Publication Date: September 3, 2024
Six guests embark on a wilderness tour, but only two emerge
Devils Island is home to abundant wildlife, making it the ideal place to reintroduce endangered Tasmanian devils. Working to rescue, rehabilitate, and release devils has been Kerry’ s job and passion for years, but a new opportunity to work as a naturalist guide for a tour company offers her a respite from the emotionally grueling task of trying to save an endangered species.
Her first tour group as lead guide includes American college friends Brooke and Jane, who are reconnecting after years of estrangement, and two Australian couples hoping to escape their big-city lives and enjoy the company of longtime friends.
When one of the guests disappears on the first night, the group assumes she has wandered too far in the stormy weather. Yet it turns out she has a secret connection to one of the other guests— and when another hiker is found dead in camp, the group finds itself isolated by the worsening storm and wondering who among them might be responsible.
Perfect for fans of Lisa Unger and Barbara Kingsolver
What starts as a camping adventure to a remote national park a few miles off the coast of Tasmania turns into a nightmare.
Devils Island by Midge Raymond and John Yunker serves up a tale of suspense using the nickname for the fictional Marbury Island, home of the Tasmanian devil.
Six people, plus two guides, make up the small group. While told in third-person, the focus of the chapters alternates between Kerry, the primary guide, and Brooke, an American traveler.
A number of intriguing elements introduced at the beginning of the story foreshadow an intricate storyline: a guide’s first time leading a group. A trip invitation from a friend Brooke hasn’t talked to in five years. A sighting of human tracks on what is supposed to be a deserted island.
The authors use a sudden storm along with the animal habitat to boost the drama, but the true culprit pulling the strings may be on two legs.
Devils Island features a camping trip that evolves into a race for survival.
Devils Island is the debut collaboration by the writing duo Midge Raymond and John Yunker. Midge Raymond is the author of the novels Floreana and My Last Continent and the award-winning short-story collection Forgetting English. She earned a certificate in private investigation from the University of Washington. John Yunker is the author of the novel The Tourist Trail; editor of the Among Animals fiction series and a nonfiction anthology, Writing for Animals; and his plays have been produced or staged at venues across the country.
