I do enjoy a bit of reality TV so loved the idea of this one.
It gives I'm a celeb/big brother vibes and was an easy read. But for me it just lacked something to really grip me, and I was left disappointed in the conclusion of it all.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc ebook.

Ten celebrities arrive on an island to participate in a game show- one quite unlike any other. Their “prize” is something they have wished for which could be career or personal based and they are not allowed to ask each other about it- if they do they will forfeit their prize and there will only be one winner. They are guided by a voice through loudspeakers as to what to do and where to go. Failure will result in penance- they are dressed like monks and have no personal belongings- there should be a bag for each of them when they get to their new home. The start is rough and tough and they can't believe what they have got themselves into. When a storm hits and they are trapped in one room for safety, their stories begin to emerge.
I quickly got into this. It’s lovely to see a celebrity with a talent for being an author. This is well written and well thought out and boy! What a premise! It's mainly based around Lauren who is an investigative journalist and wants more information on one of the other contestants who she suspects is not what he portrays to the public. This gives even more of an edgy feel to an edge -of -your- seat read as one thing settles another emerges. A deliciously dark thrill of a read. I very much look forward to more. Loved it.


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Isolation Island is a celebrity reality TV concept which becomes a locked room murder mystery. As is usual for this type of novel and TV programme there is a wide range of characters, the main one being an investigative journalist Lauren. Bad weather means the competitors are truly isolated and the pace picks up at this point. There are twists and turns and a dramatic ending. A mainly successful blend of a modern TV genre and an old fashioned murder mystery.

A brand new reality show. Ten celebrities are dropped onto an island off of the coast of Scotland. They are completely alone on the island, but there every move is being recorded. One of the contestants has an ulterior motive though. An investigative journalist who is determined to expose a major Hollywood film star. When a body is discovered on the island, with no one else present, have one of the contestants turned to murder to win the dream prize?

Right from the very start we find out about the dead body. The book then goes back to the start and tells the story from when the contestants are arriving on the island. I absolutely adore this type of book, where we know from the beginning that the list of suspects is very limited. I did find it difficult to keep track of all the characters, especially for the first few chapters. The story is very well told though, and I did not have a clue who the murderer was. I did find the ending slightly disappointing. I would have loved an epilogue to tie things up nicely, and probably would have given the book 5 stars if it had. Overall though I really enjoyed this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Headline books for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
There are a plethora of "Reality TV" shows on these days so it is probably to be expected that this trend now extends to books. Now, where I have never watched a reality tv show, I have read plenty of books about them. I am sure that the tv shows contain less in the way of fatal accidents and murders though!
So, in this book, former BBC presenter Louise Minchin draws from her time spent as a contestant on one of the main Reality TV shows to produce this, her first fiction book. Now I very much doubt that her time in the jungle would have been as perilous as the time that her characters spent on the remote Scottish Island that they were sent to. Half arriving together by boat, the others arriving by canoe, they again split up when they are denied entry to the castle they are supposed to be bunking in. This event serves to split them up for the rest of their time on the show.
The characters, as you might expect, are all a bit larger than life, the sort you'd expect to find fighting it out in front of cameras. But I will leave you to get to know them as the author intends. Personally, I struggle when introduced to a large number of characters in one fell swoop, so I wrote me a cast list, which helped until I got them straight in my head.
So... after a couple of near miss accidents and a couple of "evictions" things start to hot up when the contestants are further isolated by a rather horrendous storm (seriously does no one ever look at the weather forecast before pressing go on these things, it's not like we are back in 1987 Michael Fish!) which knocks out all the power and prevents any rescue efforts.
What it doesn't prevent however, is a death. But did he fall, or was he pushed...!?
This was a quick and easy read, hence the rounding up as I didn't really have to make much effort reading it. i did however lose count of how many times I rolled my eyes along the way...! It was a little on the predictable side on occasion too. But there were enough things I didn't guess early to keep me going and I was rewarded at the end by a satisfactory ending.
I wasn't overly impressed by the characters, probably as I failed to connect to any of them, so I didn't really care who did what to who and why! But all the twists and turns were well set up and executed so I guess that was a job well done.
All in all, a decent enough read but not one that set me, or the genre, alight. I would however be interested to see what she serves up for next time though. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Ten celebrities arrive on a remote Scottish Island to take part in a survival game show. Journalist, Lauren is hoping that Hollywood star, Sam, will be there as she wants to confront him about his past. Things start to go wrong and a sudden storm leaves the celebrities trapped. There is a suspicious death and they are all in danger. Who can Lauren trust? This was an exciting thriller with some great characters and a satisfying twist. The isolated setting and bad weather was very atmospheric and really added to the tension.
Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for the review copy.

Thank you to netgalley for allowing me to review this book.

I absolutely love a book with a remote setting, where the characters appear to be deserted. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the isolated island, the darkness, the wind howling with all the harsh elements around.

I found the first half was a little slow but once the book hit the halfway mark, it very quickly picked up the pace. I really enjoyed the twist even though I saw it coming from pretty early on. I still enjoyed the ride in spite of knowing the destination. I have never read anything by this author before but I will definitely be looking out for their books.

I had seen Louise talking about her book on tv and knew I had it on my TBR pile so I made it my next read and I was so glad I did. At the beginning it felt like I’m a Celebrity when it was filmed in the castle, especially with the tasks and lack off food. The relationships between the contestants, the murders, the storm, trust and lack of trust, who were allies and who were enemies, it twisted and turned right until the end.

An interesting, well written thriller. A strong main character in Lauren and a very unusual setting. The setting of a remote island and a celebrity TV show allowed for a good cast of characters. We find out early on Lauren has a reason for agreeing to do the show and this is slowly revealed. The backdrop and set up of the show are described with authority and there are twists along the way. It kept me engrossed and wanting to read more.

I hate reality TV shows, yet seem to have read so many thrillers based around them lately. This was a dark, sinister, tense twisted tale which kept me guessing.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

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I was really excited by the premise of this book as it sounded like it could be a modern day "and then there were none". Unfortunately, this didn't quite meet my expectations.

The story started out strong by setting the scene but I felt that a lot of the characters secrets and motivations were exposed quite early in the book and that the true explanation behind the plot lacked depth.

If you enjoy watching "I'm a celebrity: get me out of here" and want to explore a similar setting with a sinister plot then this could be the book for you.

Big Brother meets The Traitors in this excellent debut thriller from Louise Minchin. A mixed group of celebrities, some more famous than others are left in a remote Island with only an abandoned monastery for shelter. Completely alone with only a remote production team giving orders, life becomes uncomfortable very quickly and when someone is near killed, nerves are shattered. A hierarchy is soon formed and friendships are forged as indeed are enemies. Food is scare and tempers frayed and when a huge storm descends on the Island their troubles really begin. Communication is lost and lives are in serious danger from more than one source. Will everyone make it out alive? What an excellent story that was a definite page turner that had me hooked. Some of the characters were somewhat annoying but isn’t that always the case in these productions? It’s almost as though Louise had certain people in mind when creating these fictional people. Thoroughly recommend this debut and hope there is more to come.

The modern equivalent of the Roman Circus is the game show, especially celebrities subjected to ‘torture’. Death is not usually on the modern menu. Contestants are paid to participate, eliminated by public vote, but probably hope that their profile will be raised and their career boosted. The main variation in the “Isolation Island” format is that the winner will be guaranteed a personally tailored prize package worth a million pounds which will fulfil their greatest wish – “Answered Prayers” as the Production team has named it. The losers get nothing. Who gets eliminated and when is determined by the Production team, according to unspecified criteria. Ten assorted people are delivered to an ancient monastery on an island off the west coast of Scotland in late November, i.e. cold and mostly dark (average temperature 10C, sunrise 08.30, sunset 16.00). Log fires and oil lamps, woollen Monks’ habits, restricted food. Lauren, our principal character, is an investigative journalist researching a Me Too story about Hollywood action hero Nate Stirling, who is one of the participants, which is why she is here. The others are a TV star, a millionaire angel-investor business woman and TV star , a young pop star, three sports people and two young girls who form an influencer duo. All have been told to keep their reasons secret or they will be eliminated. Having been dumped on the beach they are abandoned, for there are no members of production. Already they face major problems and it becomes clear that there has been no Health and Safety assessment and that serious accidents or even deaths are likely. Which soon becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
New authors are advised to write about what they know, and this Author is a TV presenter/journalist and was a contestant on “I’m A Celebrity” in November 2021, when it was based in a Welsh Castle, so she definitely followed that advice. This story is well written but a bit melodramatic. It is not clear how the contestants were chosen, which is important to the plot because Lauren is only there because Nate is but how did she know that, and how did she get herself included? None of the characters are particularly likeable and Lauren is not very relatable. The Production team are clearly incompetent, if not actively criminal, so I don’t find the early stages of the story believable. It picks up when the storm strikes and the first death happens, becoming more of a murder-mystery. The final solution is quite surprising although the clues are there. It’s quite a fast read and moderately thrilling.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Being a lover of reality TV shows I just had to read this book. The location was very unusual, reminding me of I’m a Celebrity in Wales, and it made for an atmospheric setting. It took me a while to work out who was who, but naturally you needed a lot of characters for this book to work. It did keep me guessing throughout and the twist at the end was unexpected and it made up for some of the slower pace earlier in the book. Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for letting me read and review this book. 3.5 ⭐️

Isolation Island is a 3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4⭐️.
Lauren is on a remote Scottish island, she has signed up to be in a reality show and she is with nine other contestants, some she knows some she doesn’t and one she hopes to expose and bring down while she is there. Some of the contestants are on the way up in life and some aren’t but all will battle hard to achieve the top prize. The prize no one knows what it is as all contestants have chosen a different prize and are not allowed to talk about it. Trials come fast at the beginning and two contestants don’t make the next day. Then one of the contestants dies, how and why needs to be found as another is found in their bed deceased. Lauren tries to find out what is happening but is she fed the right story?
This was a good concept for a book I just wished I’d connected with Lauren more. The book was slow going over the first few chapters as you get to know the contestants and I did struggle around halfway to pick the book up but it did improve for the last third and the ending I didn’t see coming at ell.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Headline for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
A highly enjoyable popcorn thriller but I found the characters a little empty. As in, none of them really stood out or jumped off the page.
The format was bad with numbers on every line and at the end of every sentence (assuming it was the ARC upload to netgalley) so reading was a bit jarring.
Overall though, I enjoyed it but it's one not to take too seriously. A locked room/island mystery with an ending I didn't really see coming but not overly shocking.
Also ... was the production coming in on it or were they all just really bad at their jobs?

This sounded like a really fun premise (if a little overdone recently), and I liked the author so was anticipating a good read.

Sadly it's a DNF for me. The writing style was so frustrating - the first few chapters are virtually all description, backstory, exposition, with virtually no dialogue. I want to get to know the characters, not hear them reported about. There's obvious gaps in the backstory to allow for intrigue, but these came across as plot holes or clumsy Chekhov's gun placements.

And I found it impossible to engage with anyone here at all. So many caricatures of existing celebrities, I just wasn't enjoying myself at all. Disappointed.

Ten celebrities arrive at a remote Scottish island to take part in a reality TV show, where they are left isolated and have to survive, with the chance of winning the prize of their dreams. When one contestant winds up dead it becomes clear they are competing for much more than the prize.

I have read quite a few reality TV survival thrillers recently. I have enjoyed the majority and this one sounded compelling so I wanted to give it a go. The story starts strongly and my interest was held while being introduced to the characters and the game. There are quite a few celebrities to remember, with Lauren an investigative journalist being the main character. I found with a few of the celebrities, I was getting mixed up between them as they seemed quite similar. I also found that after a little while my interest started to dip and the story didn’t flow as well as it did at the start.

The atmosphere was described well and I did get a sense of eeriness. I enjoyed the remote location and trying to work out the contestant’s secrets. This was definitely an intriguing read but unfortunately not one of my favourites in this trope. Most likely because I have read many now and it takes a lot to stand out and offer something new. I can see a lot of people enjoying this who haven’t read similar books recently. I would be interested to pick up another by this author. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of reality TV shows so I wondered how this book would capture my imagination. However I was pleasantly surprised as I think the author brilliantly captured the type of personalities that take part in these shows and what extremes they are prepared to go to. Enjoyable quick read. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.