Pig Island
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3.6 • 9 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A "profoundly creepy and creepily convincing thriller" of religious fanatics and hoax debunkers from the Edgar Award–winning author of Hanging Hill (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
Journalist Joe Oakes makes a living exposing supernatural hoaxes, but when he visits a secretive religious community on a remote Scottish island, everything he thought he knew is overturned.
Following the trail of a strange creature caught briefly on film, so deformed it can hardly be human, Oakes crosses a border of electrical fencing, toxin-filled oil drums, and pig skulls to infiltrate the territory of the groups' isolated founder, Malachi Dove. Their confrontation, and its violent aftermath, is so catastrophic that it forces Oakes to question the nature of evil—and whether he might be responsible for the heinous crime about to unfold . . .
This latest entry from the acclaimed British author of the Jack Caffery novels "taps into the current fascination with all things supernatural and questions our assumptions about a number of subjects, from faith healing to cultish religious groups and society's definition of evil" (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review).
"[Hayder] remains one of our most adventurous, unpredictable and ambitious writers." —The Guardian
"Hayder offers both a riveting story and a nuanced, distinctly modern look at secrecy and publicity, belief and skepticism, normal and taboo, (in)sight and blindness." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"An adventurous, edgy, literate writer." —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Hayder's profoundly creepy and creepily convincing thriller, hard-bitten journalist Joe Oakes arrives on the west coast of Scotland to visit a reclusive cult on remote Pig Island. Oakes hopes to investigate a supposed half-animal, half-human creature distantly glimpsed in a tourist's film and settle his long-held grudge against the cult's founder, charismatic crackpot Malachi Dove, who has long since withdrawn to his barricaded compound on Pig Island. In the ensuing mayhem, Oakes wins the confidence of Dove's mysterious daughter and learns the hard way that the investigative skills on which he prides himself are flimsy at best. Though gruesome enough to satisfy even the most hardcore horror fan, this rigorously imagined novel is also full of apt (if bleak) detail and graced with a perfect plot twist at story's end. Hayder (The Devil of Nanking) offers both a riveting story and a nuanced, distinctly modern look at secrecy and publicity, belief and skepticism, normal and taboo, (in)sight and blindness.
Customer Reviews
Weak-sauce
Coming straight from reading The Treatment, I had some high hopes of losing more sleep and being a sobbing mess after this book too. But, the writing style was like trudging through mud again, taking WAY too long to get to the point. Once the twist came, it delivered poorly and was obviously milquetoast at best. Way too long, way too dry, spent way too much time describing gore when more effort could be placed on editing down the plot (and I like gore). Please look for spoilers before you read this book because the plot twist will make more sense if you do. Otherwise you’ll be scratching your head. Not your best work, Mo.