Book Review: The Island by Michael Bray

What if the next generation of reality show had your life as the prize?

The island is the largest man made structure ever constructed. Within its two hundred foot high steel walls are savage dinosaurs created for one purpose. To hunt man. In addition, of those who are chosen to enter the island, only one can leave and claim the prize. As television screens around the world tune in to watch, the six contestants form an uneasy alliance as they battle nightmarish beasts beyond comprehension. When a secret is uncovered which could bring down the entire Lomar Corporation, the contestants find that some men are worse than monsters, and some corporations will stop at nothing to protect that which they tried so desperately to hide.

My Review: 
For several years, a secret game show took place on a mysterious island, and a mortality rate of 100%. Now the game has been resurrected to entertain a television audience and offer more desperate people the chance to win whatever prize they dream of. Chase is well aware that without medical help his daughter Elsie is going to die of cancer and he has no money to buy the cure. Hearing about The Island, Chase decides that this is the only chance for his family and signs up along with five strangers who all have their own prize in sight. What none of them are prepared for is the reality of what lives on The Island, the deadly dinosaurs that they have to get by to get to the exit. But soon they realise that in order to win, the other five need to die and a moral dilemma starts to eat at Chase. What is he prepared to do for his daughter's life?

Back in 2018, Damien came up with the idea of an extravagant nature reserve for rich tourists to enjoy on a special island but his father, who ran the company refused to entertain the idea. Now in 2043, Damien is in charge. He built his island but turned it into a game zone with deadly dinosaurs, offering a prize to anyone who could survive and escape. After three full seasons, everyone taking part had died and it was decided to shut down the island. but Damien is back with a new plan-open up the island and offer desperate people another chance at the prize of their choice, but this time instead of the game and the island being shrouded in secrecy, he plans to televise the whole event to the general public. Call me twisted, but this is exactly the kind of thing I could watch on a Saturday night!

The other characters were interesting. There is Moses, a former hired killer who wanted to start a new life but his past keeps catching up with him. He is here to get his past forgiven so that he can finally move on. Perrie doesn't believe the hype or the mortality figures for the show. She is obsessed with being famous and has no clue what she has signed up to as she never bothered to read the contract. Alex is the calmest person in the group which makes the others wary and he seems to know what they are about to face. Ryder has a family of tough military men to live up to and he wants to prove to his father that he is the best of them, even if it means killing all of the competition. My one confusion about him is that he is introduced to the others as former Special Forces yet talks about how he is unsure if he can actually kill someone. I found that a bit puzzling. It then mentions that his dad rubs his nose in the fact that he and his other sons are all military. It left me confused if Ryder is military or not.

The first night where a huge roar is heard deep in the jungle unnerves the group, who decide to stick together to begin with until they see what they are facing. They approach a water hole which looks like the ideal place to rest, relax, drink and swim-but the group are about to get a lesson in what lives on The Island and the terrible danger that they are in. there are lots of dinosaurs on The Island to enjoy and a few very dangerous encounters with them. There is also a lot of interesting terrain to get through which requires teamwork, and everyone is painfully aware that there can only be one winner in this game. It leads to that moral dilemma of what you would do to win, something Chase is struggling with as his daughter's life depends on him winning. Others may not be as reluctant to do what needs to be done so everyone is very much having to watch their backs.

There is added drama in the form of Damien himself. He is not above trying to manipulate the game for his own personal interests. He takes an interest in Chase and why he is taking part in the game, and gives him a boost before the action starts. However as the plot develops, we start to see what has previously been going on on The Island, what secrets it holds and the lengths that Damien will go to in order to keep his secrets. I found that it added another interesting strand to the plot, with the people on The Island being more of a danger to each other than some of the dinosaurs are. It also looks at morality and what desperate people can do as well as exploring how some people are willing to lose their humanity to win while others strive to hang onto theirs.

I'm a sucker for a good dinosaur drama especially in the form of a game show like this. I love the idea of man and woman testing themselves against dinosaurs and each other. The dinosaur action is a lot of scary fun as you would expect, with death and near misses to keep the reader entertained. The added element of how human nature develops under the circumstances was certainly interesting. It dipped just a little for me with a bit of a messy ending but I have to say that overall I found it a lot of fun to read. I'll be looking at more by the author for sure.

Read July 2019
4 stars.