Quite the journey with this story. Tom Baxter, a doctor who is attending a conference in Australia, goes with his two kids and his girlfriend. Newly widow Tom is the perfect husband to young Heather as Heather is forced into becoming a step-mom to two kids that make her life hell and disapprove of her with no remorse. This trip to Australia appears extremely boring for Heather because she now has to entertain the Baxter kids while her husband is busy going in and out of conferences. Everything goes downhill when the kids are set on seeing exotic animals because the whole family makes a huge mistake in setting foot on an island where there is no signal, and can only be reached through a ferry.
The suspense is at all-time high with this story, even as I believed there was no exit or solution the author somehow twisted things around and chaos was unleashed again and again. I didn't expect anything with this story because the more I did, the less it went how I had pictured it in my head. The kids were painfully annoying and brats throughout the story but I end up liking them at the end when they turned their survival mode on. Although the story starts confusing and then pieces start fitting into place, I decided to listen to the first chapter again after finishing the audiobook and everything just clicked. It is fast-paced and full of adrenaline with infinite back and forth that you won't even know what the next move will be.
We've all had that conversation of "what items would you take if you were stranded in an island" and well this was the perfect example of what your flight and fight can make you do. Truly enjoyed it.
TW: dogs get shot and gruesome violence
Rating: 4
Format: Audiobook
Author: Adrian McKinty
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