Common Sense Media Review
By Lucinda Dyer
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Bloody thriller set in an amusement park has a shocking end.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
THE ISLAND is told in the voice of 16-year-old Paisley, who vlogs about murder. Paisley and five other teen influencers are invited for a pre-opening VIP weekend at Jagged Island, a private amusement park for those rich enough to pay $6,000 for a three-day stay. So remote that it can only be reached by boat, it's luxurious but also has what Paisley calls a "gothic vibe." The teen influencers are all successful, each having more than 500,000 followers. Liam is a gamer who's a big fan of anything with violence. Ava is known on TikTok for savaging beauty products that don't live up to her expectations, and James reviews movies but rarely rates anything above three stars. Harper posts a book review a day on TikTok, and Will is a beauty blogger with an audience bigger than Ava's. But they've barely had time to settle in and start to explore the island when one of them disappears. Then the hotel's chef is found with her throat slit. It's soon apparent that a knife-wielding killer is loose on the island, and the teens have become targets. With the Wi-Fi out and a storm making it impossible to leave by boat, everyone is trapped. Paisley calls on everything she's learned about murderers and, working with Reeve, the island's 18-year-old maintenance chief, she sets out to catch the killer.
Is It Any Good?
This retelling of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None has the usual head-spinning plot twists and a very unusual ending that readers will either love or hate. The Island focuses more on plot than on characters, so readers who want lots of information about the people they encounter in a story might be somewhat disappointed in the modest amount of background provided about the teens. But even with the scant characterizations, Paisley is a smart and appealing teen detective, and Reeve is easy to root for. For fans of horror and thrillers, this will definitely hit the mark.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the power of the teen influencers invited to The Island. Do you agree with Paisley that teens often listen to social media influencers more than parents, teachers, or doctors?
All teen detectives in thrillers have to be courageous. What's the difference between being brave and taking too many risks?
What's more frightening for you: reading about a killer on the loose, or watching that kind of story on television or in a movie? Why?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Mystery
- Character Strengths : Courage
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Delacorte Press
- Publication date : February 28, 2023
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 13 - 18
- Number of pages : 336
- Available on : Paperback, Audiobook (unabridged), Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : August 29, 2023
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