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Delphi Group #4
The Island
A missing scientist who holds dark secrets.
A Caribbean island so frightening even the locals won’t set foot on its shores.
Biophysicist Noah Lind has gone into hiding, protecting information that can’t get into the wrong hands.
When Lind is kidnapped off the streets of Tel Aviv, it’s clear a shadowy group needs him in order to carry out their sinister plans.
Already overseas investigating a related matter, Zane Watson and the Delphi Group follow a trail of clues across Europe, from a night train in Paris to a mountain chateau in Switzerland. The team eventually learns that Lind has been taken to a private island in the Caribbean. The island has a chilling reputation, from missing persons to strange creatures that defy explanation. Are the stories real, or are they just myths cooked up by superstitious locals?
As the Delphi team arrives on the island’s haunted shores, they soon learn a shocking truth: there is an evil lurking in the jungle there, and it’s an evil like they’ve never encountered before.
If you like page-turning thrillers with a touch of science fiction and horror, then you’ll love The Island.
Get your copy now.
A Caribbean island so frightening even the locals won’t set foot on its shores.
Biophysicist Noah Lind has gone into hiding, protecting information that can’t get into the wrong hands.
When Lind is kidnapped off the streets of Tel Aviv, it’s clear a shadowy group needs him in order to carry out their sinister plans.
Already overseas investigating a related matter, Zane Watson and the Delphi Group follow a trail of clues across Europe, from a night train in Paris to a mountain chateau in Switzerland. The team eventually learns that Lind has been taken to a private island in the Caribbean. The island has a chilling reputation, from missing persons to strange creatures that defy explanation. Are the stories real, or are they just myths cooked up by superstitious locals?
As the Delphi team arrives on the island’s haunted shores, they soon learn a shocking truth: there is an evil lurking in the jungle there, and it’s an evil like they’ve never encountered before.
If you like page-turning thrillers with a touch of science fiction and horror, then you’ll love The Island.
Get your copy now.
- GenresThriller
246 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 12, 2019
247 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 11, 2020
THE ISLAND is a high-tech technothriller which is Book Four in the Delphi Group Series. Although it can be read out of order, as I did, I'd still recommend reading the Series in order. The Delphi Group is a very high order private intelligence agency, founded by and employing the best of the best. In THE ISLAND, which starts with explosive Suspense, an octopus-like global biophysics corporation seeks knowledge held by a reclusive biophysics genius...and will let nothing stand in the way.
September 20, 2020
I received a copy of this book from Hidden Gems which is good because I would not have looked for it with the weak title. The first several chapters are unrelated and part of the setup. Eventually the real story begins. The characters range from very realistic to very weird. The style of writing is clear and straightforward. The action taking place all over the world finally combines at the island of the title. From that point on, the suspense and violence suddenly ramps up. The further you get into the book, the more engrossed you become until you reach a point when you just can't stop reading. This was my first introduction to the Delphi Group, and I can testify that you don't have to read any of the other books to fully enjoy this one.
September 22, 2020
Preface: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book's blurb does it a disservice, I think. It makes it sound as though the novel focuses on these horrible, monstrous creatures living on the titular island, and our characters are going to have to investigate what they are and fight them off - but that is a tiny, tiny piece of this novel. Most of the story is just generic spy thriller stuff, with huge chunks of exposition thrown in. The "monsters" only show up in the last quarter or so, and get barely any screentime before we race to the end.
Because this is the fourth entry to a series, it feels like it has to catch you up to speed on every character. Any time a new (or rather, old) face is introduced, we get a lengthy history on them - where they were born, where they went to school, what they did before joining the team, whatever hi-jinks they've been sucked into in previous novels. None of it matters. You could cut all of that out and lose almost nothing of value, because every character is as flat as they come. I really couldn't tell you anything about almost any of them that /isn't/ those extraneous background details. They're just actors on a stage.
The book is sloppy in other ways, too. The plot has a weird, bumpy cadence to it - again, we are set up to expect a Dr. Moreau-style horror-thing, but it's all spy stuff. There's a character who takes up a big chunk of the first 30% of so of the book, and then completely disappears once his usefulness is up (that whole last scene of his is really dumb and contrived, too). I actually had to Ctrl F for his name once I finished the novel, because I remembered he existed and didn't know what had happened to him. Turns out he gets about a paragraph of "here's how this storyline ended" about halfway through the book, after which he is literally never mentioned again. It's just a very bizarre choice to spend that much page-time on a character who completely vanishes and presumably will never appear for the rest of the series.
All that being said, this isn't a terrible book. If you like this sort of spy/action/sci fi (?) mash-up type stuff, it might work for you - but overall it just isn't very memorable or well put together.
This book's blurb does it a disservice, I think. It makes it sound as though the novel focuses on these horrible, monstrous creatures living on the titular island, and our characters are going to have to investigate what they are and fight them off - but that is a tiny, tiny piece of this novel. Most of the story is just generic spy thriller stuff, with huge chunks of exposition thrown in. The "monsters" only show up in the last quarter or so, and get barely any screentime before we race to the end.
Because this is the fourth entry to a series, it feels like it has to catch you up to speed on every character. Any time a new (or rather, old) face is introduced, we get a lengthy history on them - where they were born, where they went to school, what they did before joining the team, whatever hi-jinks they've been sucked into in previous novels. None of it matters. You could cut all of that out and lose almost nothing of value, because every character is as flat as they come. I really couldn't tell you anything about almost any of them that /isn't/ those extraneous background details. They're just actors on a stage.
The book is sloppy in other ways, too. The plot has a weird, bumpy cadence to it - again, we are set up to expect a Dr. Moreau-style horror-thing, but it's all spy stuff. There's a character who takes up a big chunk of the first 30% of so of the book, and then completely disappears once his usefulness is up (that whole last scene of his is really dumb and contrived, too). I actually had to Ctrl F for his name once I finished the novel, because I remembered he existed and didn't know what had happened to him. Turns out he gets about a paragraph of "here's how this storyline ended" about halfway through the book, after which he is literally never mentioned again. It's just a very bizarre choice to spend that much page-time on a character who completely vanishes and presumably will never appear for the rest of the series.
All that being said, this isn't a terrible book. If you like this sort of spy/action/sci fi (?) mash-up type stuff, it might work for you - but overall it just isn't very memorable or well put together.
September 24, 2020
This fourth book in the Delphi Group Thriller series by John Sneeden was a fast-paced thrill ride of an action-adventure with some thrilling suspense and a touch of science fiction horror thrown in for a bonus to the reader. The plot moved swiftly from start to finish with all the points in between carrying the story's adventure and suspense line. The characters were a well-defined group of operatives who each had their own special skills and qualifications. The author made them all relatable with their description and individual characteristics. This was almost like a Dr. Moreau feeling type of book, except it was humans that were experimented on, not animals. The suspense was slowly built up with several surprises thrown in for good measure. I would not hesitate to add another book in this series to my TBR file. This is a voluntary review of an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Hidden Gems Books.
February 6, 2020
The Island
I thought this was gonna be about dinosaurs on an island, but it wasn't so I was kinda disappointed. As I read on and found out what was really happening, I became intrigued. I really enjoyed this book and the characters. I went from laughing to cheering this group on. Such a well written and fast paced book. I am going to go back and read this series from book one. The violence was not overwhelming and the book never lagged and kept you guessing. And I love the fact that this was a well liked and intense group of professionals, but they did not have to get their points across by foul language and even the sexual situations were brief and did not take away from the story. Well written and yeah, I would definitely recommend it.
I thought this was gonna be about dinosaurs on an island, but it wasn't so I was kinda disappointed. As I read on and found out what was really happening, I became intrigued. I really enjoyed this book and the characters. I went from laughing to cheering this group on. Such a well written and fast paced book. I am going to go back and read this series from book one. The violence was not overwhelming and the book never lagged and kept you guessing. And I love the fact that this was a well liked and intense group of professionals, but they did not have to get their points across by foul language and even the sexual situations were brief and did not take away from the story. Well written and yeah, I would definitely recommend it.
September 25, 2020
The book seems interesting enough and according to the other reviews it gets really good and the pace picks up toward the end. While I don't think the book was BAD...there is a lot of back story and build up before any real action were to start so I just didn't have the patience to keep going. I got to chapter 25 and just stopped.
June 16, 2021
A pretty good action-filled novel. What I liked: the action; the ideas; the pacing. What I didn’t like: more “telling” than “showing;” some of the leaps in action; and unfortunately, it seemed I could “hear” the author’s thoughts turning around the plot. I might read another in this series.
February 17, 2020
Excellent book that blends science with action making for an excellent thriller for geeks.
January 4, 2022
loved it!
You won’t put it down. I sure didn’t. It’s 3 AM now. So there’s your proof. It keeps you engaged.
You won’t put it down. I sure didn’t. It’s 3 AM now. So there’s your proof. It keeps you engaged.
January 16, 2022
good book
April 21, 2022
A movie in words.
This was a very interesting story, mad scientist, gunmen, monsters
Heroin, heroes sunsets tropical islands, everything a good movie needs. Very enjoyable,
This was a very interesting story, mad scientist, gunmen, monsters
Heroin, heroes sunsets tropical islands, everything a good movie needs. Very enjoyable,
September 13, 2022
awesome read
John Sneeden does his magic writing again. Many twists and turns kept me intrigued and I couldn’t put it down. Thanks John!
John Sneeden does his magic writing again. Many twists and turns kept me intrigued and I couldn’t put it down. Thanks John!
July 15, 2019
Fast Action! This was my first time actually reading Sneeden's work even though I've owned most of them almost since he started publishing his tales a few years ago. And man, I have been missing out! This was a very fast action/ adventure book that probably took the same amount of time as usual to actually read a novel of its length (roughly 300 pages, iirc) - but felt like half that or less. There are a couple of points where Sneeden goes somewhat in depth on previous events presumably shown in previous novels, so for those who are sensitive to spoilers this may not be the best book to start with. But for anyone else, while going back to Book 1 (The Signal) may be ideal, starting here isn't bad either. Great book, very much recommended.
September 18, 2019
I liked this one better than book #3. The story seemed more complete. Here we get to see some of the outcomes from the gene experiments and how it might come into play in future books. A quick easy and enjoyable book.
August 17, 2019
An island 🌴 in Paradise with dark secrets
Enjoyed the suspense and plotting. Really kept my interest and enjoyed how he used the characters to create a strong team
Enjoyed the suspense and plotting. Really kept my interest and enjoyed how he used the characters to create a strong team
September 15, 2019
Good book
I like a book that makes me want to read till finished. I liked the story line. Good. Excellent read
I like a book that makes me want to read till finished. I liked the story line. Good. Excellent read
October 30, 2019
Very creepy book...but oh so good...I couldn't put it down.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews