The Islanders: A gripping and unputdownable crime thriller

Rating: 3.5/5Whilst it has a few shortcomings, "The Islanders" is the kind of book that will persuade you to turn a blind eye to them, because it is still, ultimately, an entertaining and enjoyable murder mystery.Kim King is an ex-police officer who left the force under a bit of a cloud. Since then her life has gone off the rails and she has found herself struggling to hold down dead-end jobs. Out of the blue she finds herself presented with a golden opportunity to appear on the reality show "LoveWrecked" with the chance to win £100,000. It is something she simply cannot turn down. But it isn't long before she finds herself embroiled in a very different adventure to the one she had anticipated ... one with potentially deadly consequences!Anyone familiar with Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" (and, let's face it, most avid readers of crime fiction are!) will quickly draw parallels between that classic murder mystery and "The Islanders". It is clear that S.V. Leonard has taken that format as the basis of her inspiration for this story, but given it a revamp for the "Love Island" generation. However, it is not simply a latter day facsimile of Dame Agatha's work and there are other influences at play too. There are elements that put me in mind of the "Saw" films and there is also a plot thread that reminded me very much of C.J. Tudor's "The Other People".As with many novels of this type, the reader is required to suspend disbelief at times and there are some elements that I don't think work as well as they could have done, but overall it is quick, pacy and engaging read for anyone who enjoys "locked room" style mysteries.

Love Island but with a murder mystery/thriller twist.Our main character Kim is a former police officer who is chosen to be a contestant on lovewrecked when it returns after a hiatus. Due to her current circumstances she can't say no for a chance to win the prize money. However, the stay in a gorgeous villa on a remote Greek Island is soon cut short when one of the contestants turns up dead. Kim is tasked to solve the murder on live TV, the catch is she only has an hour to do it before someone else is dead.....When I heard about this book I knew I had to read it since it combines my favourite reality TV show with my favourite book genre.This was a fast paced, quick and really enjoyable read for me. I just wish I had been lying poolside whilst reading this. A really great debut novel!

Absolutely loved this Book , although I never watch Reality T.v shows I loved the different characters all hiding their secrets. Could not put this book down

This was a quick, easy read. Got into it quickly and the story pace moves along quickly. But I just didn’t care by the end. I understood why things happened but I didn’t like the reasoning. I would have liked to have got more info about the characters on the island, maybe more time before disaster starts unfolding. Definitely just a beach read. I just didn’t feel the tension that I think I was meant to feel. About halfway through I knew I would end up disappointed.

I enjoyed this book & as I read more and more pages I found myself keen to find out “whodunnit”. My only gripe was I wasn’t sure why the narrator had to keep referring to the other characters by their full names, at one point I thought perhaps their surnames were really important to the plot but they weren’t so it just became a little irritating. Based on this and the few typos / misplaced words I’m giving the book four stars. Overall I’d recommend this book to others and would read other books by this author.

I liked the idea of this book however not being a fan of these type of TV shows I thought it was a little far fetched in places but it did keep me glued to my Kindle hence 4 stars.

It is quite an addictive read, but I confess to being a little disappointed with how it panned out. No spoilers, but I had hoped for a better resolution. Quite contrived - but perhaps would translate to TV or the big screen as a horror/thriller ?

I've had this on pre-order since it was first announced so I'm very pleased to be able to get my hands on a copy and to be reading it on an actual paradise island.Our main character Kim is a young police officer who applies to join the reality dating show Love Wrecked in the hope of winning the grand prize of GBP 100,000 only to find that not all of the contestants are what they seem. Soon a body is found and it all kicks off.I love the first-person narration which takes you into Kim's head and the use of newspapers and tweets to help propel the narrative along.A great first novel from S.V Leonard and I can't wait to read more of what she has to offer.