Shutter Island

PhillyWife and I don't often go out to the movies, and this was no exception. I thought it looked interesting, and I enjoyed "Mystic River" (both the book and the movie, though I thought that the movie's dig at the Church's scandals was unwarranted and stupid), which was also written by Dennis Lehane, so I thought I would read the book instead. The book does a good job of building a suspensful plot, but it all comes crashing down in the "twist" ending. It is almost as though the author couldn't find a way to get out of the nest of intrigue that he had written! I also realized that I had read a book with a similar premise (and ending, though it is less of a twist, perhaps): I Am the Cheese, by Robert Cormier (who wrote the ghastly Chocolate War).

So if you must read Shutter Island, borrow it from the library. And if the movie is anything like the book, don't bother.