‘Castaways’ – Brian Keene

‘Castaways’ won’t actually be available until February next year but I figured it’s Halloween and February isn’t all that far away so now is just as good a time to get reading :o) Also, I love Brian Keene’s work so why should I wait until next February when I have the book right in front of me? (Note: Like I said, I’m a fan so objectivity might just go straight out of the window during the course of this review. I will try and keep things on the straight and narrow though...)

Before I got rid of my TV I was one of those reality TV viewers who would only tune in when there was the promise of a big fight or argument. Who wants to spend hours watching people sit around talking or doing silly little ‘tasks’? Not me... I’m the kind of guy who wants the contestants to have to find their way across a minefield while being shot at with live ammunition! Seriously... the contestants might not like it but it would add that element of danger to a TV format that is starting to grow stale.
Brian Keene hasn’t gone to those lengths. Instead, he has gone in a different direction where the element of danger is all too apparent and it comes along with chills that grip your spine...

The reality show ‘Castaways’ sees competitors marooned on a deserted island and carrying out tasks to see who will end up winning a million dollars. There’s all the bitching and backstabbing that you would expect from one of these shows but one of the contestants has their own agenda that will cast the show in an entirely new light... If this wasn’t enough it turns out that the island isn’t deserted after all. A tribe of monstrous half human creatures live in the jungle and not only are they hungry but they also need breeding stock to ensure that the tribe doesn’t die out. None of the competitors are safe on what’s going to be the longest night of their lives...

‘Castaways’ is two hundred and eighty five pages of streamlined and action packed horror that had me gasping at how raw and visceral it is. If you’re squeamish in any way then several parts of this book will not be for you! Keene draws the reader into the jungle, strings them along a little bit and then... strings them along a little more... Just when the tension can’t get any worse, Keene throws you straight into a struggle for survival at its most primal (from both sides, monstrous mutant tribesmen have to eat as well!) where the only thing that is certain is the promise of a horrible death on the horizon.

For the most part, Keene doesn’t hold anything back and the introduction of a certain characters ‘hidden agenda’ gives the reader an interesting contrast in the many forms that evil and terror can take. When you see what mankind is capable of, it makes you look at the tribe in a slightly different way...
Don’t get too sympathetic though, Keene leaves the reader in no doubt as to the more supernatural elements by linking the tribe to his ongoing ‘Labyrinth’ mythos although it doesn’t matter if you haven’t read the other books and can’t see the links, ‘Castaways’ can be read perfectly well on it’s own.
Keene also sets out to shock by showing the ultimate fate of the female contestants in scenes that are particularly graphic. Having gone to these lengths though, I was surprised that Keene didn’t take this plot strand to its logical conclusion, instead preferring to kill certain characters off. ‘Dark Hollow’ deals with a similar issue so maybe Keene didn’t want to go over old ground. I don’t know...

I was sad to finish ‘Castaways’ but I’d also got to know the characters so well that it was good to see where it all finished for them. The ‘last person on the island’ bit, right at the end was particularly funny yet hard hitting at the same time... I’d love to see this book as a film with moments like that!
Fans of Brian Keene’s work are going to love ‘Castaways’ and it’s also as good a place as any of his other books for the casual reader to pick him up and give him a go. It’s pulp horror at it’s best.

Nine and a quarter out of ten.