Young Adult thrills

Cally Taylor returns with another young adult novel. I loved The Treatment, her first dip into young adult fiction, and was excited to read The Island. 

I finished this in a day, and it was a definite page-turner like most of her books. In this one, a birthday gift of a trip to a remote tropical island goes horribly wrong, and six friends find themselves abandoned for a week trying to survive and awaiting rescue. They think they're alone on the island, but are they? After revealing their phobias and fears to each other, these start to become a reality. Is someone else on the island after all? Is someone messing with them and trying to harm them?

The book is told from two main perspectives: Jessie, who has experienced a previous traumatic experience that is slowly revealed and Danny, one of the male characters on the island with his girlfriend Honour and who jumps between extreme jealousy and wanting to protect her.

The story builds to a dramatic and dark conclusion, and I was surprised once it was revealed what was happening. At 55, I'm unlikely to fall into the author's ideal readership for this book, but to be honest, it didn't matter at all. I enjoyed it, and it kept me thoroughly entertained on a cold January Saturday in lockdown. 

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy of this book. 

If you'd like to read this one, you can find it all the usual places as it was published on January 21st, 2021.