Some books have been part of the cultural conversation for so long that you feel like you already know them, even when you haven’t actually read them. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane was one of those books for me. I knew about the movie, remembered the book being a big deal when it came out, and figured spooky season was the perfect time to finally give it a try.
The setup had plenty of promise: a remote island, a psychiatric hospital, a missing patient, and an investigation where nothing is quite what it seems. I got the dark atmosphere and a layered mystery, but I didn’t get the gripping, can’t-look-away experience I was hoping for. So was Shutter Island worth reading, or has time and a few too many psychological thrillers made me harder to surprise?
*Spoilers will be hidden and labelled so you can choose to read or skip.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on them and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Before Reading:
Where did I hear about this book? Know of the movie based on the book.
Curiosity or Awareness: Awareness
Would I read it if no one was talking about it? Yes, this is a backlist book for sure.
What I want from this book: I want a psychological thriller that surprises me and makes me think.
Hype Meter
Goodreads: 4.14 | StoryGraph: 4.08
My Take: Slightly over-hyped.
Judge Shutter Island by the Cover
Most of the composition of the Shutter Island cover consists of a dark, cloudy sky; only the bottom fifth shows a small island with a fort and a lighthouse. This creates a sense of atmosphere and suggests to the viewer that the setting is remote and isolated.
Color Story
Black, grey, and mustard yellow create a high-contrast design that catches the eye and gives a sense of suspense.
Typography Notes
Bold, widely spaced sans-serif letters make the title and author clear. The delivery is punchy and no-frills.
Genre Signals
The uneasy colors combined with hard-hitting type signal a suspense thriller for sure.
Hidden Details
The imagery on the cover is more about the setting and no obvious easter eggs jump out.
Mood Check
Edgy and dark, the mood is tense.
Beyond the Dust Jacket
The ebook formatting is simple and clean. Broken up into 4 days and 25 chapters, the 370 pages read quickly.
Did the design affect whether I bought the book?
No, I bought Shutter Island on sale based on a vague memory of the film and the book being a big deal when it came out years ago. I haven’t seen it, but I thought, “Why not?”
Story Snapshot
In Short
A psychological thriller about a man investigating a psychiatric hospital on a remote island, where nothing is as it seems.
From the Publisher
This New York Times bestseller is an arresting psychological thriller in which two U.S. Marshals hunting for an escaped mental patient unveil a nightmare world of CIA drug trials, Nazi inspired eugenic work, and repressive mind control.
In the year 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate an unexplained disappearance. Multiple murderess Rachel Solando is loose somewhere on this barren island, having vanished from a locked, guarded cell in an impossible locked room mystery. As a killer hurricane bears relentlessly down on the island, hints of radical experimentation and covert government machinations add darker, more sinister shades to an already bizarre case. Because in this hospital steeped in gothic atmosphere, nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is remotely what it seems…
Lines I Highlighted
A missing woman with a history of violence at large on a small island and everyone seemed to just want to go to bed.
Characters I Followed Into Battle
Teddy Daniels is a U.S. Marshal who served in World War II and has endured more than a little personal trauma. He is neither likable nor unlikable. He is described as being a man of action, a man of violence, a decorated war hero, and the like. He deeply loves and misses his deceased wife, although many memories of their lives together show he didn’t treat her that well. The text offers little to recommend Teddy to the reader beyond the fact that he is the narrator and main character, but the reader isn’t meant to dislike him either. It’s complicated.
Lines I Highlighted
Believe it or not, Marshal, I believe in talk therapy, basic interpersonal skills. I have this radical idea that if you treat a patient with respect and listen to what he’s trying to tell you, you just might reach him.
Writing Style Notes
While the plot garners the correct amount of confusion and second-guessing appropriate for a psychological thriller, there was not much sense of urgency or suspense. The writing felt a little flat and unemotional.
Shutter Island takes place in the 1950s, and it uses many derogatory racial slurs throughout the book.
This is a very male-focused book. It certainly fails the Bechdel test; women are primarily treated as catalysts and plot devices.
Lines I Highlighted
Men of violence fascinate me.
Themes Living Rent-Free In My Head
- Processing trauma and grief.
- The thin line between sanity and psychosis.
- WWII and Cold War-era cultural trauma and its legacy
What Landed For Me
What Worked:
- The plot was interesting and layered enough to keep readers on their toes.
- The setting provided plenty of isolation and heightened drama.
- The questions of mental health practices at the time are valid and pose interesting suppositions about how the future of the field would progress.
- The ending left room for interpretation – a great sign for a psychological thriller
What Didn’t Fully Click:
- The pacing felt a little slow, lagging in parts for a thriller
- The characters felt a little flat and were hard to care about
Overall:
Worth the time it took to read, but not setting the bar for other psychological thrillers.
Lines I Highlighted
I think if a man beats you and fucks half the women he sees and no one will help you, axing him isn’t the least understandable thing you can do.
Intentional Reading Reflection
Because it’s October, spooky season, I chose Shutter Island over another option because I thought a thriller would align with my mood more than a historical fiction. Truth be told, I had some trouble getting through it. I just wasn’t hooked like I expected to be.
I am probably jaded after reading so many books, but I just wasn’t that engaged with this story. The pace left too much room for distraction. I didn’t care about the characters. The plot twist felt inevitable. No deep underlying themes made this a deeper read.
I want to draw a parallel between the mother in Shutter Island who murders her children and the mother in Toni Morrison’s Beloved who does the same. The actions are the same. The motivations don’t seem to be the same. While both are tragic, one is much more understandable than the other. So the way that the reader judges the character reflects that.
Shutter Island might just not have been for me, or maybe my timing was off.
Lines I Highlighted
But someday, Marshal, and it’s not far off, we’ll medicate human experience right out of the human experience.
Cover Promise Rating
Did the cover make promises the story actually kept?
Yeah, the story was a dark and atmospheric psychological thriller.
Final Verdict
Read if you like:
- unreliable narrators
- questioning what you think you know about the characters
Skip if you dislike:
- mental health issues, including suicide
- harm to children
- racial slurs
- medical thrillers
Reading Debris
I read Shutter Island to fulfill the Playing Card Reading Challenge prompt: Read a book set on an island. It could also fulfill the prompt: Read a book with an unreliable narrator.
Your Turn
What is the best psychological thriller you have ever read? Why did it leave such an impression on you?
May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.
Happy Reading!
Write it down. Get it out. Feel better. Or at least remember what you wanted to tell your therapist.
“Anxiety Catalog” lined, 120-page, paperback journal.
