Rating: 
Summary: Eerie, disturbing, well-written treat
Review: Having read all of Lehane's previous novels I looked forward to Shutter Island with anticipation, and I was not disappointed.This is a very different sort of book than either the Patrick & Angie mysteries or Mystic River. It is just as well-written though, and just as difficult to put down. The story begins as a classic "locked-door" mystery--how did child-murderer Rachel Solando escape from her room in the hospital for the criminally insane on isolated Shutter Island? Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule arrive to try to answer that question just as a major hurricane is bearing down on the island. The hurricane provides a suitably threatening and violent backdrop for the action. Nothing is as it seems. No one can be trusted. Threats to both mind and body lurk around every corner. Events take on an eerie, hallucinatory quality that is as disturbing as it is irresistable. Yes, the ending is definitely a twist (or twisted?) but it isn't a cheat or a trick. Lehane earns every gasp of shock and shudder of horror. This is a book that will stay with you for a long time...at least until Lehane's next is released. ;o)
Rating: 
Summary: Unresolved mystery for me!
Review: Dennis Lehane's newest mystery is truly a mystery to me!!! On surface the plot seems simple - it's post WWII, two war veterans, now U.S. Marshals, set out to Shutter Island's mental asylum for violent criminals (or patients as Dr. Crawley insists) to investigate the disappearance of a patient who had no visible or reasonable means of escape. Their investigation soon meets a dead-end when the hospital personnel, doctors, nurses, and orderlies are less than cooperative with necessary information. Meanwhile, Lehane introduces many other themes: How does violence shape humans, especially combat veterans and criminals; an historical look at psychiatric treatment in the 1950s and the argument between two schools - surgical intervention vs. psychotropic drugs; secret operations programs to test different drugs on the mentally ill; racial inequities; the fear of reality; and, finally, when does personal pain become self-deception. With that many themes the book seemed cluttered without sufficient time to develop all of them satisfactorily for the reader. Without the thematic developement on the part of the author, it left me wondering why it was included in the book. Characterization was bland and robotic especially of the professional staff at the asylum. The 50's setting could have been interesting if there had been more thematic development to tie it all together. But it all felt unresolved. Dialogue was sometimes vague and irrelevant, and again, why were some things introduced to the reader, e.g., Marshal Aule's difficulties because of a Japanese-American girlfriend - it served to explain why he had been newly partnered with Teddy Daniels, but it was almost unbelievable given that it was 1954 and I'm not sure our society was sensitive enough to reassign a U.S. Marshal based on a racial issue. All in all, a somewhat disappointing, unfinished attempt that failed to effectively connect all the themes that were introduced. I truly love Dennis Lehane and have read all his books, but this one fell short for me.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Another amazing book by Dennis Lehane. Truly a stunner, Shutter Island sucks you in and won't release you until you've read it's shocking conclusion. It's a disorienting, disturbing, utterly absorbing, and rewarding experience, every bit as powerful as Mystic River, but in an entirely different way. Buy it, read it, enjoy it, pray you can recover from it.
Rating: 
Summary: And Now For Something Completely Different
Review: Dennis Lehane had a problem after Mystic River. How does one follow up that brilliant psychological drama? Shutter Island is the answer and it will probably disappoint fans of Mystic River as it seems a throw-back to an earlier form of crime novel, more stylized than naturalistic. This new novel takes place on one very dark and stormy night and the cliches do not stop piling up after that. The author even seems to love this chance to indulge in as many as he can squeeze through the pages. There is a wonderfully clammy paranoic feel to the book, making its setting in the early fifties feel appopriate. The mystery becomes a little obvious and somewhat forced so it is best if the reader just hangs on and enjoys the ride without thinking too much. A decent follow-up, much heavier on creeping suspense than intelligent insight and charaterization than his previous books, but still worth the trip.
Rating:
Summary: Whew! What A Stunner!
Review: Shutter Island sits off the coast of Boston and is home to Ashcliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. Teddy Daniels, U.S. Marshall, and his partner, Chuck Aule, arrive on the island to help in the search of a missing patient. What actually goes on at Ashcliffe? Unconventional psychiatric treatments? It's difficult to review this book without giving too much away. Several other reviewers have said they were unprepared for the shocking ending. So I prepared myself by paying close attention to all the clues. But it wasn't enough. As I finished this book, sitting in a well air conditioned room, I actually broke out in a sweat. That has never happened to me before. What a stunner! Some reviewers have said they thought Lehane's previous novel, Mystic River, was better. I just can't imagine that. So, I'll put Mystic River on my must-read list. It's going to take me awhile to get over Shutter Island, though.
Rating:
Summary: Hitchcock Redux
Review: This is a strange novel. The atmosphere is so heavy, the characters so stereotypical, the action so creepy, that you wonder if you're supposed to think this is more subtle than that. It is, but not in the way you expect, and I can't say more without giving away the big surprise of the plot. Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule are U.S. Marshals, sent to the mental facility at Shutter Island to assist in the search for an escapee, a woman named Rachel Solando who killed her children and has been incarcerated in this facility for some years. The facility holds only the most dangerous criminals, violent and delusionally insane, and tries a varied regimen of treatments to deal with their problems. The difficulty comes in that the Marshals are convinced that someone's not telling the truth: the escaped woman apparently dissolved and walked through walls to escape, and it seems everyone at the hospital is lying about what happened. Nothing seems to make any sense. As they investigate further, things get stranger and stranger, and then stranger still. I enjoyed this book, but I can't recommend it wholeheartedly. It's not that suspenseful, more atmospheric than anything else, and the plot twist isn't completely unexpected, just a bit strange. It's also a bit derivative of a popular movie of a few years ago (I won't tell you which one, because it might partially ruin the twist for you here) and somewhat depressing. I did enjoy the book, and I would recommend it, given those shortcomings.
Rating:
Summary: Another Classic from Lehane
Review: Dennis Lehane's 'Shutter Island' is a page turner that will likely creep you out at some point. After having read a few novels in the Patrick McKenzie series, I decided to give this book a try. Not having read the acclaimed 'Mystic River,' of the novels by Lehane I have read, I can claim this is his best work yet. 'Shutter Island' tells the story of Edward Daniels as he travels to an island with the same name as the novel. A patient by the name of Rachel Solando has escaped and Daniels and his partner, both U.S. Marshals, have been sent to investigate. To borrow a cliche, nothing is as it seems, and the two Marshals find themselves embroiled in one monster of a mystery. Rachel has left behind several clues, all in the form of some sort of code. Deciphering the code only raises more questions than it answers. This book has a genuine mystery, and the entire time I read it, something nagged me about the entire situation. The devoted reader will find out what that is in the final few chapters. In addition to being a mystery, this novel is a thriller. There were a few moments in the asylum that can really send a shiver down your spine. Few writers can capture the creepy feeling of the asylum that Lehane has. It is much like the feeling of the prison in Stehpen King's 'The Green Mile.' Above all, this book is really intelligent. It doesn't go for the easy thrill or the overdone plot turn. I recommend this book be read with careful attention. I found myself frequently flip back to previous chapters trying to work out some of the mysteries. As with anything by Lehane, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining
Review: "Shutter Island" was most of the time enjoyable. This book was often confusing at times. I had to read parts over again to try to understand it. By time I reached the end of the book, my main goal was to finish, not to find out what happens. But I must say, the book did have a very spooky and thrilling ending. And there were parts in this book that were exhilirating and very entertaining. If you are a person that loves mysteries. This is the perfect book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, Dennis! Write On, Write On...
Review: Working at a store that sells mainly best sellers and older books written by those same authors, I have a really odd way of picking out what books to follow through with and read. What I was looking for in Shutter Island was for a psychotic Rachel Solando to be lurking in the shadows, making bodies turn up and clues slowly appear, but instead, I found a delightful, less brutal alternative that was more psychologically unsettling, which worked very well in this book. Shutter Island has a dark feel through the pages, and between uncovering the secrets of Ashecliffe Hospital and figuring out how much Teddy Lehane's past affects his future will keep you flipping pages they're turning into flames after completion. Trying to figure out what is REALLY happening will have you reprimanding yourself constantly for being wrong, but don't worry, on the last few pages, I'm sure you'll figure it all out! Great Psychological Thriller, great job, Dennis Lehane. *also read Mystic River, another great one to check out
Rating:
Summary: Everything Isn't As It Seems
Review: US Marshals, Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, set off on an assignment to Shutter Island, home of Ashcliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. Their assignment while on the island, just off the coast of Boston, is to investigate the unexplainable disappearance of a female patient/prisoner Rachel Salondo. As Teddy and Chuck try to unravel her mysterious escape, they only discover more questions without answers. Teddy can't shake the feeling that unethical and terrifying experiments are going on at Ashecliffe and if he's not careful he may find himself a patient/prisoner himself. However he can't force himself to abandon his mission and leave the island because he has a motive of his own....to find and kill his wife's murderer who he believes is housed at Ashecliffe. Dennis Lehane has written an extraordinary novel full of suspense, terror, paranoia and a plot twist that will have you thinking for days after you've turned the last page.
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