Rating: 
Summary: Wow!!!
Review: Dennis Lehane has given another flawless example of why he's at the head of the pack of mystery writers. Set in 1954, two federal marshalls are sent out to Shutter Island which is the home of the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. A patient by the name of Rachel Solando has escaped and she's considered very dangerous. No sooner do they arrive than a fierce storm ravages the island, stripping it of power and stranding the detectives. What follows is a page a minute jaw dropper as one mystery unravels into another. Ultimately the less you know the better. All I can say is it plays out brilliantly with a guaranteed shock ending you won't see coming. Halfway through I kept saying to myself, 'this would be such a great movie', and then I read the rights have already been snapped up. What I marvel at is how unlike everything else he's already written this is. This feels almost Ira Levinish, or more recently something M. Night Shyamalan would have penned. It's the book that everyone will be talking about, and hopefully not revealing too much.
Rating:
Summary: Not only a great story but absolutely great writing
Review: All the other 5 star reviews have said what a terrific story Lehane has written (as usual) but let me just say a few words about his writing. This guy just makes me put the book down regularly and just ponder and appreciate how amazing he is with the English language. He is a true delight to read. If you haven't read a Dennis Lehane book yet, what are you waiting for?
Rating:
Summary: Expertly Written Mystery
Review: In the summer of 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner Chuck Aule travel to the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island off the coast of Massachusetts. They are searching for Rachel Solando, a patient who mysteriously vanished out of her locked room. Stonewalled at every turn, the marshals are frustrated when one of the facilitiy's leaders, Dr. Cawley, refuses to honor their request for patients'and doctors' records. With the eerie reappearance of the missing Rachel, a violent hurricane ensues. As Teddy searches for patient Andrew Laeddis, the firebug who started the fire that killed the marshal's wife Dolores, he learns that no one remembers having seen or heard of this missing sixty-seventh patient. With a sense of foreboding, Teddy's dreams are expertly woven into his reality as he discovers the nature of the hospital's use of hallucinogenic drugs. And when his partner goes missing, Teddy is determined to find Chuck and flee the island. Fearing for his sanity, Teddy begins to suspect that no one can be trusted, and he may never be able to leave the island. With a nightmarish reality, author Lehane ensconces the reader into the very heart of a mental hospital gone awry, with experimentation on human subjects. Actual events are intertwined with hallucinations in a fast moving plot that leaves the reader wondering how many patients actually descended into insanity after entering the hospital. Brilliantly executed, this novel will leave the reader transfixed with its breathless conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: I challenge anyone to solve this one!
Review: I first became a fan of Dennis Lehane with the Angela Gennaro/ Patrick Kenzie series. With the publication of 'Mystic River' I was certain that I'd be disappointed but I was wrong. This week as I read 'Shutter Island' I doubted that Lehane could continue to impress me with his incredible writing skill. I will never doubt again. We are introduced to 'Shutter Island' by Dr. Lester Sheehan, a former psychiatrist at the facility, who in the twilight of his life is reminiscing about the four days in September of 1954 when U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels came to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando. Rachel, an inmate of Ashcliffe Hospital for the criminally insane had escaped from the highly secure facility and was nowhere to be found on the island from which escape was thought to be impossible. Teddy and his partner, Chuck Aule, are left with a cryptic message and many suspicions about what the doctors and staff at Ashcliffe might be hiding from the authorities. In this well written and superbly crafted mystery the clues are there for us to solve, but I challenge anyone to solve this mystery before the final chapters. 'Shutter Island' is a must read for all mystery buffs.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Lehane's Best, But Not A Bad Book
Review: _Mystic River_, Dennis Lehane's previous book, is a modern classic. It is his best book and it should have won him an Edgar award in the year it was published. His Kenzie-Gennaro series is also very strong, with a couple of titles real stand-outs (_A Drink Before the War_ and _Darkness, Take My Hand_). Unfortunately, his new book just isn't in the same league. Now, this is probably going to earn me a lot of "unhelpful" votes, but _Shutter Island_ just isn't that great a book, especially when you compare it to the work Lehane has done previously. The book reads like a screenplay, which perhaps it might have been. It has twists and turns galore, including one giant concluding twist that may leave readers saying "Huh?" I enjoyed the book and its very sad conclusion, but I just can't go along with the others who've said that this is or might be Lehane's best book. Compared to his usual flawless command of the dark heart of humanity, _Shutter Island_ has to be seen as little more than a trifle. Sure, you'll enjoy it, but I don't think the book will stay with you the way the more mature _Mystic River_ does. By all means, you should read this novel, especially if you're a Dennis Lehane fan, but don't feel like you have to rush right out and get it now.
Rating:
Summary: BLIND SIDED
Review: Lehane's latest novel proves why he is a master storyteller. There are good authors and great authors but very few, like Lehane, are brilliant. Lehane manages to creatively and brilliantly weave this story in such a way that the reader is blindsided and completely knocked off balance. He did a wonderful job of it in Mystic River and has done a masterful and utterly amazing job of it in Shutter Island. At the conclusion of this novel, the reader might start to question his/her own sanity.
Rating: 
Summary: SHUTTER ISLAND
Review: THIS BOOK WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT. DENNIS LEHANE IS AN EXCELLENT WRITER, BUT THIS BOOK WAS SIMPLY NOT OF HIS CALIBER. IF YOU WANT TO READ A BOOK OF HIS THAT YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD, READ "MYSTIC RIVER". I READ IT SEVERAL MONTHS AGO AND IT STILL HAUNTS ME.
Rating:
Summary: A twist on the old
Review: If only people realized that it is not enough for a book (or a film) to have a great ending to make it great. It needs more. It needs a solid beginning. It needs solid characters. And it needs adequate pacing and plotting to keep your interest through the whole thing. Dennis Lehane never had a problem with this before. As a matter of fact, his Mystic River was one of the best myseteries of the last decade (if not THE best). But with Shutter Island, he tried something different, moving out of the dark mystery field to create a hybrid story. Maybe he should have stuck with what he's best known for... Here, we have a detective who goes to the state prison/asylum on Shutter Island to investigate the disappearence of a female patient. Only, he and his partner stumble on something greater, something darker, and something that very might spell their demise. Saying too much about the plot would be to ruin a quick and slightly entertaining story, because everything seems to serve the ending. Yes, this is a book that reads well and fast. Yes, it does provide many very entertaining moments, and moments of intense suspense. But in the end, all of that just wasn't enough to save this book. Lehane is trying to up his position on the crime fiction list with this one. But this book does very little to prove to readers that he's the best at what he does. And yes, the book does have a great twist ending that you might or might not see coming, but that either isn't enough to save the book. In the end, Shutter Island is a slightly entertaining effort from an author capable of much better. I wanted more out of these characters and the situations they find themselves in. There is a lot of potential behind this story, but because the characters are so thin, it is never achieved. I wanted more out of the plot (the book is barely 300 pages long!). And I wanted more overall from Lehane.
Rating:
Summary: Jumping Out Of My Chair
Review: This is a really powerful thriller. I liked all the twists and turns and was sad to have it end. A fun weekend read.
Rating:
Summary: "Shudder" Island
Review: Dennis Lehane has a way of creating a setting that does half the work of telling his story without his having to hammer home the themes. Patrick and Angie's familiar and familial home turf and Mystic River's divided neighborhood in transition are now joined by the creepy and isolated Shutter Island of Lehane's new novel. Once protagonists Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule set foot on the island to investigate the escape of a female patient from the asylum/prison housed there, you know they're in trouble and you're in for a whale of a thriller ride. Inescapably surrounded by ocean, electric fencing, and too many guards, Teddy and Chuck ride out a hurricane in a place where it's difficult to distinguish the inmates from their keepers. As always, Lehane's characters are pitch-perfect, from his lead investigators down to the various orderlies and patients who play fleeting roles. Teddy's and Chuck's dialog is snappy and funny, even as the mysteries within mysteries evolve to induce maximum paranoia and confusion. This is a terrific book that will leave you scratching your head and wondering why you didn't see the ending coming.
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