“My only hope is that even if I have nightmares, they’ll be better than my reality,” David Hall thinks as he faces the fact that he is stranded on a deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific. “Wreckage” by Emily Bleeker tells the story of Lillian Linden and her mother-in-law winning a trip to the South Pacific, but what was supposed to be a relaxing getaway turns into their worst nightmare. After the first week of their trip, the pair boards the company’s small private plane with Kent, the pilot, Theresa, the flight attendant and David, the company’s public relations man. As the flight takes off, Lillian overhears David fighting on the phone with his wife and she can’t help but move seats to see if he needs a person to talk to. The two hit it off right as the plane soars through the sky, but an unexpected turbulence from an engine failure causes the plane to plummet to the ground. Bleeker describes a grueling crash and heart-wrenching scenes of death and destruction as the plane lands in the middle of the ocean.
The novel will be released March 1. It details how the survivors of the crash — Kent, David and Lillian — found their way to a deserted island and did everything in their power to stay alive. Narrated by Lillian and David, the story flips back and forth from present-day interviews about life on the island to what actually happened while they were stranded. Lillian and David promised they would keep their secrets of life on the island, but what could they be covering up?
The most interesting aspect of this novel is how Bleeker provides very emotional yet thought-provoking scenes. At times, life on the island is so unbearable for the characters that as the reader, you will feel helpless for them. There’s limited food, shelter and supplies to keep them alive, but somehow they manage. Lillian and David recount their stories separately for a televised interview that is meant to reveal all about the nearly 600 days on the island, but they aren’t telling the reporters everything. From early on in the novel, Lillian speaks of a person named Paul on the island and how much of an impact he had on her and David. Paul was their guiding light and helped them to stay alive, but who is Paul, how did he get to the island and where did he end up?
This novel is a page-turner until the very last page. Each chapter reveals a little bit more about the island, the characters stranded on it and why they have so many secrets. The most heartbreaking part of the novel occurs when David and Lillian realize that life would be easier for them if they never went back to their real lives at home, but the question is what are they hiding? “Wreckage” is a story of death, survival, heartbreak, love and the crushing reality of it all. The mesmerizing and tragic novel features many gruesome scenes of death and violence that are not for the faint of heart. If you want to find out what happened in the plane crash and how the character’s survived on the island, pick up a copy of “Wreckage” by Emily Bleeker.