I inherited a stack of these “World’s Scariest Places” books from my late uncle, so, I decided to check one of them out. I should’ve judged them by their cover. First off, these are NOT HORROR. They are thrillers with an atmosphere reminiscent of horror. I kept reading because of the atmosphere the author establishes early on, then again, how could he not – using a genuinely creepy real-life location?
However, the plot is virtually non-existent as it comprises entirely of a bunch of unlikeable douches getting together and going to the titular Isle of the Dolls to shoot video and make some money and then start getting picked off by a killer. This could be a setup for a horror novel, but the narrative focus is on the character drama involving a love triangle then when one of the male members is murdered another female member is added to it. The author constantly interrupts the narrative with background stories of the jerks in a vain attempt to get the reader to like them. It doesn’t work. In fact, it stops the murder plot dead (pun intended) and is unnecessary as the characters are not that deep at all nor do they need to be.
There is also a parallel narrative running alongside the main one of the origins of the dolls that crowd the island. This is the narrative of poor little Maria which is much more compelling than the main narrative. At least it ties into the main narrative at the very end.
The format makes this shortcoming even worse by fragmenting the main narrative and intertwining it, poorly, with Maria’s parallel narrative, even switching from the protagonist’s (Jack) first-person perspective (definitely used as a hook in the first chapter) to third person when it switches to another character’s perspective for no real reason; not for any plot or narrative reason that I can discern.
The “horror” in this book comes in late (about 100 pages in) and is confined to a stabbed corpse, eye extractions as the killer’s M.O., some slit throats, and squirting arteries; the same thing you can find in crime thrillers and even traditional detective fiction. There is a scene of forced vomit eating by a nun in a catholic orphanage which stuck out to me. However, the only real horror tropes this story steps on are creepy atmosphere and a little gore which is just in a couple of scenes just like a typical thriller. It only gives a schmear of horror styling over its killer by keeping them concealed (badly, but you instantly know Maria’s in the mix) and putting doll nightmares in the characters’ heads as they try to sleep. The main narrative focuses on personal drama and what arises from the current situation. There is no real exploration of fear, terror, or even gore (horror). This work reminds me of something more like a J.A. Jance thriller than anything even remotely related to something like Stephen King (not his biggest fan but I cannot deny he has written plenty of horror novels that live up to that label).
Otherwise, the writing style is very plain and nondescript, the author introduces boob ogling and a sex scene at the most inappropriate times in the narrative (paying off the love triangle drama, blech!). I was hoping for an atmospheric horror novel, but what I got was a disjointed love drama with characters I actively hated. And the “twist” at the end is that the supernatural had nothing to do with what happened at all one of the jerk-holes killed one other jerk-hole because he was an undercover cop and was going to kill all the other jerk-holes to cover that up using Maria (who killed the couple at the beginning due to a violent misunderstanding) as the fall guy. Yawn. This is definitely a twist from a thriller. All the dreams, atmosphere, and setting were all just teasing/red herrings. Sheesh. At least Maria was wearing a doll face mask while wielding her knife, another shallow use of horror imagery in service of a thriller-esque twist. The only positive I can draw from this one is that it does have a great setting and atmosphere drawn from its setting, other than that, I cannot recommend this book. It is wholly meh, just meh, nothing to grab onto, or to hate, or to distinguish it from other standard mainstream pop-lit works. ( )

If you enjoy horror stories involving creepy places then you'll enjoy this tale and all the other stories written by Jeremy Bates. I am a fan of Bates, and all the books I've read by this author pull the reader into the suspense, drench you into the scene, and keep your heart pumping while emerging into the action that lurks around the next corner. In this story the protagonist is very human, vulnerable and in the end gains something. There is also another story thread that relates to the present story and the switching back and forth was smooth and placed in the appropriate moments on the timeline.

The setting is the Island, a horrific place where childhood tragedy is glorified, as if that could ever help, and invokes the slanted surreal feeling to everything that happens at that place. The details are creepy. The pace of the action is intense (some fights, some sex) but the characters unfold slowly, peeling away layers of themselves the more you read on, until the deeper troubles and reality surfaces, and the reader will say, "yes, that makes sense". Something different in this story from other books written by Bates is the happy ending. But after the whirlwind of horrific cruelty that some of the characters had to endure, I think it is wise to give the guy a break.
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I was drawn to this book for the premise of the story. An island of dolls. That is very creepy. I know that I would not want to spend a day or even a night on an island like this.

The story starts out good. It definitely grabbed my attention. Instantly, I imagined myself on the island with Jack and his friends. Jack is kind of the main voice for the six friends. The story alternates between him and Maria. Maria's story is the past.

She was obsessed with her doll. Her mother could not get it away from her. I preferred Maria's story than really the present. Partly due to the fact that none of the others were that endearing. I did not care if something happened to them.

Honestly, I figured this whole story out very early on. There were no great surprises and the "scary" factor was low. The whole concept of the dolls does get a higher rating for creepy. Overall, I was a bit disappointed in this book but I would try another one by this author. ( )

On the Outskirts of Mexico City lies Isla de las Munecas - a reportedly haunted island that is home to thousands of dolls. A group of people are going to film a documentary on this island against the boatman's better judgement to wait until the storm passes. While stranded there overnight, the wind and rain add to the already spooky atmosphere but when they discover a dead body they begin to realize that something evil really is lurking on the island.

This was a fast-paced read. I really liked the setting and felt as though I was there. Most of the characters were unlikable but they did feel real and I liked that they were different from one another and had their flaws. A lot went on during the last couple of chapters but overall I was happy with the ending. Another good read from the World's Scariest Places series! ( )

Jeremy Bates wrote "Island of the Dolls" based on one of the world's scariest places. This is a book that is about this guy who got into a terrible NASCAR crash. So, he and his girlfriend went to Mexico City. They decided to go to this famous "Island of the Dolls" with a documentary maker, her brother, and his girlfriend. The brother invites another guy, too. Her bro and his friend are assholes.

They took a gondola ride to this island with dolls everywhere; where the guy who used to own it found a little girl drowned by the bank. He found her doll and satarted hanging dolls in trees, etc. To make her soul happy. Only the island is supposedly haunted. They all go there and end uo staying the night because a storm was brewing and the gondola guy had to get back.

The dolls are starting to heckle the gang. One yelled to the main character in his own voice. It gets to become one incredibly long night. Who will survive? I love how Mr. Bates sets the dynamics of the characters and lets the sparks fly. It is awesome!

Thank you to Mr. Bates for giving me an ARC copy of this book to read and give my honest review. ( )