Island Endgame by Rebecca Hodge (Book Review #2248)

Rebecca Hodge’s novel, Island Endgame, is a masterwork of emotional suspense filled with intrigue and mystery. It also has themes of survival, loss, and resilience, set against the beautiful backdrop of Puget Sound, Washington.

Kenzie Adams, a nurse living in Seattle experiences a tragedy when her 4-year-old nephew dies in an accident at her home. Kenzie loses contact with her family and is tormented by guilt. Although she tries to continue working, she can hardly keep her job. She is given an ultimatum to take a leave of absence to deal with the trauma or she will lose everything. Hoping to find peace in solitude, Kenzie takes a position at Camp Madrona as camp nurse for the summer on a remote island.

However, Kenzie quickly realizes that this is no ordinary island. The conditions at Camp Madrona are very basic, the camp staff are cold and distant from Kenzie, and her emotions are set into overdrive when she meets Chris, a boy at the camp who looks exactly like the nephew who died. However, when Jon, a quiet and reclusive counseling associate, shows up at Camp Madrona, there is a flash of recognition; however, that quickly fades with rising tension among the camp staff and rumors of possible treasure hidden somewhere on the island.

Things turn in a very bad direction when three dangerous armed criminals in a stolen speed boat escape (due to a debt incurred by one of the camp staff) to Camp Madrona. Kenzie becomes a hostage to the criminals and what transpires is pure terror: physical abuse, starvation, confinement, extreme psychological manipulation, and difficult choices regarding survival vs. doing what’s right. Kenzie must break her medical oath, confront the death of her nephew who died so tragically, and find the strength to take action before it’s too late.

Hodge does an incredible job of using deeply human emotion to create suspenseful scenarios from her well-developed characters. The story gets more intense as the many twists and turns continue to increase the stakes, but Kenzie’s evolution holds the reader’s attention. Kenzie’s internal journey through grief becomes a fight for her survival, for her redemption and to reconnect with herself, her family, and her career as a nurse.

The island as a setting gives the reader both lush beauty and extreme claustrophobia, creating the ideal place for Kenzie’s journey filled with emotional turmoil and physical danger. Hodge has skillfully intertwined the psychology of human nature and the drive to survive in an exciting story, and all fans of Lisa Gardner and Kristin Hannah will surely appreciate Hodge’s ability to create compelling plots driven by several underlying motivations.

By the time Island Endgame ends, the reader will not only have enjoyed the action-packed adventure to escape from danger, but will also have rediscovered their life’s purpose and brought hope to themselves.

Written by Jeyran Main

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