Author:Robin Baker
Presumed dead, a group of undergraduate students who go missing on a deserted Pacific island emerge one year later in two groups of ragged (and naked) survivors. All but one of the surviving women have conceived, and two students, plus their professor, are said to have died.
In the glare of the world's media, every survivor sticks to the same unconvincing version of events. Piece-by-piece the narrator examines the evidence and conducts interviews with the survivors, to work out exactly what happened on the island during that year. Slowly, a disturbing picture emerges of feral humans driven by rivalry and sexual tension ...a 'Lord of the Flies' scenario for adults that suspiciously seems to test the dead professor's theory that by nature people are no different from apes in the wild.
Heart-in-mouth action
—— MirrorA covert-double-crossing-twist-in-the-tale plot...intelligent and entertaining
—— MaximA helter-skelter adrenaline rush...a gripping read
—— Irish IndependentPlenty of insider knowledge on SAS covert procedures
—— Yorkshire Evening PostThis is Rendell on cracking form, with the entire accoutrements one expects from her.
—— The Good Book Guide[Wexford] has become an old friend who gets better with age.
—— The HeraldIt's not often you pick up a book where the plot is technically perfect, where the characters all come off the page perfectly formed and the writing is so good that it's impossible to spot an unnecessary word, but which still managed to be a damn good story. I was still reading at 2 o'clock this morning...
—— TheBookbag.co.ukPsychologically acute and extremely disturbing, Ruth Rendell's work is outstanding.
—— The TimesAlex Cross is a legend.
—— HARLAN COBENPatterson boils a scene down to the single, telling detail, the element that defines a character or moves a plot along. It's what fires off the movie projector in the reader's mind.
—— MICHAEL CONNELLYPatterson knows where our deepest fears are Patterson knows where our deepest fears are buried... there's no stopping his imagination.buried... there's no stopping his imagination.
—— NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWPatterson is in a class by himself.
—— VANITY FAIRSharp, sassy and guaranteed to send shivers down your spine, this is a tense thriller
—— WOMANCross is one of the best and most likeable characters in the modern thriller.
—— SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER