Wasn’t it time for a well-deserved distant holiday? Orthopedic surgeon Tom Baxter had that medical conference in Melbourne anyway, and he gladly took his young second wife Heather with him. Also on board on the flight from Seattle: children Olivia (14) and Owen (12) from his first marriage. They wanted to see the kangaroos, wombats and koalas of Australia.
The journey started cheerfully, but that of the kangaroos, wombats and koalas was disappointing. You didn’t just find them in the wild. Disappointed, they stopped at a food stall during their tour in a bright orange rental Porsche. There they were approached by two vague types in a Toyota Hilux. koalas? Oh, but then you should come with us to Dutch Island, it’s teeming with koalas. Please do dock first. Tourist tax. Tom sensed misery, but because the children were whining so much, he agreed.
You wouldn’t think it, but this innocent beginning of the just appeared The island (Bookery; €20.99) by Irish thriller writer Adrian McKinty (54) culminates in What You Reassure Mad Max: Fury Road on paper – George Miller’s catchy 2015 post-apocalyptic spectacle film Tearing through the dust, crisscrossing bushbush chases, cat-and-mouse, with shootings too.
Because on that isolated Dutch Island it is certainly not fun. Previously used as a penal colony, today it is inhabited by the shy O’Neill clan. In this enclave they do their own criminal business. My favorite character from the O’Neills: Mother Ma – by profession an aging resentful matriarch. She pulls the strings and those bastards of sons and grandchildren have to do as she says. You imagine her as a coarse-mouthed Ma Flodder with a walking stick and a double-barreled shotgun.
Due to circumstances we won’t reveal, Ma soon has a go at Tom and Heather and the kids. They have to run for their lives, but they can’t get off that island. The O’Neills ferry is gone. Many refined and sometimes almost over the top twists later, in which not Tom but Heather and the children turn out to be the real survival artists, you know one thing for sure: we should not be on Dutch Island this summer. For that Adrian McKinty (in the translation by Sabine Mutsaers and Jan Mellema) managed to frighten us enough with diabolical pleasure, as he did before with The chain (2019).
Disclaimer from the author in his acceptance speech: ‘First of all, I must explain that while Dutch Island really does exist (under a different name), the people who live there are nothing like the characters who The island populate […]† I lived in Melbourne from 2008 to 2019 and I can assure everyone that Victoria is the friendliest state in Australia.”
Yeah right mate. Will be fine.
We can also issue negative travel advice for (the fictitious) Bone Island (€ 20.99; Luitingh-Sijthoff; translated by Martin Jansen in de Wal). People disappear there. The author is Jacob Ross (64), who was born on the Caribbean island of Grenada and now lives in England. Although Grenada is called Camaho in his thriller, it is clear that he draws from his own experiences. We follow young Michael “Digger” Digson who is recruited against his will into a special police task force: cold cases. The only reason for Digger to do this is that he finally hopes to find out why his mother was killed during a demonstration. Well written, nice and far away, with a touch of voodoo, too. You don’t have to leave your lazy chair for the island feeling with these two titles.
