women; domestic violence/partner abuse; physical and emotional abuse; violence, survival skills; murder; suicide; drowning.
These are dark themes but there's a deep driving force behind it all: the need and will to survive despite the odds.
We do see some of the characters die. We do see some live. I won't reveal which ones as that would totally ruin it for you.
Throughout the book there are diary entries interspersed within the story and these are something you will want to pay attention to. As soon as I began to read them slowly, I realized I knew where the author is going with this. The diary writer is not revealed until the end and it is brilliant how the author does this.
The book has three major sections:
Part One: The Calm
Part Two: The Storm
Part Three: The Reckoning
I do recommend this book. I would give it a perfect 10 if not for the overuse of the F word and the editing errors throughout the book.
Some reviews have compared this modern story to Agatha Christie's mystery And Then There Were None.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older, due to mature content.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
1 comment:
The premise sounds interesting. I have never read this author though I do think I did start The Woman in Cabin 10 but only got a few pages in.
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