I adore books written with the backdrop of the New England coastline. When I lived in New England, the small Islands are where we summered at with the kids when they were younger. Growing up in the Pacific NW when I was not camping with the YMCA, my family would sale and camp in the small islands in the Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands. I grew up with the ability to dig for clams at day break and swim any time I wanted to when the weather allowed. The energy surrounding those trips were always magical. I found myself many an afternoons with the family and later with my kids weaving tales of treasure and digging clam shells buried by the Indians and dreaming stories in my head.

Upon opening the book and finding where it took place, I knew no matter how I felt about the characters, I would have an experience mixed into the memories triggered from my past. I wasn’t let down. This book was so uniquely written blended with its moments of darkness and sparkle of gentle island magic and mystery. I read straight through the night. Though nothing which would make it gratuitous in violence, or sex this is no way a cozy mystery. It is not light and happy. These people are a freaking mess. They swear, lie, act like crazy people many a time and they drink constantly. With the isolation it has a tad of Agatha Christie going on, which made me smile from ear to ear. I love contained mysteries like this! Limited only by the fear and obstacles. No police to save the day, just wits!

I didn’t like many of the characters, but not because they fell flat from the writing but because many of them were narcissistic selfish jerks. Our protagonist, Gil, is someone who is not really someone you want to like but end up wanting to send to a therapist and give a hug to. If there were a basket of apples with one orange or banana in it, he would not be taking an apple. He went along for the ride and ended up taking over the whole trip in the end. Like his friend, he tends to be pretentious but before you hit about half way through you realize he is another broken person you want to fix and watch grow within these books. I have not read the first in the series but I will and I cannot wait for the third.

If you are looking for a well constructed, beautiful and solid clean mystery which will catch you off guard and yet still in enough comforting conventions of the mystery genre, you will be thrilled to death… but I hope not literally :) ( )

Gil Hodges is not my idea of someone I'd like walking in the door being introduced by my daughter. But as the hard drinking, raunchy-mouthed, over-sexed, college professor/botanist who finds himself marooned on a desolate primitive Maine coastal island with five VERY type A women, his character works well in Darcy Scott's twisted, chilling plot. I don't particularly care for stories that presume five very strong women cannot fend off one very evil predator who's hiding out on the island without the aid of A MAN!!! But, if I suspend my personal dislike of the whole Gil Hodges character and that "poor females needing a man to solve their problems" premise, I have to admit this is a rip snorting, well-written, page-turning adventure story with enough mystery built in to make it an attractive 2nd volume in the "Island Mystery" series.

The story is not complicated: five women have come to Mistake Island for their annual week long girls' retreat....no men or children allowed. There's also no electricity, no indoor plumbing (water is hand pumped from a well), and they've taken a pledge to turn off the cell phones. It's supposed to be a relaxing, wine sharing, sleeping, swimming, reading, resting week. Except that someone forgot to tell David Duggan, partner of one of the women, who decides to drag his buddy Gil out to "visit" for an afternoon just before a typical Maine coastal fog bank rolls in to strand both gents at least overnight.

At that point, all kinds of nasty events begin to happen. A mysterious, dirty, swarmy vagrant turn up, (apparently known by the woman who owns the island), essential items (like the spark plugs in the boat's engine, and emergency cell-phones) start disappearing, and it becomes apparent that this gentleman is up to no good. I can't say much more without giving away the story. It's quickly apparent that the bad guy is not going to allow anyone to leave the island alive, unless...... and Scott sprinkles just enough clues at a steady pace to keep the reader focused on the what, who and why.

Scott writes well, keeping the pace moving right along. I only wish I had been able to sort out the five women and their personalities a bit earlier in the story...I found them confusing until about half-way through the book. It's a story with a spectacularly surprising ending, and like the ending in MATINICUS (the first book in the series), I'm not sure I'm comfortable with how it resolves. I also think it could have used just a bit more backfill for readers who have not read the first book. It's been almost a year since I read the first one, and I had a hard time remembering some of the characters referred to.

It will be interesting to see if Hodges' experiences on Mistake Island will temper his lifestyle in the next installment of the series. Either way, I've no doubt that Scott will produce another read that is every bit as enjoyable as this one. ( )