46 pages • 1 hour read
Natasha PrestonThe Island
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Prologue-Chapter 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue Summary
Paisley is a 17-year-old true crime vlogger with a popular internet following. As the novel opens, she is eavesdropping on her parents, who are arguing about an invitation she’s received. Billionaire Malcolm Wyatt has invited Paisley and five other teen influencers to preview his new amusement park on a remote island. While Paisley desperately wants to go and sees the opportunity as too good to pass up, her parents are worried about letting her attend. They also fret about the content of her vlogs and wish that she would focus on something less morbid and more traditional, such as beauty or dance. Though Paisley loves her parents, she feels that they don’t really understand her and don’t pay much attention to her online work. In contrast, her brother, Blaine, is the family golden child and studies biochemistry at Princeton. Blaine is on his sister’s side and thinks she should take advantage of Wyatt’s offer. At last, her parents decide to let her attend, and Paisley is elated.
Chapter 1 Summary
Three weeks later, Paisley and the other influencers take a boat to the island, traveling through rough and choppy water to reach the remote location. While on the boat, Paisley gets her bearings and tries to get to know the other invitees, all of whom are 16 or 17 years old. She is unimpressed with Ava, a beauty influencer who calls the island “creepy” and complains constantly. Ava flirts with James, a handsome film blogger, but is not friendly to the others. Also on board are Liam, a gamer with a huge following whom Paisley finds attractive, and Will, a makeup influencer with a larger following than Ava. Paisley bonds with Harper, a quiet book reviewer who is also skeptical of Ava’s complaining. Though Paisley does not learn this until later, Harper and Liam are lovers. The two are plotting a killing spree to take revenge on their families. Harper wants to free herself from her overbearing parents; Liam is Malcolm’s nephew and Camilla’s son, and he wants to ruin Malcolm.
Gibson, the boat’s pilot, is a few years older than the influencers. He delivers them to the island’s jetty, where Reeve, the head of maintenance, is waiting for them. Reeve is also young and handsome, and Paisley feels shy in his presence. The hotel and other structures on the island are built in an elaborate Gothic style, which Paisley loves and finds unique in contrast to other luxury resorts. The hotel has tall arches and carved gargoyles, while the amusement park hides its technology between old-timey wooden facades. As they arrive at the hotel, they are greeted by Malcolm himself, dressed ostentatiously in a turtleneck and burgundy coat, and brandishing a pipe despite the summer heat.
Chapter 2 Summary
Malcolm proudly gives the influencers a tour of the hotel, beginning with the lobby, which contains a huge glass cabinet full of antique-looking weapons. Ava makes a disparaging comment about the hotel’s aesthetic, and Malcolm retorts that it is not a resort “for little children,” putting her in her place (20). In addition to the amusement park, the hotel also has a spa, a pool, and a basement-level game room with pool tables. Camilla, Malcolm’s assistant, checks everyone into their rooms and explains that the hotel will run on a skeleton crew this weekend with minimal staff. Paisley is pleased to find she is in room 237, an allusion to the haunted hotel room in Stephen King’s The Shining.
Paisley finds her room to be pleasingly creepy, with a marble bathroom and black bathtub. She sends texts to the family group chat, and they exclaim over the odd decor. As she unpacks, her Instagram followers tell her that the hotel is probably haunted, and she resolves to sleep with the bathroom light on.
Chapter 3 Summary
In the lobby, Paisley and Harper wait for the others to arrive. They chat about whether the hotel is haunted or not, and Paisley says that she doesn’t believe in ghosts but thinks humans are the real monsters. Harper asks her why she blogs about true crime, and Paisley confides in her that she was frightened as a 13-year-old by a murder that happened in her hometown. A young mother disappeared, and then, five days later, her daughter Elliana Delaney was murdered. Mr. Delaney was arrested for his daughter’s murder and sent to prison, but his wife’s body was never found. Paisley says that she will never cover the case but that it changed her life and sent her online searching for answers about why people do horrible things.
The others arrive, and everyone eats lunch. The group divides into two, and Paisley, Harper, Will, and Liam go with Reeve to tour the park. They go through a haunted house and then spend several hours riding roller coasters and other rides. Harper and Paisley split off alone and ride a spooky train, which goes through a dark tunnel. In the tunnel, Paisley thinks that she feels a hand grab her shoulder and is frightened. Once they are back in the sunlight, Harper reassures her that it is just part of the ride. Paisley isn’t sure.
Chapter 4 Summary
After dinner, Will and Paisley get to know each other better. She compliments him on his makeup tutorials, and he tells her that he doesn’t usually like true crime but enjoyed her videos. They and the others gossip about Malcolm, who is overbearing and never says please, and Camilla, who seems underpaid and easily cowed by her boss. Liam asks Paisley to ride the ghost train with him tomorrow, and she accepts, secretly thrilled that someone so handsome seems to be flirting with her.
Before everyone goes to sleep, Will mischievously suggests that he and Paisley sneak into the park after hours and tour it at night. Paisley agrees, even though this is against the rules and might get them sent home. She waits in her room until midnight and then sneaks back down to find Will. While she’s waiting, she looks at the weapons in Malcolm’s torture cabinet and notices that there are two blank spaces in the knife section.
Prologue-Chapter 4 Analysis
The opening chapters of The Island lay the groundwork for the suspense plot to follow. Preston introduces her large cast of characters and hints at many of the novel’s twists and turns. These chapters include several moments of foreshadowing. Paisley brushes off the island’s Gothic architecture as just an aesthetic but still thinks to herself, “I’m leaving the bathroom light on” when she contemplates sleeping alone in her room (26). She is thrilled by the fact that she is sleeping in Room 237, the same room number as the famously haunted hotel room in Stephen King’s horror novel The Shining. She is also unsettled when she thinks she feels a phantom hand touch her on the ghost train ride. While Paisley keeps dismissing these spooky moments as just part of the kitschy atmosphere, genre expectations signal that the island will hold real horrors for Paisley and the others. Throughout the novel, the island serves as a symbol of violence and deception. Though it appears to be just a fun and spooky amusement park, under the surface is a place that poses a real danger.
The opening sections also establish Paisley as a character. She is interested in true crime from an intellectual perspective but is the product of a happy, secure home and has not directly faced violence or trauma. When Harper asks her if she is disturbed by cases, she tells her that “‘it’s easier to detach when it’s something that happened years ago.’ That sounds kind of wrong—death is death. But that’s how I feel” (28). Her adventures on the island will quickly remove her from this distance and cause her to confront violence up close, fighting for survival.
The Prologue also reveals her to be a self-aware teenager who acknowledges her privilege while also enjoying it. Her characterization relates to the theme of The Dangerous Allure of Wealth. She brags about the wealth influencing has brought her: “I’ve already got a brand-new BMW that my brother was so jealous about. It was glorious. His was two years old when our parents bought it” (3). However, she also acknowledges that her chosen profession can be shallow and is a cultural phenomenon that shows no sign of stopping, noting humorously, “If I hadn’t accidentally made it big, I might be in a little despair over that fact” (2). However, in contrast to Ava, who repeatedly refers to the island staff as “the help,” Paisley is aware that only luck separates her from the workers and is always kind to the others, whereas some of her more affluent peers appear blind to the problems with being so affluent. Paisley is also aware of a divide between herself and billionaires like Malcolm, thinking, “This kind of money isn’t part of my world” (4). She is skeptical of him and his out-of-touch mannerisms, preferring the company of Gibson and Reeve.
