Pig Island

By Mo Hayder

Book Overview

"Mo Hayder, who writes dark, perfect thrillers . . . now spins a shivery tale about a cult on the west coast of Scotland, where the weather nourishes bleak menace."--Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News "Another astonishing mutation of the crime thriller . . . [ Pig Island ] masterfully exposes not only the horror but also the human frailty at the story's core."--Anna Mundow, The Boston Globe From Edgar Award winner and internationally bestselling author Mo Hayder, Pig Island is a riveting, disturbing thriller of religious fanatics, hoax debunkers, and the dark side of belief. Journalist Joe Oakes makes a living exposing supernatural hoaxes, but when he visits a secretive religious cult on a remote Scottish island, everything he thought he knew is overturned. While investigating a strange apparition caught briefly on film wandering the lonely beaches of Pig Island, so deformed it can hardly be human, Oakes crosses a border of electrical fencing, toxin-filled oil drums, and pigs' skulls to infiltrate the territory of the group's isolated founder, Malachi Dove. The violent consequences of Oakes's transgression are so catastrophic that it forces him to question the nature of evil and to face a terrible reality: was Dove responsible for one of the bloodiest crimes Scotland has seen in years? And, worse, have his actions set into motion a killing machine that will stop at nothing? "A novel that 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 "Mo Hayder has a profound ability to shock and surprise her readers, and Pig Island surpasses anything she has written before. She's the bravest writer I know."--Karin Slaughter, author of Cop Town

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802123406
• ISBN13: 9780802123404
• Release Date: March 2015
• Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Totally Gross

Never read such a sickening book. Only reason I finished it was to see what the "devil" was.

Edge of my seat!

Wow. This was good but WAY messed up... Mo Hayder is a strange, strange woman. I did enjoy reading this, but part of the mystery was given away by reading the acknowledgments (so beware of that!). And there were definite hints to the ending twist... it does seem to beg for a sequel, as there were a few loose ends but, all in all, I really enjoyed reading this. I am, however, at a total loss as to what to read next, though I will definitely keep an eye for more of this woman's work.

Another Nail Biter from Ms Hayder

I just finished this book last night, literally in one setting. Another success from the pen/keyboard of Ms Hayder. This work is in the vein of her first two novels. Dark, mysterious, and a final slam-dunk conclusion at the end. For anyone who has read her earlier works I highly recommend Pig Island. If you loved the earlier ones, you will this one as well. I am currently on the hunt for her latest work, Ritual. I'm looking forward to it as it reunites us with her earlier detective character. It will be interesting to see how she develops it.

Another hit for Hayder!!!

I can't believe how Mo Hayder comes up with this stuff to write about. I have read all of her books and now am waiting for "Ritual" to come in the mail. This book's plot was just plain weird and crazy--not too much gore going on, but a whole lot of freak weaving its way through the book. Plot: Journalist who debunks religious cults and healing remedies pisses off a cult leader, because he calls him a fake. He finds out the cult leader is living in the northern part of Scotland on an island that is being used as a chemical waster dump. Also on the island is another cult who is much nicer and needs a bit of financial help to keep its Wicca ways alive. They invite journalist (who happens to be involved on the mainland with a emotionally high maintenance girlfriend) to write a story about how stable this little community on the island is-----BUT---all hell breaks loose with madness, deformity, murder, lies, manipulations, and a whole lot of rotting pigs......................mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Like I say about Mo Hayder. If you can't stand a lot of profanity, sex, gore, vulgarity, decadency and plain crudeness, her books are not for you.

Wow!

Mo Hayder is certainly eclectic. Her newest novel is a departure from her last book, which took place in Nanking during World War II. This one is centered on a religious group that occupies a small island off the coast of the United Kingdom and their bizarre evangelical leader. The protagonist is a writer from London with a compulsion to expose the religious zealot who, years before, had falsely diagnosed and then "cured" him of a supposed cancer. The story is shocking and I don't want to give away too much here except to say it revolves around mass murder and the mysterious daughter of the man leading the cult. The story is told from the point of view of the writer and his wife, a woman that has serious issues of her own. The writer, wife and young woman form a dangerous triangle which leads to a twist at the end that, although you may see it coming, is still shocking and yet satisfying. Mo Hayder may not be everyone's cup of tea but she has a distinctive voice and I find her writing to be compelling and original.

Clever, disturbing and gruesome

This is a smart, fast moving and violent mystery novel with the sort of final twist that leaves you shocked and surprised. It is a very clever book indeed. The plot in a nutshell - Pig Island is not too far from the mainland, but is notoriously isolated and famous for 2 things - a home made video, apparently authenticated, of a "monster" living there, and the fact that the local inhabitants are from some sort of religious sect who keep to themselves. A journalist, who has made a career of debunking myths surrounding such sects and their new found messiahs decides to visit, and find out for himself what is really happening there. He finds the locals, all seemingly "normal" existing in fear of the devil, who lives in isolation on half of the island. Of course all is not what it seems, and I must warn that the violence (or rather the aftermath of the violence) depicted here is graphic to the extreme, but it quite cleverly adds to the disturbing nature of the tale. Drawn into this atmosphere of fear is the journalist, and his family, who remain on the mainland. There are many questions of acceptance and tolerance woven into this clever tale, and at the very end there is a twist which I never saw coming, and that just makes this fast moving story all the more satisfying. If you like your mysteries a little different, then this is for you.