Dark Island

How it reads

Dark Island is thriller (island survival thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in the wilderness or at sea, in the present day, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are survival, secrets and redemption. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 320 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.