The Sanctuary by Andrew Hunter Murray is a thrilling, well plotted dystopian mystery. Ben's fiancee Cara has disappeared from her place of work on billionaire John Pemberley's supposed utopian island. But when Ben tries to find out where Cara has gone, he enters a world of peril and potential threat, and must use all his skills to uncover the truth... I loved this!

I really enjoyed Andrew Hunter Murray's first book so was looking forward to reading his new one. The story of artist Ben who heads to an isolated island in search of his fiancee and answers took me a while to engage with. Allusions to a world where environmental issues have led to the start of global devastation set the stage for the narrative. The story picks up the pace a little as Ben reaches the island however I was left feeling a little like there was another story waiting to get out. (Copy received from Netgalley in return for an honest review).

A gripping story of a future where order is broken by environmental carnage, extinction is happening in increasing numbers, and the haves and have nots are a distinct section of society, separated by the establishment as those inside the Villages, and those outside them. The establishment is represented by one man on the island, a place at once impenetrable and secretive. Ben’s fiancé has been working there and may never return, prompting him to find her against the odds. Is it a place of sanctuary presided over by a saviour, or is this man a Svengali bent on an agenda of self serving aggrandisement and domination?
The language is pregnant with possibilities, not all to the good, and it cleverly leads us, with our hero to confusions of purpose. Who is to be trusted?
This is a cleverly constructed piece of writing, a mystery unfolding on every page, and keeping the reader guessing until the last page.

I hate to say it but I did judge a book by its cover and I really didn’t get what I thought I was going to get. It was a bit cliche in its hidden island and secretIve millionaire. It was a good read but just not my usual genre.

I misread the author's name, so was expecting sonething very different.
I struggled through a third of the book but it isn't for me.
I think a typical mN would enjoy it
It could be set on a new Shangri-la but is, in fact, described by its ordinance and plant

Ok this book is a little bit slow and it also took me a little bit of time to get into it. However if you stick with it it ends up not being a too bad book. It just wasn't for me.

We are introduced to Ben, a young painter who lives in a city and has been apart from his fiancée for 6 months, while she works for a mysterious millionaire on a remote island. She breaks up with him by letter, and the novel follows his journey to get to her and find out why.

I was a little unsure for the first couple of chapters of the set-up of this world - set in the near-future, it's almost a dystopian world with villages filled with those that can afford it, and the remainder of society packed into turbulent cities.

It took me a little while to get into the set up of the writing - but once I was there, I was hooked. I wanted to know more about the millionaire, about Ben and about why his fiancée would have decided to end things. There are flashbacks scattered throughout the book, and I always enjoy those, and I found myself following Ben on his journey, both physically and mentally. The ride he goes on internally really takes the reader with him.

I was only a little disappointed at the end - I would have liked one more chapter, or a bit more of a 'tie up'. I understand why novels may finish with the reader discerning what happens next, but I would have loved an epilogue to see if my understanding was right, or some of the assumptions from the final pages were true.

Overall, a great world was written and I found myself loving and hating so many characters, changing throughout the book.

This one wasn’t for me at all. I found really slow and hard getting into! There were points where I just wanted to to stop and leave it. Sorry not for me .

This book was the furthest away from what I thought it could be about. While the synopsis gives pretty much nothing away, it still wasn't hard to come up with some ideas both before and as I was reading, but I've never been so wrong. It really wasn't for me, and I feel like nothing actually happened up until, I'd say 5 chapters before the end. I thought it would surprise me and I'd enjoy it, but unfortunately, there was no luck.

Ben Parr is a portrait artist who goes hunting for his fiance after she decides to stay on an island she is working on.
The island is owned by a billionaire who is part fantasist and part idealist.
This is a very intriguing book which pulls you in and keeps you interested. Quite a twist at the end, which I didn't see coming.

This book was too slow for me, and just didn't take off. I feel really disappointed ,but it just wasn't for me.

Intriguing unique storyline…. Grab yourself a copy of this book! I absolutely loved this! I read this book within a day, I couldn’t put it down. I loved the characters and the way I had to keep asking myself if I was right in how I thought the plot was turning out. Left me asking questions how would I deal in that situation….

I was given an ARC of this book and found it to be intriguing.

This is a book about questions – most especially, the future of humans and life on Earth. Ben is an artist and loves Cara, his fiancée, but she leaves him to join an island, which is meant to be a paradise for future generations.

Much of the story, for me, highlighted the inequality of human society – those not on the island are separated by the haves and have-nots, those in power (rich) taking everything they want, while the rest suffer poverty and hard work. Many of the situations reminded me of today’s world, where ‘riches’ are kept for the lucky few and how disgusting humans are because all they do is take – the richer they are, the more they take, regardless of the consequences.

In some ways, I agreed with John Pemberley’s point of view – saving all creatures /flora, living within our means – to stop ravaging the Earth, however...

Ben is determined to find out what has happened to Cara. His love for her is all-encompassing, as is his art. He’s a likeable character and I enjoyed his ‘journey’ trying to work out what was the truth – who to believe?

I liked the first-person narrative and the fast-paced writing style. I don’t give spoilers, but will say that this story is filled with mystery, salient points about humans, questions about what the future should bring, what is right, what is wrong and does childhood shape your adult thinking?

Some great twists, turns and surprises!

Thoroughly enjoyable and thought-provoking.

Highly recommended.

I have a tendency to go into books blind if I know I like the author or I’m intrigued enough by the cover. That was the case here - I knew Andrew Hunter Murray both from his work as a comedian and QI researcher but also his previous novel, The Last Day, set on a dystopian Earth that has stopped spinning. I was hoping for something else dystopian, creepy, scary and maybe with something interesting to say about the human condition. This definitely seems to fit the brief - at an unspecified point in time an unspecified country a lot like the UK is suffering from a lack of births, climate change and other maladies not entirely explained, and the very wealthy are now living in idyllic and definitely not culty Villages, founded by a mysterious and also definitely not culty man called John Pemberley. Our protagonist Ben is on the hunt for his fiancée Cara who has gone to work for this mysterious billionaire on “the island” and not come home. The island is so obviously incredibly sinister that it’s almost laughable that Ben would think it was actually some kind of utopia. It was an enjoyable read but I was also so frustrated at Ben the whole time!

Given the glowing praise of Anthony Horowitz and the blurb I was keen to read this book. However, I really struggled to gain the same pleasure. Not what I thought it was going to be at all ( not necessarily a problem) and as a consequence I found it very, very slow going and ultimately immensely unsatisfying. Nothing really much happens until very near the end. Began with an intriguing prologue and then , well nothing until just before the end. Not badly written, the characters were well developed and believable it just didn't do enough to hold my interest. Not normally a cover person I did like the cover of this book but the book itself did not live up to the promise. Such a shame.

Very different to what I expected. The novel I found to be of a very slow pace without proper consistency for myself.