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Product Description
Product Description
When Mike and his friends decide to go for a day's cruising around the coast of Scotland, they are surprised to come across a mysterious barren island that doesn't show up on any map or satellite image. Determined to explore it, they make some chilling discoveries: piles of bones, evidence of explosives, and a strange old abandoned building full of scientific equipment - including gas masks. But still none of them quite realizes the trouble they're in until a helicopter flies in and blows up their boat, leaving them stranded...and falling desperately ill. Inspired by a real island in Scotland used for anthrax testing, this eerie and contemporary thriller will keep readers on the very edge of their seat, in the style of Malcolm Rose's acclaimed "Kiss of Death".
About the Author
Kiss of Death was shortlisted for the Sheffield Children's Book Award, the Bolton Children's Book Award and the Lancashire Children's Book of the Year Award 2008.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Five teenagers aged between 13 and 16 take their boat out for a trip off the coast of Scotland, and find an island that doesn't exist on their charts, and doesn't show up on their GPS unit. They decide to land and explore, but soon realise there is something very strange about this island.
This is a modern day children's adventure story (in the Enid Blyton vein, but with a modern style and plot), aimed at around 9-12 year olds (pre-teens), depending on their reading ability.
For an adult reader, the general plot direction is clearly sign-posted from the outset, but I doubt if it would be to a child. The book is just over 200 pages, and explanations of anything likely to be confusing for the target readership is cleverly woven into the dialogue.
An adult reader would also probably demand more depth in some of the issues covered, and more character description, but I thought this book was spot on for the age group it was aimed at. Enough detail to explain the story, but not enough to make it too demanding, or too slow-paced. The characters do develop through their actions, and by the end of the book, their individual personalities are quite distinct.
The ending seemed to be fairly obvious too, right up to the last chapter, when the author adds a twist of the harsh realities of real life (no Enid Blyton style perfect happy endings here!). Harsh, but realistic if the events of the book had happened as depicted. I enjoyed it, and would happily recommend it as likely to appeal to the pre-teen age group.
This is a modern day children's adventure story (in the Enid Blyton vein, but with a modern style and plot), aimed at around 9-12 year olds (pre-teens), depending on their reading ability.
For an adult reader, the general plot direction is clearly sign-posted from the outset, but I doubt if it would be to a child. The book is just over 200 pages, and explanations of anything likely to be confusing for the target readership is cleverly woven into the dialogue.
An adult reader would also probably demand more depth in some of the issues covered, and more character description, but I thought this book was spot on for the age group it was aimed at. Enough detail to explain the story, but not enough to make it too demanding, or too slow-paced. The characters do develop through their actions, and by the end of the book, their individual personalities are quite distinct.
The ending seemed to be fairly obvious too, right up to the last chapter, when the author adds a twist of the harsh realities of real life (no Enid Blyton style perfect happy endings here!). Harsh, but realistic if the events of the book had happened as depicted. I enjoyed it, and would happily recommend it as likely to appeal to the pre-teen age group.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Rather improbably a bunch of kids find an Island in the Hebrides that doesn't show up on GPS and is - to all intents and purposes - uninhabited.
They discover signs of experiments on animals (the usual traps - skeletons - blood stains & etc) and thence to the base camp where there's even a trap door down to a dungeon - sorry - basement.
The clichés continue with one character remarking that they think they heard a rumour once that there was a haunted island out this way...I couldn't resist a roll of the eyes at this point. It's not that I think this is a particularly bad story; just that it's nothing more than words on a page. For me, it just didn't live and breathe.
The premise goes that a bunch of friends find an island - of course said kids ignore the signs that state: Danger - keep away, and go exploring anyway - so in many ways deserve everything they get!
They come across the aforementioned signs of experiments and end up at a base camp where they discover a journal. The journal nods towards this and that effect on that and this animal and the phrase: Agent A is used.
A - by the way - is for Anthrax
For the sake of the curious reader who wants to persevere I'll give no more of the plot away (although there really isn't that much more) but if you think TV series "Lost" on miniscule basis with none of the good bits you'll be close; one of the characters even terms the ragtag survivors as: "the anthrax six" (another roll of the eyes) - now doesn't that sound exactly like the oceanic six from Lost....
The rest of the story is as uncreative as its title suggests and failed superbly to make me feel anything - fear, tension, empathy; a delicious chill creeping up my spine....
This is a pity because when I read the blurb I genuinely thought it would make an interesting juxtaposition; full of tense and high pressurised moments. Instead we get vapid characters that I was neither endeared toward nor prejudiced against; in an environment that has about as much adventure as I get sitting at my desk at work.
Whilst the accomplishment of being a published author is an achievement that rightfully deserves respect this is a book that adds absolutely nothing to the world of literature. When the most exciting character in a book is the kid with a stutter (but only words beginning with D and always stressed as just one extra letter - i.e "d-dead") and the most irony or evidence of wit you find is that the stuttering guys name is D-Daniel, mix that up with some pretty pedestrian events that made me think just how true it is that there is nothing new under the sun, then you have a book that is nothing more than the cheap paper they use these days to print the words on.
My advice after all that is to steer well clear - if it's adventure laced with a frisson of danger you're after (with deadly poison's thrown in for good measure) try the incomparable Z. for Zachariah (New Windmills) - a true classic!
As far as Forbidden Island goes - big waste of time for me - if you do read it I sincerely hope you find something to enjoy. As I was always told to end on a positive note I will say this: it isn't a long book so the end is never too far away.
They discover signs of experiments on animals (the usual traps - skeletons - blood stains & etc) and thence to the base camp where there's even a trap door down to a dungeon - sorry - basement.
The clichés continue with one character remarking that they think they heard a rumour once that there was a haunted island out this way...I couldn't resist a roll of the eyes at this point. It's not that I think this is a particularly bad story; just that it's nothing more than words on a page. For me, it just didn't live and breathe.
The premise goes that a bunch of friends find an island - of course said kids ignore the signs that state: Danger - keep away, and go exploring anyway - so in many ways deserve everything they get!
They come across the aforementioned signs of experiments and end up at a base camp where they discover a journal. The journal nods towards this and that effect on that and this animal and the phrase: Agent A is used.
A - by the way - is for Anthrax
For the sake of the curious reader who wants to persevere I'll give no more of the plot away (although there really isn't that much more) but if you think TV series "Lost" on miniscule basis with none of the good bits you'll be close; one of the characters even terms the ragtag survivors as: "the anthrax six" (another roll of the eyes) - now doesn't that sound exactly like the oceanic six from Lost....
The rest of the story is as uncreative as its title suggests and failed superbly to make me feel anything - fear, tension, empathy; a delicious chill creeping up my spine....
This is a pity because when I read the blurb I genuinely thought it would make an interesting juxtaposition; full of tense and high pressurised moments. Instead we get vapid characters that I was neither endeared toward nor prejudiced against; in an environment that has about as much adventure as I get sitting at my desk at work.
Whilst the accomplishment of being a published author is an achievement that rightfully deserves respect this is a book that adds absolutely nothing to the world of literature. When the most exciting character in a book is the kid with a stutter (but only words beginning with D and always stressed as just one extra letter - i.e "d-dead") and the most irony or evidence of wit you find is that the stuttering guys name is D-Daniel, mix that up with some pretty pedestrian events that made me think just how true it is that there is nothing new under the sun, then you have a book that is nothing more than the cheap paper they use these days to print the words on.
My advice after all that is to steer well clear - if it's adventure laced with a frisson of danger you're after (with deadly poison's thrown in for good measure) try the incomparable Z. for Zachariah (New Windmills) - a true classic!
As far as Forbidden Island goes - big waste of time for me - if you do read it I sincerely hope you find something to enjoy. As I was always told to end on a positive note I will say this: it isn't a long book so the end is never too far away.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Forbidden Island has got all the elements of a great adventure story -- sparring characters, intensifying mystery, sudden and compelling danger, help from an unlikely source, and something of a twist at the end. But all these elements have been arranged very neatly in a row, and the story plays from scene to scene like a video game. The author telegraphs everything in advance, and over-explains once it has happened, so -- despite the large print and no more than 200 words on a page -- the story always seems to be lagging behind itself. Even in the middle of the action, I felt like yelling 'get to the action!' Ultimately, we run out of book, and there is no more action, and it feels like, somehow, there really never was.
I used to read books like this out of the school cupboard when I was nine, which is probably the lower end of the age range this book is aimed at, though the main characters are secondary school age. At that age, every book was a small adventure, and I tore through them voraciously. But, even at the age of nine, I realised that some adventures were better than others, and some books had the power to call you back to them, whereas others seemed to be written to be discarded.
I'm really sorry to have to say this about a book by a prolific author who clearly has quite a following, but this (at that age) would have come into the category of 'read and forget'. The writing style is at the same time boring _and_ skittish, jumping around even in the same scene between danger and unconnected banter. The constant over-explanation (in my opinion, and, of course I am no longer a child, and was never 'every' child) would make most children feel they were being talked down to. The characters are not especially engaging, and certainly not particularly memorable. What's more, the references to MI5 and the press are just too unsophisticated for a generation that was brought up on new-style Doctor Who, Torchwood (if up late) and Spooks (also if up late).
So, where am I going with this? If you're nine, and can never get enough of books, you'll probably sail through this one, enjoy it as you would enjoy the demo-level of a fairly easy video game, and then go on to something else. No problem with that. But if you're a fairly slow reader, the pay-off in terms of excitement isn't that great for the amount of concentrating you have to do.
I probably won't be recommending this one.
My apologies to everyone who liked it, and to the author.
I used to read books like this out of the school cupboard when I was nine, which is probably the lower end of the age range this book is aimed at, though the main characters are secondary school age. At that age, every book was a small adventure, and I tore through them voraciously. But, even at the age of nine, I realised that some adventures were better than others, and some books had the power to call you back to them, whereas others seemed to be written to be discarded.
I'm really sorry to have to say this about a book by a prolific author who clearly has quite a following, but this (at that age) would have come into the category of 'read and forget'. The writing style is at the same time boring _and_ skittish, jumping around even in the same scene between danger and unconnected banter. The constant over-explanation (in my opinion, and, of course I am no longer a child, and was never 'every' child) would make most children feel they were being talked down to. The characters are not especially engaging, and certainly not particularly memorable. What's more, the references to MI5 and the press are just too unsophisticated for a generation that was brought up on new-style Doctor Who, Torchwood (if up late) and Spooks (also if up late).
So, where am I going with this? If you're nine, and can never get enough of books, you'll probably sail through this one, enjoy it as you would enjoy the demo-level of a fairly easy video game, and then go on to something else. No problem with that. But if you're a fairly slow reader, the pay-off in terms of excitement isn't that great for the amount of concentrating you have to do.
I probably won't be recommending this one.
My apologies to everyone who liked it, and to the author.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Give it a go!
I ordered this thinking the kids could read it but of course read it myself first,
It was really gripping, the settings and characters really clear and a great story. Read more
It was really gripping, the settings and characters really clear and a great story. Read more
Published 6 months ago by COLSEE
A Surprisingly Complex Story
Forbidden Island has a fantastic concept for a kids book mixing a mystery and horror plot with political intrigue and a touch of real history. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Stalker
Really enjoyable
Five teens stumble onto a mysterious island. No this isn't Enid Blyton!
There's quite a lot going on here. Read more
There's quite a lot going on here. Read more
Published on 20 May 2010 by Clever Spud
Rip roaring adventure
This was an enjoyable adventure story. The type where it is clear that the main characters are in danger, right from the beginning and if it were a film you'd be shouting a... Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2010 by C. Y. Davidson
Forbidden Fruit
The synopsis for this book gives you a good idea of the story and it not for me to review that story. Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2010 by Fletch-a-sketch
Great adventure novel undone by dodgy political undertones
Given that Forbidden Island is written for young teenagers, I'll give it 3 stars (as it is, really, rather good; a bit like an Enid Blyton adventure that went wrong). Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2009 by ric03
Maybe a little pedestrian
I thought this was a decent book, not earth shattering but not as dull as others are making out, yes maybe the plot and the characters are a little predictable but it wasn't a... Read more
Published on 16 Oct 2009 by Mr. M. Regan
How old?
...is the author? Some of the other reviews said it all. Exactly the sort of plot regurgitated ad nausiem in the Secret 7 books. Choc full of cliches and even the title is naff. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2009 by Scubaboy
Dull, dull, dull.
Hard work to finish this one. A very cliched and unbelivable story with 2 dimensinal characters. Group of kids find a secret island with all sorts of mysteries on it, etc. Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2009 by Binka
Decent mystery for older children.
For those parents wanting to introduce their children to the idea of conspiracy theories, goverment cover-ups, etc, this isn't a bad place to start. Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2009 by Dr Nick
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