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The Colony

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The Colony

By: F.G. Cottam
Narrated by: David Rintoul
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Summary

For over a century, the New Hope Island vanishing has tantalized the world. How did 150 people disappear from a lonely Hebridean island, leaving no trace and no clues? Media magnate Alexander McIntyre decides to solve the mystery, and gathers a team of experts to mount an expedition to the island. He hopes running the story as a rolling exclusive will revive the fortunes of his flagship news-stand title. He hopes to find conclusive answers to questions that have teased a curious world for decades. And he wants his own secret theory triumphantly vindicated.

But all is not as it should be on the island. A 1930s cinefilm reveals something as terrifying as it is inexplicable. An Afghan war veteran, sent to secure the island before the experts arrive, witnesses a nightmare far beyond battle trauma. And as expedition members gather, they discover to their gruesome cost that there are some mysteries far safer left unsolved...

©2013 F. G. Cottam (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Ghosts Horror Scary Haunted Fiction
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This book has a great sence of pace, and the withholding of answers create an air of suspense and fright. I really enjoyed the mystery and unravelling of discoveries.

Saying that though, when it comes to the depiction of the characters it has saverely gendered pitfalls. The writer, to me at least, appears to be someone who would say "I am a feminist, BUT..." or "But women are more delicate than men, both emotionally and physically". Here are just a few examples of those such gendered issues:
"She had much more to live for; she'd been young and quite strikingly beautiful... ...looked at another way - She had been much more vulnerable than he had been [which is why she hanged herself]..."
"The exposition was quite fortunate that all the women were reasonably attractive"
"He wasn't a man to stray, but if he did [she] was definalty who he'd consider straying with." why is in necessary for ALL of the men to objectify and compare the women's attractiveness. The women aren't written doing the same, why why do the men? Why is it important for the women to appear so desired? Answer: it's not, the Cottam is just a sexist who cant imagine men thinking of women in any other way than something to be objectified and evaluated on whether or not they're attractive enough to sleep with, or thry to conquest. I gave this book until chapter 9 of 14 before I cast my judgement on the writer's depiction of women. It never improved, it just got worse. It makes my stomach turn. Truly disappointed, the mystery seemed amazing, but the sexism is just too unnecessarily apparent. It was first published in 2012, come on Cottam, get with the times, some marginalising your audience.

Not once in the book so the women in the book objectify women in these subtle ways (there is one male character who objectified the women in much more of a sexist way, but that was his character unlike the other instances).

There are some other truly unnerving hints towards attraction towards children amoungst the male characters too. One male character "He wondered if she [a 14 year old girl] had been fortunate enough to have inherited her mothers looks, he'd always fancied her mother..."
Another character male character "Society still looked at the age of concent strictly in calender years, and [his sexually partner] was only just 17".

I find these issues truly taint what could and should be a fantastic book. But my stomach rolled and my soul truly disturbed by these points. It isn't even an issue of it being written in a "different time", the book is set in 2008!!

Sexism ruins the overall atmosphere

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This story had me getting some very funny looks but it’s not a type of you want to listening on your own.
The pace is just right, the fictional characters can be associated with people in today’s society and media.
The author was able to fleet through the years and frightening components that made the story realistic, thorough and very eerie. The description of the historical pathways which brought us to Hope Island are very believable.
Basically, this is a very good listen.
Those of an age who can remember things like Pathe News in the cinemas I’ll bet you’ll gasp during the early stages of the book and have vivid “minds eyes” interpretations of the events of the story.
RA

Seriously Scary!

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This story of an attempt to solve the decades old mystery of what happened to the entire population of a tiny, remote island, starts with a great build up of tension but later, as with so many such tales, falls into the trap of going just a tiny step too far and turning it from terrifying into just a tedious more, more, more. No, I have to be fair, it maintained the creepiness throughout. But rather than simply being drawn into the plot and rushed along with the tide, I found myself constantly wondering how the author was going to contrive a satisfying ending. Surprisingly, he didn't do too bad a job all things considered.
The characterisations are varied and quite good and we are introduced to the assembled cast in a precise and logical way which makes them easily memorable - always helpful where there are a number of players. The reading by David Rintoul is excellent but for one thing: without pauses between scene change sections, an initial confusion ensues as the listener has to readjust to a new character or location or even time frame which has seamlessly been attached to the preceding sentence. This would not have occurred if reading the printed page as something would have indicated the transition. A brief break in the narration would have worked in the same way.
Although well written and a good basic idea, I found the book disappointing.

Sometimes less is more

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The scone F.G book I read and I've had it in my library for a while, never getting past the first chapter, but I made a concerted effort and it really paid off.
Technically it's a ghost story I suppose but I found it a very enjoyable suspense read, quite dark in places.
My only real negative were there were quite a few characters who seemed to blend into each other, I'm still not exactly sure who was who at the end

Jolly good read

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I've listened to several audio books from this author and really get hooked on them. The Narrator is excellent and plays all parts well, especially adding mood and suspense at the necessary parts. Also great with accents too. The story was pretty good and nicely swings between current day and 2 centuries prior. At the end it just seemed to snuff out a little and was a bit of an anti climax for me. However, I did still thoroughly enjoy it. 👍

The Colony - great narration. End perhaps a little short

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