A review by jojobrown
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

3.0

I'll keep this short and sweet, because I had already seen the movie and so I don't feel as though my review will be as honest without a fresh perspective on it going into the book.

I loved how well the movie had stuck to the book. It really helped with my understanding of the book, and it's almost as though I had already read the book once already. Then I was able to pick up all of the little nuances and subtle foreshadowings the author put in there that gave clues to the mind-blowing ending.

The ending is one that if you haven't seen the movie or heard the story before, you don't even see it coming. Lehane wraps you up into this extravagant mystery that moves along through the entire novel, even from the very first scene of the book. There is so much symbolism in the book and the reactions of the characters that plays into the reality you find out in the end. It's a well-developed, well-played twist that leaves your mind reeling until the final word. I finished it in less than 2 days. I would definitely recommend this book, and would probably have rated it higher if I hadn't known the story beforehand, because I would have been hit right in the face with this book and its finale.