eBook Pig Island epub

Joe Oakes and Malachi Dove have known each other for years but the relationship was never a pleasant one. Joe is a journalist and he investigated Malachi and his cult in its early days. Malachi got into Joe's head and he barely escaped with his sanity. But Joe's article made the American Southwest too uncomfortable for Dove, and he and his followers disappeared.

Now Joe has a lead on Dove. It's rumored that he is the person behind the secretive cult on Pig Island off the western coast of Scotland. Not that people have seen him. No one sees the people on the island. There is just one supply boat that comes to the mainland occasionally. But people are getting curious and very uneasy. There are rumors of Satanic rituals. A video has been leaked that shows a humanoid figure with a tail lurching through the undergrowth. Joe's editor wants someone to find out what is going on, and Joe sees a chance for a book and to settle his score once and for all with Malachi.

Joe is given permission to visit the island. Once there, he finds a small group of people, no more than thirty or so and deep divisions between them. No one wants to talk about Malachi and no one wants to hear about the figure in the video. In fact, it's pretty obvious that no one wants Joe there at all. Before he leaves, he sets loose an evil that destroys everything in its path. Joe barely escapes, taking Dove's daughter, who has never seen civilization, with him. But the evil follows Joe, as it is rumored that Malachi also escaped. Who will win the ultimate showdown between the two men?

Hayder is one of the finest crime/suspense novelists currently working. Her series about Detective Inspector Jack Caffery is regarded as one of the premier series available. This is a stand-alone novel but it will give the reader uneasy nights and plenty of surprises along the way. This book is recommended for mystery readers.

I tend to not write reviews unless I really like something or really don't. I really liked this. I should preface by saying I haven't read anything else by this author, and I understand this is not her usual genre (horror is one of my personal favs). That being understood, it wasn't perfect, but I thought she did rather well with it.

Others have given synopsis, I'll just say that I enjoyed the atmosphere Ms Hayder created; she really does take you there beautifully. The storyline is quite original, and she tells the tale well.

There were a few problems for me, won't bring them all up, but for example, the character of Lexie was irritating and unlikable, almost unrealistically so, and there was far too much of her voice in the book. We understand clearly why Oakes isn't that into her anymore, but for me, I didn't believe they'd be together in the first place, and didn't quite understand why he was struggling with guilt over his lack of interest in her. She's shallow and faithless and petty. There's no reason for him to love her.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I did like the ending, however, I think it would've been much improved with some foreshadowing clues along the way, more that you could look back at in the end and say "Omg! Of course!" Instead, it's all too rushed and abruptly piled on in the end, and while I think it was a good twist for a nicely twisted book, it isn't completely believable for that reason.

Overall, a happy buy for me. Creepy and for the most part, well told. I'd give this author another try anytime.

Having read her previous books, I found this to be the one that most provokes ambivalence. Though it starts well, with some fantastic moments, conjuring a strong sense of impending horror, the middle section of the book bogs down and the ending is weak, leaving far too many unanswered questions and apparent inconsistencies.

It is likely more satisfying for fans of the horror genre than suspense thrillers in general, or police procedurals. This seems to have been the author's intention, but it takes her away from her core fan base. However, even the hard-core horror fan is probably going to find the ending lacking in closure and credibility.

I think the island could have been an excellent setting to address issues raised in her previous book, Tokyo - particularly the harm that ignorance can do - but it doesn't, instead steering away from such topics to nowhere in particular. Tokyo didn't really address its purported theme well (despite being a powerful experience) and the various characters that live isolated lives on the island would have made excellent vehicles to address it properly, an opportunity that was missed.

The overall plotting is quite strong, and at its best it's an intensely compelling read, but there are spots where I found myself skimming, particularly in the second half of the book. There's some excellent misdirection that contributes towards the anticipated shock of the final revelations, but at the end the reader is left to reconcile too much and explain too many details, that should have been resolved by the author.

This seems to be the author's first real attempt to produce some highly differentiated viewpoint characters with extremely fallible and `coloured' accounts of their experiences. It shows up weaknesses in her writing that were concealed in her previous works. The characters end up being clunky, unlikeable, not entirely convincing and overall unsatisfactory. The attempt to hang so much on these weak characters is what leads to problems with parts of the narrative. When it tries to be a character piece, the book fails, and there isn't enough going on elsewhere to make up for it. It touches on potentially fascinating themes and does nothing with them.

The ending leaves the reader some freedom to decide in what way the central character has misled the author: was he also misled, or are we simply reading an account fabricated to serve Oaksey's purposes? I suspect this was deliberate, and the reason that we don't get a proper explanation of the real course of events, but it left me with too many questions. From looking at reviews here, I see others have issues too, though not necessarily the same as mine. I don't want to go into detail on this because to discuss it properly would result in spoilers.

Even with the weak parts, and the ending which is itself a mixture of weaknesses and strengths, this is still a worthwhile read, still solid horror writing craft, still (mostly) a solid page-turner and still worth a look. However, if you don't have a soft spot for the horror genre, you probably won't like it. A better ending might have done a lot to improve its appeal to a wider audience and made me forget about the weak spots in the middle, but the ending is just not quite clever enough.