*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Headline in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

There was just something about this debut that made it impossible to resist. Then again, I do have a weak spot for a thriller with a remote setting... Also, while it's true I don't like watching this type of reality TV, they are somehow always surprisingly fun to read about. Isolation Island is all about a celebrity survival show set on a remote Scottish island, and this alone has SO much potential. And I have to say that the plot definitely delivered for me!

Isolation Island takes place on a remote Scottish island, and when I say remote I mean completely abandoned and no soul in sight. This means that the ten contestants are 100% on their own once the show starts, because there will be no crew on the island. And before I forget: it is also the middle of winter, so not exactly the most comfortable place to be basically trapped on. Oh yes, the setting was without doubt the perfect backdrop for this story, and I loved the role its surroundings played in the plot. The island definitely added the perfect ominous vibe to it all!

This plot can actually roughly be divided into two halves. The first part is 100% reality TV focused, where we get to meet the ten celebrities that are part of the show as they arrive on the island. The introductions of so many characters slowed down the pace a little, and I admit it took me a little while to warm up to the story. Once the show started and the characters faced their first tasks, the pace improved and I started to enjoy myself. Like the contestants, you start wondering about the conditions of the island and if something more sinister might be going on... But the main focus is still on the TV show and the contestants.

The second part reads mostly like a murder mystery. As the premise of Isolation Island already reveals, someone ends up dead along the way... An accident or in fact a murder? This is the question the remaining contestants are all asking themselves, and our main character Lauren decides to investigate. She is an investigative journalist after all... As for the characters in general: I do think most of them were a bit underdeveloped and too much built on cliches, although I guess it was fun to see them pitted against each other. The story is told through Lauren's POV, who I had mixed thoughts about as she could be quite frustrating at times.

The story can get quite dark and tense at times, and there is for example focus on abuse, toxic relationships/friendships and addiction along with the already mentioned violence and murder. Not something I expected in Isolation Island, but it was interesting to see how everything was incorporated into the plot. The twists were effective, and I wasn't able to guess who was behind it all... The writing style took some time to used to though, but once I did it was really easy to keep turning the pages. Especially once things starting going south and the winter storm arrived!

If you like a good reality TV thriller with a remote setting and bad weather trope, I can definitely recommend picking up Isolation Island. True, the story feels slightly disjointed with the first half being mostly reality TV focused and the second mainly a murder mystery, but if you enjoy both subgenres this shouldn't be too much of a problem. 

 

Ten celebs are brought to a very remote Scottish island in the middle of winter, to stay in an abandon monastery to set number of tasks and if they passed someone will win a substantial amount of money. The celebrities will be filmed 24/7 and it will be showed on Tv. They will also be stripped of their personal possessions including their mobiles phones. The only way to communicate of the island. There is also no production company on the island everything is done by remote control. 

From the get-go things seemed to go wrong. The celebs are left without food when they fail to do a task, and they find that one of the harnesses are not attached properly. That person could have fell to their deaths. 

When a severe storm rages and there is no way off the island the celebrities all huddle together and hope the storm passes through so they can be rescued. But tragedy strikes when the next morning they find one of them dead. 

Isolation nation is a fabulous debut from TV news broadcaster and presenter Louise Minchin. 

I am not really a fan of reality Tv except for I am a celebrity which this story vaguely reminds me off it. But I was so drawn in by the blurb that I and to read it. This is intense read that had me an the edge of my seat trying to find out if the celebs where ever going to get off the island and who is the killer. This is a great debut and a great read. I can’t wait to see what the author has next instore. 5 stars from me. 

Ten  celebrities, one desolate island off the coast of Scotland to be the home of a new reality survival TV show, the prize of their dreams, what could possibly go wrong?

It quickly becomes apparent to the celebrities once they're left on the island to survive that the production team are not as health and safety conscious as they would all like, raising concerns for their safety the celebrities become paranoid and when a deadly storm hits the island, they feel far from safe, made even worse when one of them is found dead, unsure what is going on the remaining celebrities find out they really are fighting for survival. 

I can not give this debut novel enough praise, from the concept, the setting and the characters,  told through the perspective of the journalist celebrity on the island, Lauren and her enquiring mind. This is such a well written book, with believable characters, that I honestly felt like I was watching the show play out for real.

It's one of those books that has you gripped from the start and plenty of intrigue, with a good pace throughout that you can't put down, but also don't want to end.

If you like the idea of reality shows with plenty of jeopardy, then this is definitely the book for you. 

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

Ten celebrities are taking part in a reality show. They've been left at a monastery on a Scottish island, with no way to leave, and cameras following their every move. When a storm knocks out the communication tower, they are left stranded, leaving the celebrities completely alone, tensions start to rise. And then one of them dies...

It took me a little while to get into this one. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe because I'm not a fan of reality TV shows? Maybe because the first part of the book focused on who each celebrity was, and them all meeting each other on the island? It wasn't really until the big storm hit that it started becoming interesting, and I started feeling invested in the story. 
I did actually end up enjoying it, but I do wish it had been just a little longer as I'd have liked to have seen the aftermath once Lauren told her story of what happened on the peer. 
A great debut, and I look forward to reading more from this author. 

Come on. 'Fess up. Does anyone really watch reality TV, particularly featuring celebrities, for any other reason than to have a good laugh when it all goes wrong? Maybe we eventually get into the programme and end up rooting for one or the other of the victims participants, but the errors and catastrophic moments are where the real entertainment comes from. Well, when it comes to Isolation Island, a brand new format reality survival show in which a group of 'celebrities' are left on the remote scottish island of Eilean Manach, once home to an active monastery, the catastrophic moments are off the scale, and with a storm brewing, both psychological and literal, things can only get worse. Which they do. My only advice to anyone of a mind to enter such a show - if Louise Minchin is behind the production team anyway, say no. She's vicious!

Isolation Island follows investigative journalist Lauren Brooks who, against her better judgment, has agreed to be one of the celebrity 'victims'. There is method in her apparent madness, for despite an initial reluctance to engage, never mind that it might just save her flailing career, it is the rumour of who one of her fellow contestants might be that seals the deal. The prize, should she win, is tailored to her dreams, as it is for each of the contestants, but for Lauren, the real prize is something money cannot buy. From the very outset of the book it is clear that this will not be your typical reality show. Even getting to the island is fraught with peril, and the tone of the book and the ensuing challenges is set from the moment part of the set almost ends one challenger's journey before they've even set foot in the monastery.

Now, I'm not a big follower of reality shows but, even by any standard, the format of Isolation Island seems a trifle harsh. Made to dress in less than fashionable habits, and left in conditions that may be the 'authentic monk experience' but are far from the luxury they are used to, they are set a series of challenges. The failure to achieve their challenges results in them paying a penance, including forced fasting (not popular), and rest is something they are forced to learn to live without. It allows the author to ramp up the tension, using the natural conflict that such deprivations can create, to amplify the clear divisions that soon start to form in the camp. It certainly kept me glued to the page - kind of car crash TV but in a book.

Louise Minchin has created a really varied bunch of characters for her survival show, from all walks of life - professional sport, investigative journalism, business, influencers, even a Hollywood superstar - and imbues them with a real sense of authenticity. I can't help but think they may be an amalgam of many people she has met over her career - I'd hate to think that some of them were based on any specific person, although it's not impossible, certainly in the case of one particular characters, whose personality if very much informed by current affairs. It creates taht believability factor. as for her opening chapter - well I was immediately gripped as you already know that a terrible fate is to befall one of them - it is just the who and why that needs to be answered. You might make a judgement on that early on, but be careful of jumping to conclusions. Louise Minchin is one crafty author and with deft use of misdirection works to quickly throw you off the scent, or at least introduces some uncertainty to proceedings. 

I loved the pacing of this book and the constant sense of jeopardy that infuses every chapter. It is not the longest book, but no page is wasted and I absolutely tour through it, finishing in a single evening. It's the kind of book that has that one more chapter vibe, keeping me hooked to the final somewhat surprising conclusion. Not everyone makes it off the island ... at least, not every leaves on their own two feet anyway. I loved and loathed the characters, wanting to slap my kindle on more than the odd occasion, and loved the madness of the show format. Introducing a severe storm to increase that sense of isolation for the contestants, placing them where even the production crew cannot help and removing any access to crucial evidence (hard to commit the perfect crime when your every move is being recorded after all) just builds the already lofty tension and dashes any hopes Lauren may have had of easily getting her big scoop. Where would be the fun in that?

Pacy, thrilling, with delightfully loathable characters and a packed tight with tension, I really enjoyed this and can't wait to read more from the author. Heartily recommended but fans of action and adventure style thrillers.

If you're a fan of reality TV and tense mysterious novels then this is an ideal read for you.
Lauren is an investigative journalist and when she discovers that a famous Hollywood Actor is booked to join others on Isolation Island for 2 weeks she accepts the offer to be part of the group. It's set on a remote monastery in Scotland and from day 1 there are major problems with safety. And when a really bad storm threatens production all contestants are told to stay in the great hall, but after a massive argument one of the party is found dead the next day.
Lauren then realises she has to use her journalistic skills to discover how they died, potentially causing a risk to her own life
This was a fairly fast paced thriller with a few red herrings thrown in. A great read

Ten celebrities put together on a remote Scottish island. Their only chance of winning is to survive two weeks completely alone, their every move filmed for the entertainment of those at home.
From the outset we can see a mixed cast, deliberately assembled to cause tension. Upon their arrival the production team throw surprises at them, waiting to see how they will cope. Our main viewpoint is that of Lauren, an investigative journalist whose obsession with exposing the truth about an A-list celebrity has almost cost her everything.
Things tick along relatively calmly, with one or two characters removed from events early doors to allow us to focus on a core group of contestants. Then one of the stars is found dead. 
Tension immediately ramps up as people scramble to hide their secrets - and there’s plenty of them. With suspicion high, it only gets worse when another star is discovered dead. You’d expect this to be easily solved…but the production team have been knocked out of action (conveniently) by a major storm.
As with all natural events, they die down sooner or later. By the end of the book we have a pretty good understanding of what happened, and Lauren is left with a choice that suggests there could be more to come from this story.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this in advance of publication in exchange for my honest feedback.

An atmospheric thriller set on a remote Scottish Island? Sounds like a perfect autumn read.

Celebrity journalist Lauren is hoping to win the prize of her dreams in a reality tv gameshow (think I’m a Celeb crossed with The Traitors). But winning her own prime time TV slot isn’t her only motive for signing up. Could some of her fellow contestants also have shady motives? Things begin to go wrong for the group from the start and then the bodies start appearing…

I loved the remote location and the tense atmosphere. There are a few twists and turns which I didn’t see coming - I thought things were going to go in a completely different direction! This was an easy and fast paced read, although I was left a bit dissatisfied at the end; things wrapped up very quickly, leaving me with a few unanswered questions that made the premise seem pretty implausible; I even re -read the last few chapters in case I’d missed something. I felt as though there was more to explain about the reality series itself.

Even so, I give this a strong four stars as I really enjoyed reading this and I look forward to Minchin’s next book. Thank you to Headlinebooks for my ARC in return for my honest review.