Island of Lost Girls: A Novel

I heard great reviews for this book and was severely let down by the juvenile writing and story line. I felt like I may have enjoyed this book at a younger age, but this book was definitely too easy of a read for me. I felt the story line was immature and predictable, the ending was forced, and the characters were not developed. I would advise the writing of this book to be suitable for a young adult novel; however, the story line is violent and grim and would not advise anyone to pick this up. Definitely not worth the ten dollars on the Kindle.

Frustrating book. I didn't like any of the characters, which doesn't always matter to me in a book, but in this particular case it did matter. It is one of those books that jumps around in time, which I usually don't mind, but in this particular case I did mind. Many of the circumstances were unrealistic enough to require a good deal of suspension of belief, which usually I can provide, but in this particular case I couldn't. You see what I mean - frustrating!

I found it to be a very difficult book to get engaged with. I'd glide along for pages and pages not caring at all what was happening, almost to the point of giving up on it completely, then something would happen that sparked my interest for a chapter or 5 or 6; then I'd lose that spark and I'd glide for a few chapters waiting for something to spark me again. Frustrating!

The ending was actually mostly alright. The Bad Guy surprised me and how and why the main mystery came together was interesting and rather unexpected, but the rest of the plot just sort of limped along to the end after that primary dénouement. The secondary mystery held no surprises. Any experienced reader will have guessed what was up with that storyline very early on. And, because the characters were all so irritating, it was hard to care very much. Very frustrating.

I was expecting more excitement as I read this novel. There just wasn’t that creepiness factor that I was expecting from reading the synopsis. I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters and there just didn’t seem to be the drive that I have felt in other novels by Jennifer McMahon. I was feeling disappointed as I finished up this novel. As I read, I felt as if I was just reading along, that someone was conveying to me what had transpired as if it could occur to anyone and there was nothing strange about what happened. But seriously, how can a white rabbit pop out of a car and kidnap a little girl, from inside her mother’s car, be so normal? If I had saw this, I am sure my emotions and my head would be going a hundred m.p.h. and people would realize that this event was astonishing and bizarre. I’m not saying this novel is terrible, it just felt boring to me. I have read a few of Jennifer’s other novels and this one is not like them. I did like the storyline and how the story ended. I’ll move onto one of Jennifer’s other novels and just put this one behind me now.

*If you've never read McMahon then the second paragraph is a spoiler*

Jennifer McMahon has a tendency to mix genres, and sometimes it doesn't turn out well. Also, if you read most of her books, you get the feeling she loves V.C. Andrews because sexual abuse and contrived coincidence are her go to plot devices when exploring past and present events. That being said, I've given all her books a chance. I like compelling voices of her characters, and I finish her books fairly quickly because I can't wait until the end. However, most of her books feature the most useless adults! Children and teens can be excused; adults shouldn't be this painfully inept. I guess that's true to life given the amount of abuse children endure, but in every story the parents might as well not be there.

With this story it starts out pretty well. The idea that a 6ft bunny rabbit stealing a child would trigger painful memories is preposterous even to Rhonda. But, as the present collides with the past there are so many happenstance moments that I just found myself saying, "Really!?" I hated the child sexual abuse angle because again, useless adults. It took a child witnessing the act (It might've been attempted assault--unwanted sexual contact that stops short of rape, but it doesn't matter given how long the abuse has been taking place) for the abuse to stop. Again, a kid put himself/herself in the place of an adult to stop abuse! Then the ending occurs. The abuse and kidnapping are all rolled into one, but the kidnapping is worse than the childhood abuse. At least the abuse was true to life, but the kidnapping is really when things went from mysterious twists to ridiculous. By the end, I didn't care about the kidnapped child nor the person who kidnapped her. The book could have been simply wrapped 20 pages before it officially ended.

Island of Lost Girls is a well-written, light read and certainly has the "I'll just read another chapter" quality about it. But, while most mystery/suspense type novels rely on some coincidences, here they are just too unbelievable and contrived to be a credible story and ultimately this detracts from the book.

Rhonda lives in Vermont and is on her way to a job interview when she stops at the local garage to fill up her car, only to witness the bizarre sight of a person dressed in a full rabbit costume approach another car, knock on the window, and kidnap the young girl while her mother is inside buying lottery tickets. Rhonda is so shocked she is paralysed and after is filled with guilt that she did not do anything to intervene. As the village mobilises to search for the girl, Rhonda takes it on herself to volunteer in the search process being run by the owner of the garage, Pat, and her nephew Warren (yes, really, he's called Warren!).

But the bunny fixation does not end here as we discover that when she was a child, Rhonda's best friend also went missing and there is back story that at least begins with an Easter Bunny-led egg hunt in the days before her best friend (Lizzy), and her father, went missing. Holding the two stories together is Lizzy's brother, Peter (yes, as in Peter Rabbit, who coincidentally is how the missing girl in the main story refers to her abductor), who Rhonda has had a severe crush on since childhood even though he is now married. Could the stories be linked? Could Peter have abducted the little girl? What went on with her parents and could Peter really be more than her childhood friend? With all the name puns, it's a wonder Starsky and Hutch weren't called in.

The structure of the book is alternate chapters of Rhonda's efforts to solve the current mystery together with chapters in the run up to Lizzy's disappearance. Certainly everyone in Rhonda's world seems to have some dark secret, and she comes over as naiive and seems to just accept things at face value.

Don't get me wrong, it's a light, quick and fun read, well written, would certainly keep you entertained for a few hours and overall I quite enjoyed reading it, but it's just too full of coincidences. Ultimately though I found that I couldn't get emotionally involved in what has the story to be an involving and disturbing event. Nothing is what it seems in this story and as a result you lose the attachment and start to not believe anything that is written. I finished it and thought "is that it?".

On her way to a job interview, Rhonda witnesses a little girl's abduction - by someone in a white rabbit costume.

Thus a whirlwind begins, both of the mystery behind 7-year-old Ernestine Florucci's disappearance and the renewed memories of Rhonda's best friend Lizzy, who vanished when the girls were 14. Are the two somehow connected?

McMahon has a gift for creating multi-dimensional characters and setting them into a scenario that will leave readers guessing til the last page.

I was told to check out Jennifer McMahon after telling everyone I know how much I love Gillian Flynn. I'll admit -- it was a good recommendation. I enjoyed almost everything about Island of Lost Girls, from its offbeat premise (the central crime surrounds a child kidnapped in broad daylight by a giant stuffed bunny) to its haunting cover art.

The characters are strong and McMahon is skilled at letting the readers learn about them slowly and organically throughout the story. I especially liked one side story about the origin of a central character's nickname. Told in alternating chapters between the present, and 1993, the year main character Rhonda was 11, Island of Lost Girls unravels the stories of two missing children in one small town, and the mystery that connects them.

There is a great twist ending that threw me for a loop, and some really nice writing with lots of thematic extension, which I really like. My only criticism of Island of Lost Girls is that the pacing feels a little rushed, and there are a few strange choices, like a shift from first- to third-person voice midway through the book that seems to point to an author who was really pushing to strike while the iron was hot after a really hot debut novel. The story is strong enough to excuse those little distractions, though, and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

I must admit a strong appreciation for the 'lost little girls' theme that has been in vogue as of late, So, despite the dopey beginning, I eagerly plunged into this story. This is the saga of a child abduction in a small, close-knit New England town. But, no one seems to really care much about this missing child. Instead, the main characters seem more concerned with their own adolescent mini-dramas.

The story line bounces between the present time and a decade earlier. This can be a tricky move for an author to pull off. When done well (see Alex Marwood's WICKED GIRLS) it's wonderful. When not, it's ISLAND OF LOST GIRLS.

On the surface, this book is about an abduction and the search for a missing girl. The sole witness to the kidnapping is Rhonda, and as she tries to help find the kidnapper (who was dressed in a bunny suit at the time), she recalls a summer of her childhood a few years before her best friend also went missing. This summer was a turning point in her childhood much more than she knew at the time.

Both stories, past and present, are tragic enough. But I think neither is really the point of the book. To me, the point of the book was how very little in Rhonda's life is as she thinks it is. She begins to learn this during that one summer, but the full import of what was going on around her doesn't become clear until the hunt for the child she saw kidnapped is almost over.

And it's not that Rhonda's purposely deceiving herself, either in the past or in the present. But there are definitely things going on around her that she's not aware, and secrets that are being kept from her. Told in the third-person, but entirely from Rhonda's perspective, McMahon reveals these secrets in a slow but satisfying way.

Wow! This read was amazing! I was kind of surprised at some of the negative reviews because I loved every page and finished it in just a few hours.
The story starts out in 2006. Rhonda is sitting at the only gas station in her little town filling up before heading to a job interview, when someone pulls into the station in a bunny costume and takes a little girl. Yes, I said a bunny costume. Weird, I know but as the story takes you back to 1993 you will understand. I really enjoyed trying to figure out the who-dunnit and putting the clues together...only to be surprised when the real kidnapper was revealed. As the truth starts to come out, so do plenty of dark, long kept secrets.
A captivating novel that will grip your imagination and your heart. Highly recommended. And I have to say, being as I finished this 2 days before Easter, I will never look at someone in a bunny suit the same way again! Jennifer McMahon has a new fan!

This is another winning novel from Jennifer McMahon, full of mystery, local Vermont color, and strong personalities. If you have read McMahon's first novel, Promise Not to Tell, you will recognize the plot of this book. The two stories have similar structures. A female protagonist, Rhonda, gets involved in a present day crime that has links to a similar crime that occurred during her childhood. The story goes back and forth from the present to the past, gradually revealing the secrets of the people in a small Vermont town.

There are a few supernatural notes here, but McMahon does not craft another ghost story. Most of the action is rooted in realism. The main character is usually realistic in her thinking. Nevertheless, when a dowser fails to find the lost child, Rhonda decides that the child must be in outer space. This fact is delivered in a completely deadpan manner that left me scratching my head. It didn't seem to fit in this story.

McMahon's second novel is not quite as good as the first. I did not get to know the characters as well, or care about them as deeply. Nevertheless, it is an entertaining read. I stayed up past midnight to finish it. Minor complaints aside, that is the measure of a good book.

Rhonda, the main character, witnesses a child kidnapping but is so shocked that she isn't able to do anything to help the child or remember any helpful information except for one thing. The kidnapper is dressed in a rabbit costume. She joins in the hunt for the little girl since she feels so guilty. As things are uncovered Rhonda begans to see clues about her best friend's disappearance which happened years earlier. The plot is a good one but because the book changes from the present to the past was very confusing to me. Also, I had a hard time remembering who all the characters were and just what part the played in the story!

This was not the authors best work. The writing and story just didn't flow very well, and the characters were hard to identify with, compared to the other three books by this author that I have read. It was still a good book but not at the same levels as some of her others.
It mixes events from the past and present just like most of her other books, but at no time did I feel fully engaged with any of the story. Rhonda and Peter, were bland and boring and the killer when it was revealed, came out of nowhere, with barely any explanation, except the killers planning partner, who always seemed questionable.
Not bad just not the same as her other books.

The book opens with a little girl playing submarine in an abandoned car, her game interrupted when a body is discovered in the woods nearby. Then it jumps back a couple of weeks and after that it continues to alternate between the character's lives in 1993 and 2006... it took me a while to figure out who was doing what when. In hindsight, that was partially because that little girl in the submarine car immediately faded into the background. And there are quite a few little girls in this book -- the one who was kidnapped by the giant rabbit, another one who was kidnapped and made national news, one who died years before the story started... Compared to some of the other books I've read lately, this one felt like a bit of a dud.

This is a terrific, but also horrific, book. Well written and extremely interesting, the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat all the while you read it. Initially it concerns the kidnapping of an 11 year old girl by someone in a Peter Rabbit suit and goes on from there. The protagonist, a single 23 year old woman, sees the kidnapping happen but does nothing. She has a tremendous feeling of guilt and so volunteers to help in the search for the missing girl.

The plot goes back and forth in time, from the present kidnapping to a time 12 years in the past when the best friend of the protagonist, also 11 at that time, goes missing. The two diverse plot lines do intersect, and the ending is somewhat of a surprise (at least I didn't see it coming).

If you want a book to keep you engaged in reading and speculation, and also to follow the lives of several well fleshed out characters, read this book.

In the tiny Vermont community of Pike's Crossing, a little girl has gone missing - kidnapped, it seems, by a man in a bunny suit. Fluffy tail, flappy ears and all. What follows could be a banal mass-market mystery aimed at appealing to the lowest common denominator; instead "Island of Lost Girls" is a beautifully-crafted and intelligent journey through the past to resolve the present. Evocative visuals, the poignancy of yesteryear, and vivid realities draw on our nostalgia for the naivete of youth in this lovely novel that is steeped in metaphors, rabbits, and Peter Pan. Perhaps some will never grow up, but others are forced to face the cold-hearted slap of reality when it comes creeping into their small-town existance one sunny morning.

Not my favorite read. There are things in the story that I still do not understand and I have a serious dislike for books like that. It’s a short read and intriguing in its own way, but I don’t really recommend it.

I read another book by McMahon, 'Promise Not to Tell' and from what I remember, as it was quite some years ago, I enjoyed it. So I thought I would give this one a try too. I wish I hadn't.

Rhonda is sitting at a gas station, waiting for her car to fill up, when she sees a 6' tall, white rabbit abduct a little girl from the back of a car. She doesn't realize what really happened in front of her until it is too late. Now ridden with guilt, she dedicates her time to helping find this little girl, all while remembering her childhood.

The story goes back and forth between the present, 2006, where Rhonda witnesses an abduction to 1993, when she recalls a difficult time in her childhood. It also throws in some scenes from the rabbits point of view.

There were several things wrong with this book. First, the main character, Rhonda, is annoying. She is so naive and blind to reality that I couldn't connect with her at all. I got frustrated on so many occasions because of her ignorance. The rest of the characters weren't interesting either.

Second, the main story, the kidnapping, was pushed into the background a lot by the 'back story'. I actually enjoyed the back story more. It was more interesting and I liked the younger versions of the characters much more than their adult versions.

The writing was bad, too. McMahon switched from first person to third person randomly in the middle of the story. No reason for it at all. Maybe she just forgot? The way the story is laid out is confusing too. Trying to remember who is who is really hard to do, especially in the beginning. Other things didn't add up either, I won't go into details so I don't spoil it for those who may want to read the book, but I was angry and confused at several parts of the plot. Not to mention there was no real climax. The mysteries were all wrapped up quickly in the simplest way possible, someone just confessed.

And if I never hear the word rabbit again, I will die happy. It was so redundant!

The only positive thing I can say about this book is that it does bring you into it. I was reading, all while annoyed, and when I looked down I was 100 pages in. Oh, and there are small periods of suspense.

In the end, I found myself scanning through most of it just to find out if I had the myseteries solved, which, for the most part, I did.

It's not worth the time, in my opinion.

Find more of my reviews at; theultimatebooknook.blogspot.com

I really enjoyed this book- and her other book, Promise Not to Tell. Both follow a slightly similar story line. In this book, a kidnapping in this day and age reminds the main character of the dissapearance of her own best friend many years ago. In Promise not to tell, the murder of the main character's childhood friend reminds her of a murder that took place in the present. Both follow very similar veins of fiction, and share many of the same characteristics. However, she is a wonderful writer and I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. There are twists and turns, and the plot line will keep you guessing throughout.

I borrowed it from the library. The story is about a child who is kidnapped and then it goes back in time to when the main characters put on a play when they were children. There is little to no connection between the two plots. The author keeps telling us how sad the main character is about not preventing the kidnapping, so she plays Nancy Drew to a bunch of impoverished caricatures of rural folk. There is a great deal of Nothing Happening. I never felt a hint of suspense or tension at any point in time. The main character is described as a broke, unemployed, overweight female who has been pining after her dating-with-a-child friend. The friend she pines for is described as an obese man with a beer gut who is balding with long hair. They hang out in a hot-tub made out of a large barrel. There is a great deal of unlikable characters in kind of gross locations. To top it off (spoiler alert) the main character doesn't even solve the mystery, everyone else has to just tell her what happened. If you want to read a book about boring people thinking about mundane things, then this is the story for you.

I enjoyed the story and appreciate that all the loose ends have been neatly tied up by the end. Some elements were pretty obvious but others weren't and the story flowed nicely. I can't wait to check out more by this author.

Rhonda Farr is middle-aged and single, pining for her childhood friend, Peter, married to their childhood enemy, Greta "Tock" Clark. Though seemingly unrelated, her story intertwines with that of missing girl Ernestine Florucci-whose kidnapping she witnessed-and did nothing to prevent. Ernestine's story intertwines with someone's as well-Lizzy, Peter's sister and Rhonda's childhood friend, so close that they told each other they were sisters, and had their own language. Lizzy has been missing for years, having disappeared in her teens, presumably to live with her father Daniel, who himself disappeared years before. These stories cross and combine, weaving through each other to explode in a fiery finale, in which the pristine surface of life is shattered and revealed to be deeper and sinister than thought.
On an otherwise normal day, in front of Pat's Mini Mart, Rhonda sits in her car while a person in a rabbit suit calmly walks out from another car, and leads away little Ernestine Florucci-who is smiling the whole time. Only realizing the full impact of what she witnessed later, Rhonda is overcome by guilt and throws her whole being into the investigation for Ernestine. It is while doing this that she meets the handsome and dashing Warren-nephew of Pat, the owner of Pat's Mini Mart. An unexpected romance develops-and later, an unknown secret comes to light.
As children, Rhonda, Peter, and Lizzy were great friends, as were their fathers. Peter, Lizzy, and Tock, first everyone's nemesis, and later Peter's wife, in particular, have a dark secret that has been kept hidden even from Rhonda. Daniel, Peter and Lizzy's father, plays an underlying, sinister role in the story-tainting Peter and Lizzy's lives, the latter especially. Refusing to talk after her father's disappearance and becoming more withdrawn, Lizzy slowly fades away, until she altogether disappears one day. Her story is intertwined with Daniel's-the two of them harboring an ugly secret.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel-the prose was delicate and dreamy, and each chapter ends on a little cliffhanger. It's a sad, bittersweet story that'll leave you slightly disturbed and deeply satisfied.

I got this book from the Library because the title and cover looked interesting. I hadn't heard of the author nor the book, but I'm really glad I picked it up.

It's not that big of a book, but it tells a big story. Lots of back and forth from past to present, but not hard to get used to.

I loved the references to rabbits. Peter, the dressed up rabbits, etc. The author did a wonderful job of weaving the two stories (past and present) together.

I wish I would have bought this book instead of gotten it from the library. That way, I could pass it on to others.

Although not one of her better books, still worth the read nonetheless. I like how she gives her characters just enough flaws that we can relate to them, but not so many that we begin to dislike them. The story fell apart a little at the end, but I'm still a fan!

This book kept me in such suspense that I finished it in 2 nights because I couldn't put it down! I love how the story alternates between past and present, building up all kinds of feelings with every page. Trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together was so exciting. I have also read The Winter People by this author and she is so good at building things up to a crazy ending. The characters are relatable too ( the main one in this book). I really felt what the character was feeling as the book went on. It truly was an adventure to read this book. I have already recommended it to other ppl haha!!

I read PROMISE NOT TO TELL, and liked it somewhat, so I thought I'd give this one a try. I couldn't have been more disappointed.

I thought the characters were boring and unbelievable and the story, quite frankly, stupid. I'm sure it must be difficult for a writer to come up with ideas to write about, but come on, a child abductor wearing a rabbit costume? In broad daylight? In a convenience store parking lot? Driving a gold VW? Seriously?

There were far too many convenient plot points in this book as well. More than once I found myself laughing at events that were just a little to convenient to the story. Also, there was some repetitiveness in the writing that I found really annoying - It seems the author found "Rhonda nodded" to be a quite a favorite.

To be fair, I've read worse books, but still can't recommend this one.

This more literary mystery exceeded my expectations. I really enjoyed reading it! McMahon tied the plot together well, and included plenty of surprising twists and turns that were truly unpredictable. Her writing style was engaging, and strong as she brought not only the characters to life, but also the setting. It was fast-paced and exciting. I definitely will be keeping an eye out for her other books!

"Alice in Wonderland" was a book that I enjoyed in my childhood, but that somehow creeped me out. There is something very unnatural about someone named the Mad Hatter, who, by the way, will be played by Johnny Depp in an upcoming version (run to your local theater and see "Public Enemies"). While some kids (and adults) just fell into this world with no problem, the analytical side of me did not really want to read about a cat who smiled all the time and about two creatures named Tweedledum and Tweedledee. McMahon masterfully takes this strange world that Carroll created and inserts it into "Island of the Lost Girls". It begins with Rhonda watching, unbelievably, as a six-foot tall person dressed as a rabbit kidnaps a young child. Feeling guilty about doing nothing, she helps the investigation. McMahon reminds me of Picoult; however, instead of telling the story from different viewpoints, she tells it from different time periods. The book chillingly weaves together the story of the present with the past....Rhonda's best friend, Lizzy, vanished years ago when they were kids. It will leave you breathless as you try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Don't plan on reading this on vacation, as you will not want to do anything else but read! MY RATING - 5 To read more book reviews and to see my rating scale, please visit my website at [...].

Rhonda witnesses an abduction, although she doesn't quite realize it when it happens. She is driven to help and by doing so, uncovers secrets related to her own past and her best friend who disappeared. Minor tension, some plot twists - but I stil figured things out pretty early on. Semi-suspenseful, lazy day read.

Suspense, mystery, struggle to overcome the past, childhood memories a longing to both return and move on. The twist a d turns in what could have been a typical child gone missing story made it unique and the intimacy evoked in the narrative voice of the main character further entranced. Good read.

I enjoyed this book very much, the story captured me in a way that really had me thinking about what the author had waiting for me in the pages ahead. Jennifer McMahon has a way of building a slow curiosity for her readers, like a spool of thread unraveling. Excellent book with interesting characters and intriguing backstory.

This book had so much potential! It was so creepy at first, the guy in the bunny suit, and the flash backs to rabbit island. What a disappointment. It all completely unraveled at the end. The author totally threw up her hands on this, and seemingly just drew names out of a hat for who she would put the blame on. I guess it should be.....The maid in the drawing room with a candlestick.....

This was just an average novel for me. Not spectacular, but not terrible either. I was a little put off by the whole abductor in a bunny suit taking little girls idea... it seemed silly. I was also a little surprised, as another reviewer was, when the protagonist seriously considers that maybe the child has been taken to outer space. I mean... come on. That was the point where the author really lost me.

As I said, not horrible, but not great. If you have nothing better to do on a weekend, this might be a good choice.

all throughout this story i thought i already had it figured out. i couldnt have been more wrong about the ending. this book will keep you guessing all the way. when you look at all the little details it all fits together.

I love Jennifer McMahon and have read everything by her. I believe this is her best work. It really doesn't have that distorted reality/fantasy aspect to it. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy that aspect of her writing, but I really thought this book was the most "real". Definite must read. I read it in a day, couldn't put it down!

I found this book to have too many characters and twists. I continued to read hoping that it would get better, but the ending was so confusing. I had to keep looking back in the book to get the relationships between the characters straight.