Shutter Island: Summary and book reviews of Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, plus links to an excerpt from Shutter Island and a biography of Dennis Lehane.

Summer, 1954. U.S. 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 patient, a 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 rumors of Ashecliffe’s radical approach to psychiatry? An approach that may include drug experimentation, hideous surgical trials, and lethal countermoves in the shadow war against Soviet brainwashing. . . . Or is there another, more personal reason why he has come there? As the investigation deepens, the questions only mount: How has a barefoot woman escaped the island from a locked room? Who is leaving clues in the form of cryptic codes? Why is there no record of a patient committed there 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. . . .

Media Reviews

Miami Herald The ride this novel provides is as good as entertainment gets.   New York Times Startlingly original…instantly cinematic… unfolds with increasing urgency until it delivers a visceral shock in its final moments.   Orlando Sentinel Nightmarish…it’s not a book to start before bedtime. Even if you finish before dawn, Shutter Island will trouble your sleep.   USA Today - Joseph Barbato It has the headlong suspense and whopper of a story you would expect in any well-made thriller.   The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio The atmosphere is properly dark and moody, and so long as Teddy and Chuck stick to the manhunt and their investigation of Ashecliffe's creepy medical staff, they play their roles with muscle and grace.   Kirkus Reviews Starred Review. After an extraordinarily humane series of neo-noirs (Mystic River, 2001, etc.), Lehane has produced a brilliantly far-fetched page-turner that’s sure to be the most talked-about thriller of the year.   Publishers Weekly Starred Review. There is no mystery…about how good this book is; like Mystic River, it’s a tour de force.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Straberry
Why i like it so much
This movie is by far my favorite of all times, the director of it is a genius! it plays with our minds at first and i like that because it builds suspense. I highly recommend everyone to watch it, you will not regret it.

Rated of 5 by Raffie
Wonderful story!!
Shutter Island is one of the best book I have ever read in my life (and I have been averaging a book every two-three days for 33 years now). The characters are so real the reader feels for them; the plot is magnificent; the end is unpredictable and...   Read More

Rated of 5 by sandee
great read
I loved this book. I'm not sure about the ending. Was Teddy crazy or did the island make him crazy?

Rated of 5 by Timmy O
This was a great one! I couldn't put it down and finished it in one day. Wow!

Rated of 5 by Franny
Wow! I loved this book. I can't stop thinking about it. It's different than what I'm use to. I liked the ending, especially the fact that there is no ending! I can't stop thinking about this book. It's kinda freaking me out. I hear it's going to...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Megan
I thought that this book was interesting and suspensful. I would recomend it to anyone who wants a quick read that will leave you baffled at the end.

...1 More Reader Reviews

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• 1940s & '50s