Paperback, 320 pages
Published June 27th 2017 by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Rating: ★★★★
This is what I want a thriller to be; quick, exhilarating, tense, and enjoyable.
Shark Island starts by introducing Naomi, as close to a main character as the book has, losing part of her leg to a shark attack while photographing seals off the coast of Cape Cod. Several months later has her joining a scientific expedition experimenting with a beacon that would lure the masses of seals, and thus the feeding sharks, to a remote island far from people. Throwing a wrench in their plans is a huge storm, environmental terrorists following them in another boat, and the discovery that the beacon while the beacon does entice the seals to move, it also drives the sharks into an intense frenzy. And it only gets worse from there.
The book is both tense and intense, with moments of real humanity. It's brutal in places and had me flinching, but I count that as a success as I was connected to the characters and I wanted them safe. There's a diverse cast of characters, there are queer characters, characters of different races, of different economic backgrounds, etc. All these things are important to the characters, yet also utterly unimportant in the face of furious great white sharks driven mad with bloodlust. Though Naomi is the de facto protagonist, there are numerous perspectives, some more major than others. Chris Jameson really managed to capture the right balance there, giving each character their own voices and motivations.
The plot moves along quickly and once teeth start gnashing at the characters, your heart starts pumping, in simultaneous dread and excitement. It's a wild ride from start to finish, thrilling even. Definitely a great summer book, but maybe not one you want to be reading by the seaside.
Shark Island starts by introducing Naomi, as close to a main character as the book has, losing part of her leg to a shark attack while photographing seals off the coast of Cape Cod. Several months later has her joining a scientific expedition experimenting with a beacon that would lure the masses of seals, and thus the feeding sharks, to a remote island far from people. Throwing a wrench in their plans is a huge storm, environmental terrorists following them in another boat, and the discovery that the beacon while the beacon does entice the seals to move, it also drives the sharks into an intense frenzy. And it only gets worse from there.
The book is both tense and intense, with moments of real humanity. It's brutal in places and had me flinching, but I count that as a success as I was connected to the characters and I wanted them safe. There's a diverse cast of characters, there are queer characters, characters of different races, of different economic backgrounds, etc. All these things are important to the characters, yet also utterly unimportant in the face of furious great white sharks driven mad with bloodlust. Though Naomi is the de facto protagonist, there are numerous perspectives, some more major than others. Chris Jameson really managed to capture the right balance there, giving each character their own voices and motivations.
The plot moves along quickly and once teeth start gnashing at the characters, your heart starts pumping, in simultaneous dread and excitement. It's a wild ride from start to finish, thrilling even. Definitely a great summer book, but maybe not one you want to be reading by the seaside.
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