Devils Island

by Ron Hall

Jacob frantically stumbled over the fallen log, crashing uncontrollably through the dense underbrush and falling to the ground. He scrambled quickly back up to his feet and began running again. Jacob had no idea where he was going, but he knew that he should run. He crashed through some more undergrowth and into a little less dense part of the forest. He spun, looking around. His heart felt as if it were trying to jump out of his chest. His mind was racing. Where had Rick gone? Was the thing following him? Was it following Rick? The two friends had just split up, hoping that at least one of them could get away. He turned and ran again, as he ran; he tried looking over his shoulder to see if that thing was after him. He saw no sign of it. Running through this jungle was tough and he kept stumbling and falling. He looked back again; nothing. He turned his head back just in time to dodge around a large tree, as he jumped to his left, he was knocked off balance with a vicious blow. He felt like he had been run over by a truck or a middle linebacker. He hit the ground hard and bounced once. He tried to regain his balance and scramble back to his feet but just as he began to rise he was knocked backward again by the heavy blow of a large hairy paw. Jacob did not even realize that blood was seeping out of his body in several places. The claws had opened his face and falling through the brush had opened several small wounds on his arms and legs. He tried to rise up to his feet again; his entire body was protesting the movement. He felt as if he were moving in slow motion. A cold blackness was beginning to overcome him as he saw the big paw with the razor sharp claws swinging down toward his face. The blackness now enveloped him, his last thought I hope Rick makes it out.

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2013

Reviews

[Carrie Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! What an intense book!

It’s like Survivor and Lost all rolled into one with a few unique twists along the way.

Fair warning: Don’t get too attached to any one particular character in Devil’s Island, because he/she may or may not survive. The island (and Ron Hall, by default) was not a respecter of persons … nor a respecter of the characters I happened to like lol. There’s not a lot of time spent on grieving either – mostly because there ISN’T time to spend on grieving. Sit still for long and people will be grieving you, next.

With as many books as I read, I usually have a fairly good idea of where a story is headed. Not so in this case. I honestly didn’t know what to expect around each new turn or drop-off, and because the island-driven plot was so intense I appreciated the occasional forays into an ongoing criminal investigation back on the mainland. It provided some time to breathe (lol) as well as give my tense shoulders a chance to relax, but I confess that I really mostly just wanted to GET BACK TO THE ISLAND to see who would survive.

I’m not kidding, y’all. I-N-T-E-N-S-E.

While the writing style isn’t my favorite, the sheer intensity of the plot kept me frantically turning pages and tuning out everything else except what was going on that island. I needed to know what was going to happen next, even as I dreaded it, and I’m pretty sure my nails haven’t been bitten this close in quite some time. Speculative fiction isn’t normally my thing, but if it’s written just close enough to the realm of possibility to be plausible in the right circumstances I am willing to give it a try. Devil’s Island is one such book, and I’ve just started reading Ron Hall’s newest novel Bobby Jenkins which is proving to be the same way. If you were addicted to Lost (and who wasn’t?!?), you’ll want to grab a copy of Devil’s Island.

(I received a copy of this book in exchange for only my honest review.)

See my full review at Reading Is My SuperPower

[Jerry Walch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been a good book if it hadn’t been for all the mechanical errors. The mechanical errors weren’t just an occasional typo but the repeated use of wrong words, misplaced words, and superfluous words. There were far too many of these errors to list in this review, multiple errors on every page. It became blatantly obvious to me almost from the very first page that this author didn’t have someone proofread his manuscript before he published it. I mean that these errors were so egregious that they jumped right out at me without me even having to look for them. There was also far too much white space between chapters.
This could have been an exciting read if the author had his terminology right. An example of what I’m talking about is how he refers to FBI agents as detectives where in reality they aren’t detectives but special agents of the FBI. Little things such as these really matter because readers will catch them and will turn the reader off, maybe even get the reader to quit reading the book. I know that I had to fight the impulse to throw the book down and never pick it up again. I finish reading this book because I have made it a policy to try and finish every book I start no matter how badly it was written. At the same time I’m sure that I will never read another book by this author nor recommend his books to any of my friends or followers.
I gave this book a 3 star rating because I was feeling generous and because of its comical ending. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn’t waste my time reading it.

[Anthony Yvonnica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before I say anything about the story, I do want to say that the ebook itself was horrible. The spelling errors, typos, random stray keystrokes, paragraph formatting .... The author should have run the document through a spell check, and then let somebody else read it before publishing it. And when it comes to the page layouts and margins, well, even running it through Calibre would have made a near perfect book. He didn't and this book was very difficult to read and very distracting.

Also, the speech pattern of the characters was very unnatural - most of us do speak with apostrophes :-)

That being said, this story had potential. There were three stories: The good guys, the bad guys and the FBI. Those were nicely woven together and his technique worked. But the story didn't work. I wasn't hooked into the universe he created. He needed more character development, and a better description of the offer made to the supposed contestants. I wasn't sold on the contest and I still don't understand how it worked.

With a lot of editing and some more development this story could have been very good. As is - the book was poor.

[Harini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book a 3.5 out of 5.

REVIEW
I liked this book.
This book was quite a ride
The plot was amazing, and the characteristics of the characters were conveyed very well.The pacing was also perfect .
The only thing I did not like much was the character development, I really wish there was a little bit of background information about the characters before the plot really starts.
But all in all I liked all the adventures I got to go on through this book.I would definitely reccomend this book to people who like to read books like "The Hunger Games".

[Dave Saari · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Devils Island" is Ron Hall's debut novel. The book was fast-paced, with an interesting plot and a large cast of (mostly) interesting characters. Based on the story line alone, I would have rated it higher, but I was disappointed by the stilted dialog and the tremendous number of errors -- spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage, etc. With even a modest effort at editing, it could have been much better. If such things don't bother you, then I'd recommend this book.

[Vickie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Multiple typos and grammatical errors on every page, stilted dialog, and unsatisfying ending. Will never read a book by this author again.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devils Island by Ron Hall

A fantastic story with an exciting plot (which) moves at a steady pace. With plenty of thrills, danger, twists and turns , I was on the edge of my seat. No one is safe and survival is the key. Devils Island has many engaging characters, and suspense I highly recommend this fantastic page-turner!

[Ester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, I wasn't enjoying it. I was just curious how it would end.

[LoisBow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed

I was disappointed with this book. There were many errors, missing words, misspelled words, etc. Ending left the reader hanging.