Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunately
Review: I figured out the twist quite early in the novel (almost immediately) and was prepared for the ending. Nevertheless many will find this an entertaining read. Certainly a good book to take on a vacation etc. Decent summer reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Lehane's Best Yet
Review: I've read everything Dennis Lehane has published and I loved Shutter Island. He gets better, more complex, more confident with each novel. It definitely belongs in the psychological thriller genre and clearly some of these reviewers who did not enjoy the book are not fans of that genre. The twists and turns were delightful and believable. I read a terrific number of mysteries and am always disappointed if I figure out the mystery mid-book. I did figure out some of the clues, but not the ending. I loved the ending - thought it was the perfect final twist. Entirely appropriate.
Rating: 
Summary: Lehane's still better than 99% of everything esle out there
Review: To me, Dennis Lehane is the cream of the crop, an exciting writer who burst on the scene with a detective novel that helped turn the genre on its ear and kept rolling from there. To anyone who hasn't devoured them yet, his Kenzie/Gennaro quintet is superb. In fact, those books inspired me to become a writer. (Read Gone, Baby, Gone and see why...) His popularity climbed with each book; reading the new Lehane became the "in" thing to do. After exhausting his series characters, he took two years and came out with one of the finest novels of the past thirty years, at least. Mystic River is hardly a genre book. It's literary fiction at its finest, and if Lehane wasn't already considered a mystery/crime writer, it'd be put in the same category as Richard Price or Pete Dexter. The mystery tag didn't hurt it, though. MR went on to earn glowing reviews and earned Lehane a reputation as a force to be reckoned with. Then came Shutter Island. If you're like me, you've been waiting two long years. It's a quick read. There isn't as much depth. It's not a literary/mystery crossover or a detective novel. It's a noirish kind of psycho-thriller set in the '50s. But that doesn't make it bad. It's just different. For it's kind of book, it's excellent. Better than anything Patterson or Sanford or even Stephen King has written in a long, long time. Okay, it's not going to win a Pulitzer prize, but Lehane knew it wasn't going to. It was a story stuck in his head that he just had to get out. Some people can accept this and some can't. But remember--not everyone like Mystic River when it came out. A lot of people were disappointed that he wrote a standalone and abandoned his detectives, but now MR is considered a modern-day classic. Give Mr. Lehane a break. He wrote an excellent thriller. A taut, smart read that kept you turning pages. So he didn't go for 400 pages of eloquence. Big deal. Get over it. Who out there is writing anything better these days? So why didn't I give him five stars if I think the world of him? Because Shutter Island is my least favorite book by him. Can't think of anyone else out there who I'd give four stars to for their "worst" book. That, to me, is the sign of a great writer.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have read in years.
Review: I am a Lehane fan, but this book brought his writing to a whole new level. It starts with what seems to be an odd postlog, then moves into the simple detective novel genre. Eventually it becomes one of the most astounding novels I have ever read. "Shutter Island" much more than "Mystic River" qualifies Dennis Lehane as a top notch writer who writes with the type of skill I generally attribute to authors who have written classics. That being said the dark side of this book will prevent it from being included in the high school curriculam. This is an amazing book. An absolute must read for anyone who likes Patterson, Sandford, Connelly, King, or any of the other good (and bad) writers of thrillers out there.
Rating:
Summary: SHUDDER WITH SHUTTER ISLAND
Review: Dennis Lehane has written an outstanding page-turner, one that leaves you dazed and in awe at its unexpected climax. The plot has been examined in other reviews, so I'll stick with what really makes this one such a tour de force.
First of all, the characterization of Teddy Daniels is incredible. Haunted by the untimely death of his wife, his own self-destruction seems imminent and his quest for revenge unquenchable.
But ponder on the intense atmosphere Lehane creates, especially during the catastrophic hurricane that sweeps the island; the lost soulds of the inmates; the disturbing dreams haunting Teddy; the mysterious disappearance of his only ally; the appearance of a female in a cave. Lehane establishes quite an aura of suspense, wonder, and mystery. Go back and read the prologue and see if you can find anything in there to prepare you for the jawdropping climax; read the last chapter again to see if you can determine what happens; think about the white material with the gleam of metal.
This is a thinking man's thriller; but it is full of incredibly suspenseful scenarios.
Undoubtedly, Dennis Lehane is at the top of his craft, and we readers are to be thankful for such an original voice in the world of whodunits!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Rating: 
Summary: Awful book could have been good Alfred Hitchcock short story
Review: I hated the ending of this book. The majority of the novel was actually good reading, but about 25 pages before the end of the book I'd had it with the mental cruelty of the book -- not only with what seemed like cruelty of some of the characters, but with the author's playing with my forebearance. At that point I flipped through the last pages merely scanning them for content, to see if it was more of the same stuff (which it was), and then finally got to the very last pages and felt well...betrayed. I've read all of Lehane's other books and thought they were all excellent. This one was a waste of time and patience. Perhaps it could have been a good Alfred Hitchcock short story. It just was a disappointing novel from a fine author trading on his reputation earned from writing a completely different kind of novel. As other reviews show, some people really enjoyed the book, so apparently that's possible, but Lehane fans should be warned that this is really not like the "Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro" novels. At all.
Rating:
Summary: Island knowledge
Review: I was at first captivated by the characterization of the main character, Teddy, his losses and his longings. The setting, an island in Boston Harbor also caught my attention as I have worked on the islands when in college. The plot moved fast with all of the makings of a thriller, mad doctor, killer, island, storm, survival, bad guys, etc. The last quarter of the book was a let down...its not just that the ending was disappointing, the pace and the writing seemed to run out of steam. It almost seemed as though LeHane became bored with the ending and lost his magic, his flair. Without giving away the plot and/or ending, there were many ways to add intrigue to the finish of this book without changing the conclusion. The last few chapters were painful to read through ad the ending became inevitable instead of a mystery and the action dropped way down. Not his best, but I am still a fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't Have Me Quivering!
Review: I know I was supposed to be be flipping pages wildly, with my hair standing on end, but I really couldn't get that immersed in the story. But, Shutter Island was foisted on me, and I stuck through to the end because the foister just might give me a pop quiz. Shutter Island isn't a bad book, it's just isn't my kind of book. I call books like these "hat tricks," or maybe talking horses. Real live book reviewers call them great "gotcha" books.
Lobotomies and withdrawing from Tofrinal aren't really very terrifying or interesting. And Teddy or Andrew? Well, I couldn't seem to care. For real terror, I vote for The Horned Man. Shutter Island? It'll make a great movie after it's made a gob of money in book form for the smiling man of the back flap.
Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: Maybe it's me because I was expecting something better and read the book with the constant feeling of disappointment and waiting for it to GET better or get SOMETHING. Dennis Lehane is a popular writer, a friend of a friend, and I was really looking forward to reading his book. I'm not really good at reading books that delve into other people's minds. I don't pick up well on subtleties. I felt as though a lot had happened to these characters before Lehane even started to tell us about them and we were somehow supposed to have ESP. There isn't much action except walking around a lot and talking even more. I found the book dull and boring and even flipping to the end to find out what happened made no sense. I wondered why the book wasn't on the bestseller list, and when I sent it to our library for their booksale, I knew why.
Rating:
Summary: Mind Games
Review: The protaganist's father was a fisherman,...I think, and the hook is set early, and the author reels us into his world with skill and tension. But the fish escapes, and our satisfaction with it, at an ending that doesn't satisfy.
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