"The Islanders is at once an engrossing story and a timely, urgent warning: what will happen when the one percent decide to pull up the rope ladder behind them? Robinson’s vividly drawn protagonists are the ragtag kids conscripted into a billionaires’ militia training program. With sensory precision, penetrating empathy, and escalating tension, he charts their gradual awakening to and reckoning with the shocking truth.”
—Kate Christensen, author of The Astral, The Last Cruise, and Welcome Home, Stranger
"These days, for a variety of reasons, it’s all too common for adults to ask: Are the kids alright? Well, no worries. In Lewis Robinson’s riveting new novel The Islanders, his nineteen-year-old protagonists are better than alright. They’re brave and smart and decent and resourceful. Also, wildly entertaining. Reader, you’ll enjoy every minute of their company."
—Richard Russo, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Empire Falls and Somebody's Fool
“Walt McNamara and his (mostly) good-hearted compeers find themselves navigating somewhere between Lord of the Flies and a group of relentless motivational speakers. Robinson takes “rites of passage” to new levels. The Islanders is one, great, unputdownable novel.”
— George Singleton, author of The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs and You Want More
"In this gripping story of a group of teenagers recruited as a civilian army for the ultra rich, Robinson is at his expansive best, reaching into a fraught American moment while retaining his gift for creating endearing characters. Grunewald, the kids’ problematic mentor, is one of the most unforgettable characters I’ve met in some time. I was enthralled from first page to last, and couldn’t wait to get back the island whenever the far less engaging demands of real life forced me to put it down. The Islanders is one of the best novels I’ve read in ten years."
—Monica Wood, author of When We Were the Kennedys, The One-in-a-Million Boy, and How to Read a Book
Shaken by problems at home, confused by the motives of a new love, and reeling from a public meltdown, high school hockey star Walt McNamara joins an exclusive new leadership program controlled by the ultra-wealthy summer residents of Whaleback Island, a granite and spruce oasis off the coast of Maine. But this is no paradise; secrets lurk in its murky waters.
As Walt and his fellow misfits, including the determined Aubrey and fierce Tess, are pushed physically and mentally by ex-military instructors, exposed truths from the island's past and present slowly reveal the reasons behind their intense training. With danger mounting, Walt, Aubrey, Tess, and the others must use their new skills to sort friend from foe and find a way to survive.
In The Islanders, award-winning author Lewis Robinson has crafted his most irresistible book yet: a suspenseful reckoning of class conflict in America, with a vivid tale of friendship and family at its heart.