From Palladin to The Rockford Files to CSI on TV, in books and movies, people do love a mystery.

Police dramas, crime stories, “who done its” - all are ever popular and time doesn’t seem to change their status.

The plot will keep you reading late into the night the ending’s a big ass surprise and the premise is plausible and Lehane’s command of the English word, his twist of a phrase, is most commendable. Lehane and Dan Brown are tough acts for any suspense/thriller writer to follow. He’s fast becoming the one of the new grand masters of the pop suspense writing craft. Let me say it here - the quality of Lehane’s writing stays consistent thus far. He did it in Mystic River and he’s done it again in Shudder Island. Remember to back out of the way when you turn the literary handle. The second thing is, it’s not a cigar box, it’s a jack-in-the-box. When discussing Lehane, one of the first things to note is his ability to take all the characters and put them, in the book’s conclusion, into a nice, neat, tightly packaged box. Rooting for his success, I hoped he wouldn’t let me down. I really wanted Lehane to keep up the pace he began with Mystic River and his award-winning Kenzie/Gennaro Series. Seems like once they make it to the big top and out of the sideshows, authors are more concerned with slamming out moneymakers rather than center ring quality fiction. With this in mind, I was fearful of another “sure-fire, bestseller blockbuster” when I received the galley proof of Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island from the ever-amazing Julia at HarperCollins. While trying to make a stab at cultural comparisons and dictates, we also insert our personal preferences. PopMatters book reviews (in theory, but reality sometimes differs) are supposed to be an analysis of popular culture, its effects on the writing, the author, the sales of the book.

Another Nicholas Sparks? Is Grisham ever going to repeat his stellar performance and write like he did in A Time to Kill? Or, the penultimate fear, will the editor assign a Danielle Steele book for review? The truth is, writing and editing for PopMatters is different. The terms eagerly awaited and bestselling author often make reviewers roll their eyes with dread. Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glassĭennis Lehane, bestselling author of The Kenzie / Gennaro mystery series, and the highly acclaimed, much praised Mystic River (soon to be released as a motion picture), comes right back into the suspense forefront with his latest - Shutter Island - a wham bang thriller. “To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance too! Why, it’s as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!” “I only wish I had such eyes,” the King remarked in a fretful tone.

Shutter island by dennis lehane