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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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THE ISLAND

Adrian McKinty

Set between a remote island in Australia and Seattle, Washington, THE ISLAND tells the story of an ordinary woman who must make an extraordinary choice when a family vacation turns deadly.
For newly-married Heather Baxter, a trip to Australia with her doctor husband, Tom, and his two teens, Olivia and Owen, is a dream come true. Heather's never traveled outside of the US before. And she's been struggling to connect with her new step-children. But as on any family vacation, little goes as planned - the weather is too hot, the kids soon bored, and the promised koalas nowhere to be seen.

So when a chance encounter with two locals garners an invite to Dutch Island, a private enclave where wildlife thrives, Tom ponies up for the ferry tickets. One hour off the grid; isn't that the adventure they all need? But Dutch Island is private for a reason. When their visit leads to a horrific accident, Heather must make a decision that changes everything. Soon they are on the run for their lives.

Propulsive, terrifying, and blade-sharp, The Island is the next thrilling adventure from the mastermind behind the award-winning global sensation The Chain, and a family story unlike any you've read yet.

Adrian McKinty was born and grew up in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. He studied philosophy at Oxford University on a full scholarship before immigrating to the United States. He is the author of the instant New York Times bestseller The Chain, as well as a dozen crime novels that have won the Edgar Award, Ned Kelly Award, Barry Award, Macavity Award, and Anthony Award and have been translated into more than twenty languages. He is a book critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, the Irish Times, and The Guardian. He currently lives in New York with his wife and two daughters.
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Published 2022-05-17 by Little Brown

Comments

THE ISLAND is one of the New York Times 5 Best Thrillers of the Year! It's also a 2022 Booklist Editor's Choice ("expertly choreographed and breathlessly exciting family-in-peril thriller") and a Waterstones Best Book of the Year in the UK.

In Adrian McKinty's taut thriller, a new stepmom tests the limits of how far she'll go to protect her kids... When Tom, a widowed doctor with two kids, marries Heather, he decides to take the new family abroad for an Australian adventure. One bad decision later, they're running for their lives in a remote outback town in this tense, adrenaline-fueled thriller. Adrian McKinty, hot off the success of The Chain, makes the extreme weather in The Island feel like a character, and readers will root for Heather as she fights to save her family. Hulu has snapped up the rights to turn the novel into a limited series.

McKinty's The Chain (2019) ran the table in terms of sales and critical acclaim, and now he's delivered another knockout stand-alone... expertly choreographed and breathlessly exciting, but the novel hits another level entirely through McKinty's portrayal of the developing relationship between Heather and the teens... The family-in-peril story is a familiar trope, but here both the peril and the family are like no other...

Meet 12-year-old Wallace and watch his review of THE ISLAND on #BooksWithWallace (just retweeted by Don Winslow, Jake Tapper, Patricia Cornwell, John Cusack, and others, and getting tons of traction)! Read more...

This summer's literary thrill ride... McKinty is a master, speeding up and slowing down the narrative at just the right time, turning this midnight morality play into a bonafide summer thrill ride.

The action is frenetic and relentless... entirely satisfying if you're looking for a reliable nightmare or two.

Deliverance meets The Road Warrior in this harrowing survival thriller set in Australia from bestseller McKinty (The Chain).. How Heather and the children wind up pooling their abilities to stay alive against all odds makes for an exhilarating ride. McKinty is a master of suspense.

Adrian McKinty's THE ISLAND is just out and has gone straight to #12 on the New York Times bestseller list

A haunting masterpiece

Hulu has just acquired film/TV rights to THE ISLAND for a limited television series in a major deal! Adrian McKinty will executive produce with Shane Salerno and The Story Factory. Read more...

Heart-stoppingly tense and unpredictable, The Island twists a family vacation to a nightmarish breaking point. Adrian McKinty has written another irresistible and pulse-pounding thriller about the surprising places evil hides and just how far we'll go for those we love.

Adrian McKinty on The Tamron Hall Show sharing how THE ISLAND was inspired by a true family vacation story. Read more...

THE ISLAND is a "best book of the month" with Amazon, Time, and Booklist

A pulsating, nerve-shredding thriller. I loved it!

UK: Orion, ANZ: Hachette Australia ; Brazil: Record ; Bulgarian: Egmont ; Croatian: Vbz ; Czech: Dobrovsky ; Dutch: Boekerij ; Finland: Otava ; French: Fayard ; Greek: Pedio/Ellinika Grammata ; Hungarian: XXI. Szazad Kiado ; Italian: Longanesi ; Norwegian: Cappelen Damm ; Polish: Agora ; Romanian: Litera ; Serbian: Vulkan ; Slovenia: Ucila ; Swedish: Mondial

THE ISLAND, by Adrian McKinty: Unrelenting suspense. It reminded me a little of JAWS. Out now"

Adrian McKinty has smacked it out of the park again with The Island.

Unforgettable

Extraordinary

The locals aren't always friendly in vacation hot spots, but on the closed-to-the-public island Tom sneaks his family in to for fun, they're out to kill. Maybe Disney World next time?

An exciting thriller that... pulls readers compulsively onward. Read more...

...a tense, adrenaline-fueled thriller.

Book Trailer Read more...

Wow, this book left me breathless and on the edge of my seat from the very first page - this is thriller writing of a high order. Gripping and unpredictable, prepare to be hooked and pumped full of adrenaline as McKinty deftly weaves a compulsively readable plot with characters that you are rooting for. No one does high-stakes tension like McKinty. Put The Island at the top of your TBR - you won't regret it.

McKinty delivers another skillful, blade-sharp page-turner.

...how deeply invested I became in the fate of the characters of THE ISLAND, a propulsive, insane story, about an all-out struggle for survival between an Australian family and a group of American interlopers...Why did I like this book so much, when I detest violence, gore and drawn-out scenes of sadistic mayhem? Maybe because Heather, who starts as a clueless young bride who expects her older husband to take care of her and has no love for his children, becomes not just a Charlize Theron-worthy badass but also a great stepmother who helps two damaged kids come into their own.