The Island (Heather Graham) - This Island should be avoided at all costs.

It started out OK but it quickly devolved into stupidity.  I'm talking about Heather Graham's The Island. 

Beth Anderson is on an island vacation with her brother and niece when she makes a frightening discovery.  She finds a skull lying in the sand.  But when a handsome stranger approaches her, she panics, and quickly covers it up.  Later, when she goes back to the site, the skull is gone.

This sets up the big mystery.  Whose skull was it, who was responsible for its being out on the beach in the first place, and who took it?  And who exactly is the handsome stranger who seems to show up wherever Beth turns? 

Like I said, the book started out fine, with an interesting premise.

But we very quickly discover that Beth is one of the worst protagonists written.  She's just really dumb.  Let's see - she's scared of her own shadow, thus she screams bloody murder at the drop of a hat.  More than once, when there was absolutely nothing to worry about.  Like the time her own brother frightened her in the dark, so she screamed so loudly that, literally, she woke everyone else camping on the island.  It's a cute plot device - used once.  But this kind of thing happens more than once, and gets tired very quickly.

Then there's the opposite problem - when Beth should be afraid, and on her guard, then she throws all caution to the wind and gets careless.  Back home, after she discovers that someone has been in her office and tampered with her computer, she continues to leave her office unlocked, and her computer unguarded.  I can understand being careless one time, but you'd think she'd learn after the first incident and change her ways.  But she doesn't.

Then, she comes across another skull!  You'd think that this time she would say "Ah Ha!  This time I'm not going to leave this thing unguarded, I'm going to call the police right now and keep my eye on this thing so it doesn't disappear".  Yup, that's what she should have done.  But, no, she runs out of the room, in a panic, and you'll never guess what happens next.  The skull disappears before the police get there!  Didn't Beth learn anything the first time around?

And Beth's not the only person with a few screws loose.  There was one scene where she and her brother are paranoid enough (and rightfully so) so that he follows her home, to make sure she arrives safely.  Now anytime I've followed someone home, or dropped them off, I stay in my car, watching the person, until they're safely inside.  But Beth's brother drives off the moment she exits her car, leaving her completely alone and vulnerable as she's walking to her door.  How dumb are these people!?!?!

And on and on... The book just continues with one stupid move made after another.  As if that's not bad enough, there's the obligatory romance angle tossed in.  Yup - Beth sleeps with the handsome stranger, before she has any clue at all who he is, and what his real motivation is.  Despite skulls turning up every time she turns around, and verbal threats made against her and her niece, Beth has time for a romance with a complete stranger who may, or may not, be a murderer.  Or a pirate.  Yes, that's right, this book deals with modern-day pirates, who spend their time stealing yachts and causing general mayhem in the waterways.

The only good thing I can say about this book is that the ending was pretty good.  There are some exciting scenes, and, finally, some smart decisions and actions.  And, when we finally learn what really happened, it was a petty interesting story.

But the decent ending couldn't save what was otherwise a fairly awful book.  Skip this one.