This book took me a little bit to really get into and or invested in. Once I did it moved along pretty quickly. I think upper middle school/high school students would enjoy this book.

I was surprised to learn what had actually happen to these kids and remembering what happened right at the beginning that should have been clues.

There really isn’t any God in this book, except a quick mention of Him and wondering if He is behind what is going on. This book is really more of an allegory inspired from classics the author has read, (which I haven’t).

Overall, an interesting read and if you like something different this might be up your alley.

A copy of this book was given to me through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I can see the appeal that this book is going to have to some readers, but sadly this one wasn't for me. The writing didn't mesh well and I found it hard to like the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me review an advanced readers copy of this book.

The idea of this book was very interesting and it pitched itself as somewhat of an apocalyptic story. However, it drastically changed to a whole different type of story that’s hard to even explain.

This book had one of the biggest plot twists I’ve ever read that made me question everything, but immediately after that plot twist, everything became a confusing mess and I had a hard time understanding what exactly was happening in the story. Pardon my language, but the confusing part was also a bit of mindfuckery. It messed with my mind and my conception of reality, which isn’t necessarily too much of a bad thing for some people but I personally didn’t enjoy the mindfuckery feeling that I got from the book.

Perhaps my biggest issues with the book were the writing style and the characters. The writing style was bland and didn’t draw me in. All the characters were also unlikeable. I didn’t feel myself connecting to any of the characters and I definitely didn’t care about what happened to the characters.

Another issue I have with this book is that there’s no diversity. The only female character doesn’t get introduced until about halfway through the book and all the other characters are white males. This book was published in 2020, so I expected more diversity. If the characters weren’t white, then that needed to be clarified because based on their names and descriptions, they appeared to be white. I just expect a lot from books because of how diverse and accepting our world has become, but I didn’t get that diversity in this book.

My final complaint is that the ending wasn’t satisfying. It felt like there was more to be told with this story or I just needed the story to be wrapped up a little better than what it was.

It might seem weird that I gave this book 2 stars instead of 1 since I’ve been bashing it so much in my review, but I genuinely liked the first 35% of this book. It felt like an apocalyptic book at first and had it followed down that path, I would’ve enjoyed the book even more.

One last thing I want to note is that this book is labeled as Christian fiction on goodreads. This book does talk about religion a little bit but not very much. If you’re interested in this book, but you don’t like religious books, don’t let the label of Christian fiction deter you from reading this book.

Echo Island is about 4 teenagers they return from a camping trip and discover no one is around not even the wind didn't make a sound.

This book gives off creepy vibes, I was very interested by this book. The ending was very shocking. I've never read anything like this before.

Meh. In Echo Island, longtime buddies Archer, Bradley, Tim, and Jason return from a camping trip to find their entire island community completely deserted. There are no people, no electricity, not even any wind. The only clue seems to be notebooks filled with scribbled gibberish, but no one can decipher them. The first three quarters of the book, as the boys struggle to make sense of what’s happening (and deal with some repressed issues in their own relationships) is pretty typical YA fare — there’s some real atmospheric creepiness, and the main characters may be a little flat but they’re likable enough. The last quarter of the book, though, veers off in a weird direction that wants to be philosophical but doesn’t quite get there. It’s just odd, and the abruptness of the transition took me right out of the story just when I should have been the most engaged.

I definitely don’t want to knock philosophical storytelling because I think the world needs more of that — let’s ask the big questions and puzzle through all the assumptions and implications that starburst around them. I appreciate this piece of what Echo Island seems to be trying to do, and I think the more standard YA thriller part is fine, too. The two things kind of crash into each other, though, in a way that makes both parts seem less satisfying, at least to me.

“The four boys went camping in the state park on the mainland the weekend after their high school graduation, eating firecooked meals and playing cards and goofing off, assuming the entire time that the town of Echo Island would still be there when they returned.”

“If this isn’t heaven or hell—and it sure isn’t Echo Island—where are we?”

“Town vanishes. Game over. The end.”

This was admittedly a frustrating read. So much of it was very compelling, edge of your seat. The characters were fairly well developed; maybe a little cookie cutter but each one playing their part well. I enjoyed the storyline of 4 high school graduates return from camping to find everyone in their town has vanished including the animals and that electricity and even batteries no longer worked. In places, the pages flew by.

So where was the frustrating? One was that a big reveal was painfully obvious. But since it is a book geared towards young adults, maybe that gets a pass. But the biggest problem is that about 3/4 through the book, there is a shift from the story (which was keeping my interest) into a lot of talking in super vague and mysterious tones as if to explain what was happening and it was all crazy confusing (don’t want to give too many details to spoil). I kept waiting for it to all make sense and even now after the book is over, I am still confused. And from the looks of other reviewers, I am not alone.

Always a shame when a book holds such promise and starts out with a bang, only to end with a fizzle.

I received this book free from Netgalley and publisher B&H in exchange for an honest review.

It's difficult to review this book. For the first half or more, I understood what was happening and saw the reveal coming. After we find out why the island is abandoned, the story became strange and I didn't know what was going on. I think there are some references to God being the writer of your story, but I wasn't sure what the point of the island was. To redeem yourself? To decide what kind of person you are and where you'll go from there?

There was no character development, we saw surface things about the boys and that's it. There's very little worldbuilding and no romance. There is a villain that they boys must battle, though I didn't understand why they had to fight him.

This had potential for sure, but it fell flat and needed more details to move the story along and clear up confusion about the purpose of Echo Island.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Four high school boys return home to their Island from a camping trip only to find out that everyone on the island has disappeared, not even animals remain, or even air. Now, it is up to the four friends to find out the mystery behind it all. But is it something that can be solved? Or is it something far beyond even their wildest imaginations.

Oof, this is something so unlike I’ve ever read before, after Alice’s adventures in Wonderland that is. It comes halfway through but the ideas and the writing get just as mad as that and I so loved it. It’s so well written, you wouldn’t think you’d find four young boys talking amongst themselves interesting enough to carry on reading, but this was so well written. Even though there isn’t much about the backgrounds of the characters, but you can easily imagine their personalities by just the way their dialogues are written, soo good!

It's a good mix of horror, and thriller, filled with creepy vibes all the way. The story gets a bit fantastical towards the end, with mythical stories and direct hints to spirituality thrown throughout the book, not something I’m a fan of, but it was an amazing read and I found myself pondering over some of the words and ideas. The ending is kind of abrupt and open-ended, and it kinda irked me ‘cause I was looking for something solid, but I loved it anyway, it all makes sense if you keep the spirituality angle in view, and I think it was beautiful, but it sure asks for more.

Thanks to Netgalley, author, and publishers for the eARC. All opinions are my own..

I was eager to check out Jared C. Wilson’s novel Echo Island without much knowledge of the author and the book. All I knew is the description sounded interesting. So I dug right in.

At first glance I was really intrigued and need more information instantly. I had to understand what was coming. I will say I had an inkling early on what was really going on, but I won’t give it away to you. Wilson’s writing was interesting. He wrote in a way that made you want to know more about the main characters and slowly revealed more of their personality to you. I really loved a few of the main group of guys that made up main characters in this book, and I really disliked some of the others. Some of the supporting characters were also the same, either really likable or really dislikable. I found none fell in the middle. Love or hate. That was it.

I have to be honest and say I didn’t realize this novel was christian fiction until I neared the end. When the mystery was revealed and all was known, it finally clicked. As someone who doesn’t lean towards religious inspired books, I did enjoy this. There were a few minor factors that influenced my overall score downward. The cryptic messages from the man in the cabin were frustrating to me and in no way helpful to my understanding or enjoyment of this book. I also really disliked some of the behaviors shown by some of the characters and feel that people might act different in this given scenario if it were to occur.

Aside from the minor issues I had with Echo Island, I really did enjoy the novel and found the mystery to be one I really wanted to solve and kept me flipping pages. Even if you are not a typical christian fiction reader, check this book out. It’s subtle with the religious message and has a good mystery to be solved while reading.

Echo Island follows 4 young boys when they return from a camping trip to find their hometown empty of it's people and it's energy.

This book gets into the action immediately. Straight away it gives off creepy vibes, there's an air of fear and apprehension from the first page.

I did find that at times it was a bit dialogue heavy at times, and lagged slightly in the middle. I felt the end got a bit muddled and confusing however I still enjoyed the book.

This is YA and it does feel it. I think a younger teenager would absolutely love this book.

This atmospheric read, was 3.5 stars for me and it's out now!

I'm not even sure what to think about this one. I loved the idea and the fact that it was set in the Pacific Northwest but that it pretty much where the positive things end. It was clearly written for a very different audience, likely teenage boys because that it is what it felt like it was geared towards. It felt immature and the writing style was odd. The characters felt super generic and forced. Overall it just wasn't a great read.

Echo Island is a book about four boys who go camping on the mainland, and when they come home, everyone has disappeared and they find themselves in the middle of a mystery.

I didn’t enjoy this one nearly as much as I thought I was going to. I figured out the ‘twist’ right away and was able to keep reading for a while, but at somewhere between the 50-75% mark everything just started unraveling and making very little sense, as opposed to wrapping up. I didn’t enjoy it, and I feel let down because the description sounds a lot more cohesive than the actual book happened to be.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Set across a backdrop of misty suspense, Echo Island is an exploration into the unknown.

Four friends go camping for the weekend, but when they return, everything and everyone is gone, there’s no electricity and anything requiring a motor or battery no longer works, and it is left to them to find out what happened and how to get their loved ones back.

Reminiscent of Netflix’s The Society, The Sixth Sense, and Jodi Picoult’s Between the Lines, this book starts well, crafting the storyline and building the suspense and thrill. And for 3 quarters I was very engaged and thoroughly enjoying reading it. The characters were drawn well enough to get a feel for their personalities, and the plot was intriguing as each new discovery unfolded.
Then it got to the last quarter of the book and things got...weird. It took a turn from way out of left field, and while it was not wholly un-enjoyable, it changed how the narrative was affecting me. Something that had been easy and entertaining suddenly became challenging, and I found myself disengaging. However, the author had done enough earlier in the book for me to want to continue and see how it panned out.
I can’t choose between 2 and 3 stars, so I’m splitting the difference and going with 2.5.

Thank you Jared C. Wilson, B&H Publishing Group, and NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Four high school friends have been on their last camping trip together before they all go separate ways for college. They return to their island home from the mainland to find it completely deserted. Nothing electrical works. And the boys are scrambling to figure out what happened to everyone while they were gone and what would cause even battery powered things to no longer work.

About 2/3 of the way through this book the boys find something significant and it really changes the tone of the story. It goes from being purely mystery/thriller to more philosophical with a background of thriller. I wasn’t prepared for the shift and it took a while for me to get used to it. It becomes a much smarter, deeper read at that point and takes more brain power to read too. It wasn’t a bad twist, it just took some getting used to. Those who like stories with plenty to chew on and parse in literature classes will absolutely love the last part. (Keep an eye out for C.S. Lewis.) Recommended to those looking for a thriller with more depth than average and a little something different.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. There are some violent incidents on page with people getting very beat up. A bad car accident happens, and a past domestic abuse between a father and daughter that resulted in serious injuries is alluded to (but not described at all). One of the boys goes and clears out several bottles of alcohol from the store, the others give him a hard time about it. One character smokes a pipe.

I wanted to read this book because I really enjoyed some non-fiction, inspirational work by the author. The one great thing about it is that I was trying to guess what had caused so many people to disappear the whole way through the book. Can't reveal anything here - or it would spoil the ending. Personally, I felt it moved somewhat slow and did not keep me connected otherwise. Still, a good read for young adults and keeps you guessing. Was it the rapture? Hmmm.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Echo Island is about four boys who go to the mainland for a camping trip and return to their island home to find that all residents, including animals, have vanished. The power is out, electronics aren't working... even the wind is gone. They search the island for clues but don't find anything to explain why their world has been turned upside-down.

I'm not really sure where to start with this one, so I'll just dive right in... I had a lot of little problems with this book, but nothing that was too big to keep me from finishing it. For example, the book started off a bit slow for me, but at the same time, I was curious enough about the premise that I kept reading. And while I wasn't a huge fan of any of the main characters, the setting and plot were enough to pull me through. I really appreciated the plot twists, and while I saw one of the twists coming, I still wasn't disappointed when it was revealed.

The one thing that I had to keep reminding myself was that this was a YA book and that I (37-year-old female librarian) was not the intended audience. I do strongly believe that this book will be very well received by teen boys... the dialogue and tone the MCs took when speaking with each other was a bit much for me, but I think it will really hit home with actual teens.

I found some bits to be slightly repetitive. It seemed, especially toward the beginning, that our MCs were having the same conversation over and over. The writing itself was well done, and the descriptions of the landscape and atmosphere were amazing, which made the repetition in the dialogue much more tolerable.

I will definitely be ordering this book for my library's YA collection. I would recommend this book to all teens, but especially boys and anyone who believes in God (or another higher power). It was advertised as a thriller and it definitely didn't disappoint in that area. I would also recommend this book to anyone who doesn't like a book filled with romance. It's sometimes hard to find anything in the YA genre that avoids romance, but Echo Island was definitely devoid of all things mushy-gushy.

My conclusion: A spooky thriller for fans of Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl and Ten by Gretchen McNeil. Perfect read for a dark and stormy night this fall!

Echo Island follows 4 teenagers who come back home after a camping trip to find their home island completely empty. Everyone seems to have suddenly vanished, leaving everything behind, as though leaving in a rush. Our 4 characters decide to investigate the situation and understand what happened on Echo Island.

I love a mysterious book featuring some teenagers ! Say all you want about it being an overused plot, it's still usually a trope I enjoy. Even though the main characters felt a little transparent for me here, I loved the dark and eerie mood the author set right from the beginning. As soon as the boys return to Echo Island, I got chills. You feel the panic rising and all kind of questions start to pop in your head just as the characters find various clues. I must give it to the author, he knows how to set a mood. Cheers to that.

Although I didn't like the main characters much, the side one were much more likeable to me, and much more interesting. They had much more character. They felt read when I couldn't really tell one of the main characters from another.

Now we get to the part why I'm rating this 2 stars if I enjoyed the book. Because around 75% of the book (75% !), it all goes downhill. Without spoiling, I can tell you there's a major plot twist, and I thought it so cliché and self-centered from the author that I almost DNFed the book. I still got curious about the ending, but I could have done without it. It absolutely hated everything after that plot twist, as the latter made me absolutely angry.

Add to that the fact that the characters were acting really dumb and clueless about every situation they encounter, and you have a book that angered me, even though I had loved it for the most part... Too bad that ending ruined the whole book for me.

My conclusion : Great concept, decent development, disappointing ending.

This book had my mind spinning trying to figure out what was going to happen next. It seemed to cross over several genres, and I discussed it with my students while I was reading it. No one could figure out if it was a sci-fi book, a mystery, a post-apocalyptic book, or a supernatural story. I ended up getting to the big reveal and honestly, I never saw it coming. The ending was a little frustrating. I’d love to get more of the what happens after. It would be an interesting set up for a sequel or even to do a look at the people left behind. Overall, the book definitely held my attention and had me wanting to get to the ending to see what happened.

I unfortunately feel this book wasnt for me. I understand the concept for the book but felt it was lacking. For me the lack of conclusion meant there was no purpose to the story. I know by doing so it reinforced his view of what the characters became, but for me it left me unfulfilled. I didnt see the purpose of some characters.

It was well written and i am sure others will enjoy the twist, i however couldnt see how this was a story.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!