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Island Life  By  cover art

Island Life

By: William Meikle
Narrated by: James Conlan
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Publisher's summary

On a small, sparsely populated island in the Scottish Outer Hebrides, a group of archeology students are opening what seems to be an early Neolithic burial mound. Marine biologist Duncan McKenzie is also working on the island, staying with the lighthouse caretakers, Dick and Tom, while he completes his studies of the local water supply.

One afternoon the three men are disturbed in their work by the appearance of a dazed female student from the excavation, who is badly traumatized. She tells of the slaughter of the rest of her party by something released from the mound.

Soon everyone Duncan knows is either missing or dead and there are things moving in the fog. Large, hulking, unholy things. Things with a taste for human flesh.

©2013 Gryphonwood Press (P)2013 Gryphonwood Press

What listeners say about Island Life

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Action, suspense, folklore & plenty of SCARES!!!

I really enjoyed this book! It entertained me immensely and I will definitely look for William Meikle's other works. Since there are so many different types of "horror" novels out there and not everyone's definition of "scary" will be the same, I'll do my best to help you decide if this book is right for you without giving anything away.

First of all, this is definitely what I would consider a monster/supernatural horror novel but it certainly is one of the best I've read since so many are often comical rather than scary. One of my favourite types of suspense when it comes to supernatural horror is the author's ability to create fear with atmosphere, isolation, darkness and most importantly-with the character' s actions and senses. Meikle delivers a fantastic read by taking us to a small island on the Scottish countryside where we learn of ancient myths, folklore and we are introduced to ALL its inhabitants with great detail. Meikle also offers a generous amount of backstory on our supernatural villain which I thought was a BIG PLUS. I also felt he did a great job overlapping several different sub-plots through various characters/chapters and created a story that flowed seamlessly from start to finish. My favourite parts were with Duncan wandering through the fog and all of the many noises, smells and EXTREMELY SCARY descriptions of what he saw---so well done! This book was also well-paced so I finished it in just a few reads and didn't want to put it down.

My only critique so to speak (and the reason I only gave it 3 stars) is due to the same thing I come across in almost all modern horror: unnecessary/unrealistic SEX scenes! Ugh! I could not help but roll my eyes when the lead lady in the story rips the clothing off of our protagonist Duncan and has sex with him during the most ridiculous circumstances...definitely written by a man! No women behave like that!!! Aside from that, I felt the ending was very lazy and unsatisfactory...it just didn't seem to fit considering all of the work the author put into the rest of the book.

Overall, this book was worth the credit and one of the best "creature features" I've read in a while! The narrator also did a great job and added authenticity to the characters. If you like the supernatural and the idea of being creeped out by evil, malevolent creatures beneath a Scottish burial mound, give this a go!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Boring

the author started with a good idea but could not pull it off. He tried to take on too many small stories and lost the story. What a shame.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story! Memorable characters!

Where does Island Life rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's a favorite! I will definitely give it another listen!

What did you like best about this story?

The end of the world beginning in the Scottish Isles.

Which character – as performed by James Conlan – was your favorite?

Duncan, the protagonist, was my favorite. He was very easy to identify with.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I felt like cheering at the end.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this, it was one of those books where the characters felt like old friends by the end.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Okay story

I mostly enjoyed this book. Story was overall entertaining. There was a few editing errors like repeated phrases.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I loved it

I honestly didn't know if I was going to get into it at first, but I was very wrong. I loved it and I really wish more this length and in this sort of direction we're written.

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