New Year Island
The stakes are high...Ten strangers, recruited by an edgy new reality show and marooned on an abandoned island overrun by wildlife. One dies in a horrible accident. Nine realize they are all past survivors, alive only because they've beaten incredible odds once before. One by one, their hidden secrets are revealed. Eight discover they are trapped. Caught in a game so deadly that the most terrifying experiences of their lives were only its qualifying round, they must now face the greatest danger on the island... each other. And one of them is not who he or she claims. Seven fight to escape. Six try to solve the mystery of who lured them there and why. Five... Four... Will anyone survive New Year Island?
©2013, 2014 Paul Draker (P)2014 Paul Draker
Review
Did you notice the length of this audiobook? 23 hours, that's right, 23 hours ... And 3 minutesThis story really caught my interest for the first few chapters, but then for much of it my attention strayed. I got tired of rewinding to recap the bits I'd missed. We all know people who speak twenty words when five would do, this book is like that. It just dragged on ... and on, quite frankly, I had to push myself to finish.
The summary conveys the bare bones of the story, but parts of it are very dark indeed, much darker than I expected. Granted, the author did a darned good job of conveying the feelings, fears and intentions of the participants, and knows how to keep the tension high. These were the good bits, but for me, they were negated by long stretches of tedium.
My opinion then, for what it's worth, is New Year Island is a good story, but it's buried under a big pile of too many words.
However, there are many well respected reviewers who rate this book very highly, so don't let me put you off, I didn't much like that huge best seller The Tattooed Lady either!
Narrator
Well, if anybody deserves a great big Golden Gong it's Teri Schnaubelt, not just for actually finishing the marathon task, but for doing it so well. She has an easy on the ear voice, her timing is perfect, and she knows exactly just how to use nuance and rhythm. Teri has another, rarely encountered narrator talent, one I find difficult to explain, but I shall try. It has to do with transitioning between characters and gender, using just the slightest change to her voice, she simply transforms into another clearly defined person! I'm now a big fan.
This audiobook was gifted to me by the narrator in return for this, my honest review.
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