Pig Island [Import] [Paperback]

Mo Hayder (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Transworld Publ. Ltd UK; New Ed edition (2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055381463X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553814637
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,834,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Her Best, But Still Mo, March 1, 2007

By 

A Discerning Reader (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pig Island (Hardcover)

Pig Island is a fictional island off the western coast of Scotland, and it's the title of Mo Hayder's latest release. It's a great story with perversion, death, mystery, and some good surprises. Hayder started her career with two wonderful novels, Birdman and Treatment, told in the classic police procedural framework. She then wrote The Devil of Nanking; and although I didn't enjoy that as much as the first two, it was still fun to read. Pig Island is just plain spooky until the very end, when a plot twist spoils the effect she tried so hard to create through the rest of the novel.

"Oakesy", or Joe Oakes, makes a living as a journalist who debunks paranormal claims and beliefs. A video taken by passengers on a small cruise ship shows a beast with a long tail walking on Pig Island's beach. Oakesy finds a way on the island so he can prove to the world that there's no satanic beast roaming the island and sacrificing wild pigs. When he gets there, he realizes there's a madman on one side of the island with a very sick psyche.

The book is really worth reading, and I had a hard time putting it down. When I finished, I just wanted to say "Oh, come ON!" I could immediately think of five better endings for the book, and then it would've been an easy five stars, right up there with her first books. Keep at it Mo--I wish you'd publish more frequently!

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dysfunctional & Odd, April 24, 2007

By 

Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pig Island (Hardcover)

"Pig Island" was supposed to be scary. The first part "Craignish" is where the action centers. Then the story shifts to a stalker novel, only the stalker never quite seems to materialize. It's not until the ending that we understand why; however, most of the novel is spent waiting for the other shoe to drop, which never seems to happen. The characters in the story are not appealing. Joe Oakes is a driven reporter who keeps repeating to various people that he loves his wife. This is the only evidence of his love for her in the book. He chronically treats her thoughtlessly. His wife Lexie is trying to have an affair with a doctor whose receptionist screens his calls. She seems more obsessed with Christophe than with her husband. The scene on the phone where she screams at him and wonders why he doesn't love her is pathetic in its dysfunctional communication. Why Oakes goes into depression after her demise is a mystery. The way the book's written, he should be experiencing relief. The evil character of Malachi Dove never does actually show up in the book, other than in the brief flashback detailing the history between Oakes & Dove. It's very hard to create a compelling stalker story without a stalker present. The demonic publicity is certainly (thankfully) misdirection. The cult members in the first third of the book are thinly drawn. The character of teenager Sovereign is probably the most interesting, with the scene where she smells Oakes in lieu of touching is also incredibly dysfunctional and odd. Angeline is a compelling waif. However, her many sides from abuse victim to her disability to the implications of what her character did with which the ending leaves us do not hang together well. She seems a composite of pieces that never quite fit. Lexie's rage and assault on Angeline also seems to come out of the blue, particularly for one who is a "medical professional." One of the main problems with "Pig Island" is that none of the characters are likeable nor do they seem real. The main characters seem more like plot points than people. I did find the beginning of the book effective, but the last three-fourths were forgettable. Taxi!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Endings are not Hayder's forte, March 24, 2007

By 

Mick McAllister - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pig Island (Hardcover)

I've given Birdman to people who claim they can handle anything, because there is a moment in the last part that is one of the most horrifying scenes I have ever read. But the fact is, endings are not Mo Hayder's forte. The chainsaw bit at the end of Birdman had me snarling, "Oh come on!" And the final "surprise" in Pig Island works the same way. Yes, it explains some things, like who killed one of the central characters, but the horrible things it explains are left for us to figure out, without even an suggestion that we might want to think about them. And the inconsistencies -- pointed out in another review -- are inexcusable. Being told that something trusted witnesses were sure of did NOT happen was another show-stopper for me.

This is not to say I don't buy the idea that the killer is who it turns out to be; it is to say that I'm buying it in spite of Hayder's poor presentation of the solution. In other words, it could have happened, but NOT the way Hayder said it did.

I'm a big fan of Hayder's work. She has a talent for exploring the unthinkable and leaving the most hardened reader shaken. But Pig Island was a major disappointment after The Devil of Nanking. I didn't care about the characters, I didn't buy the explanation, and frankly, I'm sorry I read it.