This book had some interesting twists in it. It did start off slow. I didnt really connect with the characters . I didnt realise this book was a YA book so I felt like I couldnt really get into it as thats not my genre. Some parts were also repetitive.

This storyline is a little bit out there, but I thought it was memorable. It's a creepy plot, where 4 high school kids go camping off the coast of Washington state, and when they return to the island in which they live, all other people have disappeared.

The author does a great job of helping the reader picture the creepy setting of the story. While the plot becomes a bit fantastical, I could get behind it- it was a unique concept and easy to follow if you are willing to suspend your disbelief.

While I love mysteries and more in real life, I'm not usually very into mystery and thriller YA books but this story seemed exciting and really fascinated me so I thought why not give it a try? I have to say that I wasn't disappointed. It was an extremely unique storyline and something that I don't think any other author has ventured before. I liked everything about the book, the setting, the plot, the characters. Everything about the ending to be honest. After such a huge buildup towards it, in my opinion it kind of fell flat. That isn't to say it wasn't a great book and shouldn't be read because it should. It had the perfect combination of a creep-factor and suspense.

I’m not sure what I expected when I picked it up, but it definitely wasn’t what I got. That doesn’t mean it was a bad book, I actually enjoyed it. 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.

Some good suspense with a great premise. I enjoyed Echo Island but wasn't totally blown away by the writing style and character progression. Interesting enough, but similar to many others :)

I was very intrigued by this book and it’s twist, but the ending fell kind of flat. It felt rushed. I did like how the author brought us into the story for a unique perspective.

Very bizarre story!   Not quite like any other I've read...  I wouldn't call it "theologically correct" for Christians, but it is interesting.  I think it will be enjoyed by teens, who are the intended target. 
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance e-copy, though I am a little late on the draw with my review...  The opinions are entirely my own.

"Echo Island" was creepy, unique, and atmospheric. I think the author Jared C. Wilson did a great job at fleshing out the characters so we can get to know them. The twist was pretty easy to figure out for me in this one but it did not take away from the story. If you like creepy mysteries I definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC for an honest review.

I do not share the feelings of the rave reviews given here.  I just checked to see if this was rated as a "young adult" book.  The writing was so simple with a big word thrown in here and there that I thought I was reading a Middle School story with a vocabular test to follow.  I wanted to read it to the end (which I did) out of curiosity.  The ending almost redeemed the rest of the book, but in my opinion fell short.  I found it tedious to get through.  Perhaps a younger person would enjoy it.

What makes a page-turner? Characters who are real and relatable; plots that build, twist and turn; and chapters that always end with a sentence that leaves you wanting more. Reading Echo Island (which has all these things in spades), I found myself regularly torn between pausing to breathe in a beautifully crafted phrase and wanting to tear through swathes of pages. On top of all that, Echo Island had moments where I thought I caught a glimpse of similar works from other (possibly mutual) favourite authors, which was both delightful and slightly nostalgic.

From bookgems.co:
Echo Island started off with realistic dialogue, beautiful scenery, and just a touch of mystery. As soon as the boys realize that they are alone on the island, the suspense grows and I couldn’t help but try to guess what had happened to them.

Watching each of the characters cope with the same problem in very different ways was enlightening and completely relatable. I couldn’t help but wonder how I would tackle the same problem. Would I handle it like Archer – the brainiac who needs to solve all problems with logic and academic knowledge – or would I handle it like Jason – the guy who is still figuring himself out and tries to find clever ways to outwit the unseen enemy?

After a few unexpected surprises, I was delighted to see that the plot was moving forward only to have a wrench thrown into the story. There was a twist so wholly unexpected that I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I struggled with the rest of the book and found it far-fetched and dissatisfying. While I wanted to like it because of the beautiful Pacific Northwest scenery, the story seemed illogical and confusing. In the end, I was fairly disappointed and uncertain about the message of the book.

Interesting book. I thought I knew what it was all about but got to the end and I’m no so sure. I didn’t find closure so I’m not sure if there is another book or I missed something. Teens and young adults should find this interesting and hold their attention.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley on behalf of the Publisher and was under no obligation to post a favorable review.

This was a very strange book. I’m not sure what I expected when I picked it up, but it definitely wasn’t what I got. That doesn’t mean it was a bad book, I actually enjoyed it. It just wasn’t at all what I was expecting.
	This book gets real meta at times, which personally, I liked. If meta books aren’t your thing, I was suggest maybe skipping this one. I found the plot to be interesting, and the plot twists definitely blew my mind. It’s definitely a book that keeps you guessing.
My problem with this story was that the characters seemed somewhat flat. I’ll admit I couldn’t really distinguish many differences between them, and I wasn’t particularly rooting for any of them. The plot twists made up for the lack of character depth, but I wish the author would have gone into more detail about their backstories.
I would recommend this book for the younger side of the young adult audience, particularly those who enjoy mysteries. This was a quick read, and I think it would be a good book to introduce younger teens to the YA genre.

This is a hard book to review, as I went in to the story blindly. I can tell it is aimed at a teen audience, and the premise is engaging. But when the story took a big twist, it wasn't what I expected and it felt like the author took an easy way out of a hole he dug himself in and was disappointed that was the route he went with the story.

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.