Bait

by J Kent Messum

Bait is J. Kent Messum's thrilling story of survival and sanity strained to its limits.

Please know that no one will be coming to your aid
Much effort has been made to ensure this

Six strangers wake up on a remote, deserted island, with no memory of their arrival. They appear to have been chosen at random.

One of the castaways finds a letter they learn that there only chance of escape is to another island just a mile away. Across some of the most dangerous, shark-infested waters in the world. The letter ends with one simple instruction: begin when you wish.

As the group are forces to face their darkest fears they will be pushed to the very edge of sanity. The odds against survival are long.

From aboard a yacht anchored offshore, a group of shadowy figures watches them. And waits . . .

Tightly plotted and brilliantly imagined, Bait marks the debut of the exciting new thriller talent, J. Kent Messum. Fans of Irvine Welsh, Suzanne Collins and hit TV show Lost will be hooked by his story.

Praise for Bait:

'Reading J. Kent Messum's Bait is like taking a high dive into black water. What you find in its murky depths is disturbing, pulse-pounding and utterly surprising. An exhilarating debut' - Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me

'The stakes could be no higher in this crisply written, fast-paced novel that examines the shifting line between right and wrong, good and evil. Bait will keep readers turning pages late into the night' - Lori Roy, author of Bent Road and Until She Comes Home

'Jaws meets Lord of the Flies meets Drugstore Cowboy! A powerhouse debut. The horror dawns on the reader as it dawns on the characters, making for a mesmerizing, one-sitting read.' - Steve Ulfelder, author of Purgatory Chasm and The Whole Lie

J. Kent Messum is a British-Canadian writer living in Toronto. Bait is his first novel.

• ISBN10: 1405914246
• ISBN13: 9781405914246
• Publish Date: 26 September 2013 (first published 27 August 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

I’m almost sure that when I got Bait, that it was a Young Adult novel, so you can imagine my IMMENSE SURPRISE when I started reading and it was about a bunch of junkies. Junkies who had seemingly been kidnapped, dumped in the Florida Keys and made to work for their heroin and by work, I mean swim to another island and risk being eaten by sharks. Savage, init?

Honestly? I would have liked Bait a heck of a lot more if it wasn’t about deadbeat junkies, who I couldn’t have cared less about. Did I care that what they were going through was barbaric? No, not really. Did I care if they all died? No, not really. It’s hard to care for characters that are junkies. While I understand drugs are an addiction, I also think that it’s an addiction that starts with you. If you just said no to drugs in the first place, you wouldn’t get addicted. Is that simplistic of me? Who knows. All I know is, I wouldn’t touch drugs with a million foot barge pole.

The plot was amazing, don’t get me wrong, but J Kent Messum should maybe have written about characters we might actually care about. I’d have had WAY more sympathy than I did. As it was, I read the book feeling sick and repulsed and horrified, because it was honestly like no book I’ve ever read. It was vulgar, terribly, awfully vulgar. I think there’s a time and a place for language like that and it just didn’t sit right with me.

But somehow it was still a bit addictive. I FINISHED IT AFTER ALL. I’ve got no idea why. But, it was relatively short so it only took a few hours. This is definitely one of the weird category, for sure.