Rating: 
Summary: Amazing
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. I'm a definite fan. I highly recommend this book and two others for a good read "The Da Vinci Code, and "He Never Called Again."
Rating: 
Summary: Nope, nope, nope!
Review: As someone who has read and loved every other single piece of Dennis Lehane's work - almost fanatically - this book is a huge disappointment and hopefully not a harbinger of things to come. The plot is transparent, cliched, and the characters can neither be liked nor hated, nor anything in between - there is no complexity to this novel at all - I saw the end coming a mile away and could barely rouse the energy to finish it. At the end, I didn't care what was real or what wasn't, nor did I spend any time imgaining what could have happened next - I was just glad it was over and even considered putting back onto Amazon marketplace for sale which is nearly unheard of for me. I hope Lehane isn't letting his publishers pressure him to produce too much too fast - he has built an amazing reputation; a few stumbles along the way like Shutter Island are OK - I just hope they don't become the norm.
Rating: 
Summary: So disappointed
Review: What happended? - I waited forever for Shutter Island to land in Canada in paperback. What a HUGE disappointment. After Mystic River and all his Patrick Kenzie novels, Shutter Island - well - it sucked. Hard to follow, could not care one bit about the characters - frankly - I was bored by the third chapter. Mr. Lehane - I certainly hope you were just having a bad day at the "computer". I hope that you keep to what you do best and that (for me at least) would be another in the Patrick Kenzie series.
Rating:
Summary: An Absolute Roller Coaster!
Review: Contrary to at least one of the reviewers, this is not a predictable format (easy to say if you happen to guess correctly!). As much as I loved 'Mystic River', this is a totally different genre from his past works. Nothing (again contrary to some reviewers) will prepare you for the totally literary and "...most aesthetically right resolutions ever written...." [ Publisher's Weekly ]. Lahane truly plays some serious games with his reader, as he does his characters, and it's very difficult to walk away from the pages not knowing where this will lead. As others have said, it's not an easy synopsis to make without giving away things that you shouldn't know... the same things that our protagonist, Teddy Daniels, cannot be aware of as he works through a labyrinthine experience that, as a reader, you will not soon forget. Buy it - Enjoy it! You will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: I saw the ending coming a mile away
Review: I'm shocked. "Mystic River" was such a good book that I was looking forward to my next Dennis Lehane novel.But "Shutter Island" telegraphs its punches to the nth degree, and I figured out what the conclusion had to be when I was a third of the way through the book. I'm not totally turned off of Lehane's novels, but I sure hope that "Shutter Island" is the only deviation in his repertoire.
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: not his best work
Review: I am a huge fan of Lehane's novels, having spent the past few months reading his entire body of work. But while his other novels push the edge of crime fiction to the boarders of literature, Stutter Island fell flat half way through the book. Perhaps having read his other novels, I am learning how he thinks, so the "surprise" ending was as obvious as an elephant walking down the street in a tux, drinking lemonade. Parts of the novel are hard to follow, but the worst sin of all is the lack of a single character I could honestly care about. If this is your first Lehane novel, do not give up hope, his other books are great and you will be well rewarded to read them all. Every author stumbles from time to time, and Lehane will return to form and deliver more great works in the future, he has all the talent needed to do so. But Stutter Island is one trip you might want to avoid.
Rating:
Summary: Not his best work
Review: I loved Dennis Lehane's other work. That said, this book left me feeling like I'd wasted my time. Stories that trick the reader all the way through don't do anything for me. Just my opinion. If you really want to read something powerful, try his "Gone, Baby, Gone". It's ending is honest and deeply affecting. By the end of Shutter Island, I was just irritated.
Rating: 
Summary: Great premise, mediocre writing
Review: I'm amazed by both the positive and negative reviews. Shutter Island will NOT stay with you long after you read it, it is NOT a classic, but at the same time the ending is NOT as confusing as some have indicated. The premise is compelling, and while the writing is very good in places it is often annoying in other places. For example, I have no problem with profanity as long as it is used in proper context, but Lehane is obviously infatuated with the 'F' word. It's overuse in this book is contrived and forced into awkward sentences. I know the word was around in 1954, but the way it's used here seems too modern and serves as a distraction. Also, I've noticed in other books by this author that he has seemingly intelligent characters take a page of dialogue to understand something that is perfectly clear to the reader (like Whitey in "Mystic River", who doesn't catch an obvious revelation
until it's explained by another cop). I've read three other Lehane novels and find him to be somewhat overrated. They all feature characters who act and speak too much like one another, and extended deviations from the plot that inspire much skimming. However, I would recommend this to those who like the page turning/Dan Brown type novels.
Rating:
Summary: Great Suspense and Incredible Twists
Review: This had to be one of the best suspense novels I have ever read. Maybe even the best book I have ever read. I agree with another reviewer, you need to find someone who has already read this book so you can talk about it after you are finished.
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